Discuss the role played by the Valley of the Ashes. In The Great Gatsby, the Valley of the Ashes illustrate the inequality between its inhabitants and that of West Egg and East Egg, in terms of social standing and income, as well as the hopelessness of poverty resulting from the inability of its inhabitants to rise up the socio-economic ladder. Thus, the valley represents the failure of the Dream that America promises, which is the ideal of equal opportunities for all, associated with the New World. The valley is described as a “desolate” place where “ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills into grotesque gardens”. (21) Ashes that dominate the area take the shape of natural greenery. The term “grotesque gardens” uses alliteration, with juxtaposition; to highlight the odd pairing of ashes and greenery. Ashes are associated with death while ridges and “gardens” represent the potential to flourish and grow in the promise and ideal of equality as in “the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams.” (143) The trees that once stood here were able to speak to man’s dreams, which allude to America, the land able to speak to man’s dreams and capacity for wonder. All this is replaced by grey ash that suffocates the inhabitants, restricting them to their social class. This presents a bleak image of hopelessness that surrounds the valley. Similarly, ashes take the form “of ash-grey men, who moved dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air”. (21) The stiff, weak movements show its inhabitants to be barely alive. These men have the same lack of life and vitality as their surroundings do. This is seen in the inhabitants of the valley. George Wilson, who... ... middle of paper ... ...rom the elite rich, who possess old money. Tom also claims that Gatsby “threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy’s”, (142) and can be said to be using his false wealth to mislead and confuse Daisy and Nick into thinking he is someone of their standards, which shows that Gatsby is not recognised as one of their class. This undercuts the glamorous wealth associated with Gatsby, and the ideal of equality in the American Dream. By exploring the physical site of the valley, followed by the inhabitants of the valley – George and Myrtle, George representing the working class and Myrtle the exception, extending this to the references of the valley to Gatsby’s humble origins, the Valley of the Ashes represents the low social mobility and the failure of the American Dream. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Oxford World Classics. 2008. Print.
...ent efforts, or men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (23). Here, The Valley of Ashes is regarded as complete destitution and hopelessness. The people known as the lower class do not wish to live in the valley of ashes. This is why people, like Myrtle try to do anything to get away from it but instead it becomes unachievable for them. When Myrtle tried to escape from the ashes by trying to be with a rich man like Tom, she dies. This embellishes how The American dream is unattainable. When Tom goes and sees George, you can see how the higher classes look down on the lower classes because of their different social positions. The higher-class people such as, Tom, Daisy, and Jordan represent the unstructured bodies of ashes within the valley. They are inconsiderate and conceited people arising from the dead ashes, changing the American Dream.
“This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys”(Fitzgerald 2). Tom and Nick a driving through a place between West Egg and New York, which is an industrial zone where the lower class lives. Here alone we can see how the poor class lives their daily lives in filth, but the rich live in shiny clean houses.
Through his vivid depiction of the valley of the ashes in the acclaimed novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald unveils the truth about 1920s America: economic prosperity did not guarantee happiness and resulted in depreciating conditions for those that were not able to connive their way to the top.
Through these quotes, Fitzgerald believes the American dream is unattainable in the Great Gatsby because some people in the novel had advantages unlike others. A major instance of said inequality would be applied to the citizens who are living in the Valley of Ashes; representing the forgotten poor underclass with lost hopes and dreams who have failed to live up to the American dream or even got a chance to start. Therefore, the Valley of Ashes is a blatant symbol of just how “dead” Fitzgerald really believes the American dream to be, and how he wants the readers to interpret it. Fitzgerald wrote “.ashes take the form of..men who move dimly and are already crumbling through powdery air..immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades.”. Tell’em
The word ash is repeated multiple times and represents feelings such as depression and death. The valley is becoming more and more of a waste land, the ash is taking over the farms and land which expresses that life in the valley can only be dull. There is nothing that isn’t covered by ash.
He reveals how separated the American culture is as a whole. F Scott Fitzgerald uses figurative language to shape the portrayal of the setting by contrasting light vs. dark, comparing the Valley of ashes to the East Egg. For instance, Fitzgerald quotes, “where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills”, utilizing a simile to exaggerate and emphasize that the ashes are taking the form of hills, which essentially is all trash. The ashes are a symbol of the hopeless and dead, the social corrosion that is yielded from the unrestricted pursuit of wealth, as the upper class nourish themselves with regard simply to self pleasure. Fitzgerald states, “where ashes take the form of houses and chimneys”, a form of imagery that gives the audience a visual aid to emphasize how prevalent the ashes are. These claims prove that the valley of ashes is a darken city bewitched with poverty and illness. With the pile of ashes growing larger, the classes of society further disjoin, removing their opportunity to escape and acquire their American Dream. By Fitzgerald using figurative language it makes the storyline come alive in the readers mind. He symbolizes certain emotions within the reader to embody and visualize the contrast between the Valley of Ashes and the East Egg as if we were there with them. Scott Fitzgerald also uses figurative language to
Although we spent little time here in the novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilized “The Valley of the Ashes” to its fullest. In this novel “The Valley of Ashes” symbolizes a great number of issues of morality in this society. “The Valley of Ashes” was located between New York and the two Eggs. “The Valley of Ashes” is a barren wasteland made of the ashes of which were dumped there as a byproduct of various modern items and was polluting this area. Although the valley of ashes is treated as ““nowhere”, a place to be driven through on the way to “somewhere” by the characters from both East and West Egg.”(Angela D. Hickley 1), Fitzgerald riddles it with heavy symbolism. Fitzgerald uses “The Valley...
... place to be vitalized. The Novel and Film Valley of Ashes were in evident contrast. The “Film Valley of Ashes” did have ash, but it was far from barren. It may have been barren with little vegetation, but it was densely populated with sprawling skyscrapers and bustling citizens. The “Novel Valley of Ashes” did have citizens, but it was very small number. In theory, the “Novel Valley of Ashes” was far too boring to be in life-filled film that Luhrmann envisioned.
Throughout the novel Fitzgerald has incorporated numerous symbols that are meant to challenge our ideas of the 20’s as well as strengthen the book as a whole. A major symbol in the novel is the Valley of Ashes. The Valley is a wasteland home to many poor people covered in ash and coal, between New York City and West Egg. The Valley of Ashes is important to the book, because it represents the people who were lost between the riches of West Egg and the adventure and promise of New York City. The Valley of Ashes represents a greater theme of society and class, and emphasizes the drop off between the rich and poor. Another symbol both represented in the book and the movie is the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Eckleburg represent a greater
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel about Jay Gatsby and his quest for the American dream. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald focuses on materialism and the lack of social mobility. He hints at the vice of American society and the desertion of religion by incorporating the motif of eyes alongside the descriptions of the Valley of Ashes. Through the motif of eyes, Fitzgerald uses religion to provide a commentary on the corruption of society and the inability to achieve the American dream. When Nick first describes the Valley of Ashes, he mentions Doctor T. J. Eckleburg’s advertisement.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, paints vivid picture of the lives of upper and lower classes together and their interactions during the Roaring 20’s. Fitzgerald does this by showing the readers the true nature and purpose behind the upper class and the manipulation they use against anyone lower than them. An example of this manipulation would be Tom Buchanan, a wealthy man married to Daisy Buchanan, lying George Wilson, a lowly poor individual running a mechanics shop, about selling a car, just to see the man’s wife. This poor man, Wilson, lives in “The Valley of Ashes”, an almost desolate area on the way to New York from West and East Egg. This valley is a representation of the manipulation and reckless behavior of the upper class. Through The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald paints a picture of the 1920’s by portraying the upper class as immoral and careless through their actions, and their opinions.
“The ‘Valley of Ashes’.symbolizes the human situation in an age of chaos. It is ‘a certain desolate area of land’ in which ‘ash-grey men’ swarm dimly, stirring up ‘an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight.’” (Dyson 113). Nick thinks of the place as “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills into grotesque gardens” (Fitzgerald 23). And that is exactly what it is, since it’s a barren land of human waste.
In Francis Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the city of New York possesses a “transitory” and “enchanted” quantity, which “for the last time in history” rivaled man's “capacity for wonder” (182). New York City, a symbol of American greatness and the American dream, contains very unamerican class distinction: those whose families have been prominent and rich for decades function as a de facto aristocracy, looking down upon and controlling (through vast wealth) the poor. These class distinctions are mirrored by geography, dividing up the maps into regions by wealth. The parallelism of the region and the residents results in the region symbolizing the residents. Through analyzing both the residents and the description of the region, a holistic understanding can be gained about the residents of Valley of Ashes, East Egg, and West Egg.
In brief, the world of The Great Gatsby can seem as sordid, loveless, commercial, and dead as the ash heaps presided over by the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. Indeed, this atmosphere is so essential that one of the alternate titles Fitzgerald considered was Among the Ash-Heaps and Millionaires. Fitzgerald using the valley of ashes, illustrates an environment where love has lost its place, which destroys hope for a family; the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg, clearly intended to represent those of God, emphasizes that this lack of love and filial piety in a sin against themselves as well as society and God.
...hollow books in his library, as many of the new rich did. He was amazed that Gatsby didn’t have a false or hollow life like the others. Gatsby was different from the others, he was “worth the whole damn bunch put together” of “the rotten crowd” (154). No matter how flawed Gatsby might have been, the others were worse. They were worse than a criminal, extravagant, and unsophisticated “elegant young roughneck” (48). The Valley of Ashes openly showed the hollowness of poverty, the lack of spirit to reach up and try again for their failed American dream.