“All the world's a stage / And all the men and women merely players.” This quote from William Shakespeare compares the world to a stage and life to a play where men and women are just actors playing their role. This message is not so different from F. Scott Fitzgerald's in his novel, The Great Gatsby (1925). The wealthy characters in The Great Gatsby are Shakespeare’s players; and the Valley of Ashes is part of his stage, where the awful consequences of their moral deficiencies are played out. The Valley of Ashes is a desolate area of land which is covered by ashes dumped by industrial companies; it is described as a “fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat” (Fitzgerald 24). Beneath the ashes, George and Myrtle Wilson make their meager living by running a gas station next to a billboard advertising an oculist business in Queens. This billboard has two eyes looking out over the Valley of Ashes, seemingly watching and judging the characters who pass through. Here in the Valley of Ashes, the stage is set on which the superficial and material-driven characters can display their selfishness. Furthermore, the effects of their immorality are exemplified as well. Fitzgerald develops the symbol of the Valley of Ashes to strengthen the thematic idea of the effects of utter corruption and selfishness in The Great Gatsby; this can be expressed through the scandalous affair of Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson, the tragic murder of Myrtle Wilson, and George Wilson's pronounced rage. Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s immensely wealthy husband, has no moral reservations about his own extramarital affair with Myrtle who lives in the Valley of Ashes. The affair begins from an innocent train ride, but Tom's own lack of moral standards contribute to the ... ... middle of paper ... ...by the mind—they do not possess any inherent meaning; rather, people invest them with meaning. Fitzgerald uses the symbol of the Valley of Ashes to further analyze the thematic idea of corruption and selfishness in The Great Gatsby. Multiple events occur in the Valley of Ashes throughout the novel, three of which exemplify Fitzgerald's theme very well: the amoral affair of Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson, the murder of Myrtle Wilson, and George Wilson's manifested rage. Work Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2013. Print.
In this quote, the Valley of Ashes is portrayed as a “desolate area of land” where the glory of West Egg and New York are separated by a valley characterized as “grotesque,” dim, and “crumbling.” Fitzgerald includes this setting to describe important characters, such as Myrtle Wilson, who have an extreme influence on others because they are considered impoverished and trashy with no class. The Valley of Ashes symbolizes despair and poor lifestyles, which is why Myrtle is able to be used by Tom, who, in disdain, no longer shows feelings for his wife. The road is also personified to represent those who reside in the West Egg, who are snobby and want nothing to do with the poor.
Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s visionary writing style during the early twentieth century revolutionized a new style for other writers. “Theme is most dramatically expressed through character, and Fitzgerald used the people he created to convey his personal vision of the world” (Keshmiri 2). As Keshmiri states, Fitzgerald, unlike many other writers at the time, expresses his stories through the development of the characters. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and The Beautiful and the Damned illustrate the many flaws of human nature and how these flaws contribute to the downfall of the characters through their obsession with status, their inability to accept reality, and the use of alcohol.
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.
Many times we hear of society's affect on people; society influencing the way people think and act. Hardly mentioned is the reverse: peoples' actions and lifestyles affecting society as a whole and how it is characterized. Thus, society is a reflection of its inhabitants and in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is a wasteland described as the "valley of ashes." Since the characters of this novel make up this wasteland, aren't they the waste? Symbolically, this waste represents the lack of ethics of the 1920's society and civilization's decay. In The Great Gatsby, morals deficiencies such as a lack of God, selfishness, and idleness are reflective of a society as doomed as "the valley of ashes."
Some of the most upstanding members of society possess unseen characteristics that define them, for who they truly are, secrets that they masquerade behind a façade of decorum and extravagance. The casual observer may never know the man behind the mask, but a learned historian can reveal to the world the secrets that some would rather sweep under the rug. One of America’s most celebrated novelists of all time, Francis Scott Fitzgerald has always been viewed as a talented, brilliant author. Although outside accounts sometimes skim over the less tasteful aspects of his life, Fitzgerald cannot help but betray his true nature to the reader, if only unwittingly. Perhaps his most acclaimed opus, The Great Gatsby, is actually more autobiographical
The Great Gatsby: The Destruction of Morals. In The Great Gatsby, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald shows the destruction of morals in society. The characters in this novel, all lose their morals in an attempt to find their desired place in the social world. They trade their beliefs for the hope of acceptance.
...e the people living there because they think they are superior to them, when really they will end up just like the them if they continue to destroy the moral values of society. They are becoming more greedy and violent towards each other and it was only making things worse. There is an important sign by T.J. Eckleberg that stood out to Nick in The Valley of ashes. "But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground" (Fitzgerald 24). He described the painting's eyes as being dimmed and sad because nobody really paid attention to it for so long. Similar to how to nobody pays attention to the people who live in The Valley of Ashes. "This is a blind world because there is no source of moral vision. This is a wasteland world of exhausted hopes because the only vision to be had - Gatsby - an ersatz one."
...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.
On one level The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald comments on the careless gaiety and moral decadence of the period in which it was set. It contains innumerable references to the contemporary scene. The wild extravagance of Gatsby's parties, the shallowness and aimlessness of the guests and the hint of Gatsby's involvement in crime all identify the period and the American setting. But as a piece of social commentary The Great Gatsby also describes the failure of the American dream, from the point of view that American political ideals conflict with the actual social conditions that exist. For whereas American democracy is based on the idea of equality among people, the truth is that social discrimination still exists and the divisions among the classes cannot be overcome. Myrtle's attempt to break into the group to which the Buchanans belong is doomed to fail. Taking advantage of her vivacity, her lively nature, she seeks to escape from her own class. She enters into an affair with Tom and takes on his way of living. But she only becomes vulgar and corrupt like the rich. She scorns people from her own class and loses all sense of morality. And for all her social ambition, Myrtle never succeeds in her attempt to find a place for herself in Tom's class. When it comes to a crisis, the rich stand together against all outsiders.
The picture is trying to prove F. Scott Fitzgerald discontent for the moral decay that occurred in the 1920s by the face with the appearance of wealth, the colorful, inviting, and bright city, and the variety of colors used throughout the picture.
...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.
Bad choices are made every day by everybody. Those bad choices could lead to consequences that are going to bother a person for a long time. Even more, that person may try various ways to correct that error. The intention is good, but things can go even worse if the effort is based on unrealistic fantasies. This effort is presented as a part of modernist ideas. Modernist writers dramatize this effort through the tragic outcomes of the characters. Three modernist pieces, A Street Car Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, The Great Gatsby, all of them sent out a message to the audience, the loss of past and how it cannot be recovered. Each piece features a character who lost hope, strived to recover the hope, and ended with a tragic outcome. A Street Car Named Desire featured Blanche; Blanche spent her whole life trying to get some attentions. Death of a Salesman featured Willy; Willy spent his whole life trying to apply the idea “Be Well Liked.” The Great Gatsby featured Jay Gatsby; Gatsby spent his whole life trying to win back Daisy. All of those characters ended with tragic outcome. Blanche was sent to asylum by her own sister. Willy committed suicide after felt humiliated by his sons. Gatsby was murdered with a gunshot planned by Tom Buchanan. Blanche, Willy, and Gatsby’s tragic fates are caused by their false beliefs about life, which are proven wrong by the contradictions between the reality and the illusion.
Within the novel of the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses a symbolic setting to contribute to the novel's overall purpose. Right in the beginning of the great Gatsby, he introduces the idea of West Egg and East Egg. East Egg being where Tom Buchanan and Daisy reside, among other people who live lavishly off of their inherited family money,”across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water”(Pg.8). This part of the two eggs represents “old money,” which is the way the author calls wealth that has been passed on through generations within families.West Egg being the location where the narrator, Nick Carraway, and Jay Gatsby reside, represents “new money,”or people who are new to wealth, as opposed to people who have had it in their families,”West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two”(Pg.7). Fitzgerald sets this sort of tension between the West and East Eggers. Many of the East Eggers thought the entrepreneurs living on the West were shady, “A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers…”(114). Between West Egg and East Egg, there is a place the author calls the Valley of Ashes, “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like
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.
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.