Imagery is rather not what is on the paper but rather what is between it, there is so much more than what meets the eye in imagery. This is seen in both books, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The texts share similar symbols and it is represented through the use of beautiful imagery. Both novels share similar light and landscape imagery to be symbolic of the main themes, hope and death respectively. The Valley of Ashes is a place between the West Egg and Manhattan. This is no typical road, as Scott Fitzgerald uses the desolate area as landscape imagery to symbolize the theme of death in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses a passage filled with landscape imagery to paint the theme of death in the reader …show more content…
The author describes the man to be "slow and half opaque"(10) as if his life was fading away before him. This is even more evident as he starts to cough repeatedly in the passage. The imagery used to describe him and the landscape clearly shows the theme of death and how the man is almost near it. Fitzgerald uses ashes as an imagery of death and this is shown by McCarthy as well, he eventually "just knelt in the ashes"(10). The man is essentially kneeling down to death. The world he lives in has been burned down and all that remains is death, the ashes of everything. When he is kneeling down in the ashes it is almost as if he is surrendering to death. This is seen in The Great Gatsby as Fitzgerald uses the valley of ashes, primarily the word “ashes”, to explain the significance of the theme death and how the landscape of this grey and ashy area is the future decay of an era – the American dream. In this novel however, the death is not of an era but rather of humanity. The man also then looks up to ask God "Are you there…will I see you at last?"(10). He then continues to criticize God for his absence in his life and this world. Cormac paints an image of the man begging and pleading to God and also being frustrated for the life he is currently in and he is blaming …show more content…
This shows that he was focused and striving for the hope. "...as far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling" (10) . Fitzgerald is trying to display Gatsby 's desperation for an urgent and intense desire for the hope, which we later understand is Daisy. Eventually, the passage gets to the green light, which is the fundamental symbol used for hope. The light being green can be looked as Gatsby 's motivation, just like a traffic light the green is to achieve his hope. Although, it being at the end of the dock demonstrates that it feels so close, yet so
“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.
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.
The green light symbolizes a dream just out of his grasp. Both the light and Daisy are located across the bay and he can see both within eyeshot. Interpreting this symbol can correlate with the plot because by the first chapter, readers get a glimpse into Gatsby’s situation with Daisy without any dialogue except narration. Nick Carraway, the narrator, notices Gatsby hang behind and look out into the bay cryptically: “... he stretched his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, … Involuntarily I glanced seaward - and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.” (Fitzgerald 26). This quote can also symbolize Jay Gatsby’s devotion for Daisy, as Nick says he sees “nothing except” the light, perhaps as Gatsby sees her as well. Color is a recurring device Fitzgerald uses, so the color represents a green light “go” The distance represents a theme of unattainability in pursuing Daisy, as she is preoccupied with marriage. So, the green light symbolizes elusiveness, introduces the contention between Gatsby and Daisy, and intertwines a theme of longing for a dream just out of
The green light at the end of Daisy Buchannan's dock signifies both hope and the difficulties Gatsby encounters while pursuing his Dream. Throughout the novel, Gatsby expresses hope in various ways, but the most evident of all is when he reaches out with his hands toward the green light. When the narrator, Nick Carraway is introduced to Gatsby in the beginning, he watches Gatsby stretch out his arms toward "...a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock"(Fitzgerald,25). Gatsby pointing toward the end of the dock signifies hope, but also his desire to be with Daisy. Just across from the ba...
Throughout his life, F. Scott Fitzgerald, a prestigious writer of the Jazz age, experienced many battles during his unsatisfactory life. Many of his disturbed endeavors lead to his creation of many marvelous novels including his exquisite novel The Great Gatsby. From beginning to end, Fitzgerald’s notable use of paradox and metaphorical language creates phenomenal and modernistic symbols. Whether distinguishing relationships between characters and morality, Fitzgerald continuously uses symbols to express the adequate meaning of what is behind the true theme of The Great Gatsby-the power of hope cannot determine a dream.
... York City consists of a long stretch of desolate land created by the dumping of industrial ashes. It represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure. The valley of ashes also symbolizes the plight of the poor, like George Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result.
“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” (180). Situated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock and barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg lawn, the green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future. Gatsby associates it with Daisy, and in Chapter 1 he reaches toward it in the darkness as a guiding light to lead him to his goal. Fitzgerald illustrates Daisy as a symbol of wealth, success, dreams, beauty, marriage, motherhood, and she ultimately encompasses the idealistic American Dream. However, t...
Early in the novel, Nick catches Gatsby reaching out to a green light. “I glanced seaward-- and distinguished nothing except a green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of the dock” (26). This is a representation of Gatsby’s hopes and dreams. The green light is telling him to go for it. It influences him to continue fighting for Daisy. The green light also means envy. Everything Gatsby wants is across from him. Daisy lives in a mansion with her husband Tom, who are right across the water from Gatsby’s house. Gatsby is longing for Daisy’s love. Another way Fitzgerald uses green is to describe Gatsby’s future wealth; his hope for a new life or new beginning. “It was James Gatz who had been loafing along the beach that afternoon in a torn green jersey…” (104). Before Gatsby became wealthy he was poor. His parents were hardworking, but they were “unsuccessful farm people” (104). Once Gatsby turned seventeen, he decided to runaway, later meeting Dan Cody. Dan Cody was a wealthy man who hired Gatsby. At the time, Gatsby was known as James Gatz. As he became more wealthier, his name changed as well. It went from “James Gatz”, “Jay Gats”, and to just “Gatsby”. After Cody passes away, to keep Gatsby’s wealth, he starts working as a bootlegger. Later in the novel, we also find more envy and the motive to go for their hopes and dreams that go with the color
F. Scott Fitzgerald is the master of symbolism. Symbolism plays a vital part in two of his most famous novels, The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night. From the valley of ashes to “Daddy’s Girl”, Fitzgerald weaves symbols throughout his novels that help the plot to thicken and progress. They also allow readers to look at the novels in a more analytical point of view, which makes the novels more interesting to read. Fitzgerald’s symbols truly make his works a pleasure to read.
In Fitzgerald’s novel, when we notice for the first time the color green it is obvious that one of its significances would be hope. Nick sees Gatsby staring straight at a little green light at the tip of Daisy’s dock. “Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock…”(21) That green light represents his hope to be with daisy. “He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling.”(21) Nick states that he sees Gatsby stretching his arms and trembling,...
Fitzgerald makes this very peculiar image of a green light. These scenes of color imagery indicate that the color green is significant in this passage. “… I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new world.” Fitzgerald is conveying the image of the conquest of the Dutch in the new world. He states that green was widely seen across the continent meaning trees. The color green is revealed as a light, which Gatsby used to watch at the night to demonstrate his desire and want for Daisy. “I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock.” The image of the green light was Gatsby’s desire to reunite with Daisy and it was also a sign of hope that Gatsby had by looking off into the water to see the other
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, contains characters that experience the corruption of morality and humanity. This is shown by having characters such as Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and, Nick Carraway, and by using imagery and symbolism within the story. Here Daisy, Tom, Jordan, Nick and, Gatsby are arguing about how Gatsby said that Daisy never truly loved Tom, and Daisy is getting annoyed with Gatsby because he wants Daisy to admit that she never truly loved Tom. "Oh, you want too much!" she cried to Gatsby. "I love you now—isn't that enough? I can't help what's past." She began to sob helplessly. "I did love him once—but I loved you too."(Pg 132) Daisy is being corrupted by her lack of morality and humanity throughout the book, this
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
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...
In the beginning of chapter 2 the Valley of Ashes was introduced, the place where the poor people lived. Ashes grow like wheat into ridges, and the air is powdery, there are ashes everywhere. They make it seem as if everything is covered by ash, it’s a sad place, where no one wants to be. There is a small river that has a drawbridge for whenever something has to ge through. Everything there represents hopelessness and sadness, the only color that you are bound to see there is grey.