Symbolism In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

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Matt Robinson Honors English 3 Mrs. Carr October 31, 2014 Symbolism The Great Gatsby is loaded with different types of symbolism which has to do with colors and objects and makes the reader have to infer or contextually figure out. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. Fitzgerald uses this idea of symbolism throughout the entire book. The major examples of symbolism in the book are The Valley of Ashes which represents the poor and hopeless, The Green Light which represents Gatsby’s dream of being with Gatsby and The Eyes of T.J. Eckleburg which represent God or the growing industries of America. Symbolism is very important in this book. The characters characteristics are depicted through objects colors and phrases. …show more content…

The Green Light also represents the past because he wants to believe that Daisy never loved Tom but she can’t admit to it. Gatsby wants Daisy to be his metaphorical trophy because she is sought by many men and this makes Gatsby feel as he is the greatest out of these men. Gatsby can’t move on from the past and uses Daisy as something to cling on to. He is still seeking the same Daisy which he met 5 years ago and he’s still trying to relive the life he once had. He still reaches for the Green Light and tries to achieve his dream with Daisy but the harder he pushes the more he drives her …show more content…

Most things in the book have more meaning than to what they actually are. You have your own opinion of how the symbolism is depicted. Symbols like The Valley of Ashes, the Green Light, and the Eyes of Dr. Eckleburg are only three of the many examples of symbolism within the novel. The Great Gatsby uses this in order to get points across without actually telling you. When you look at certain things in the book you can’t just skim across it and keep reading you have look deeper into the text and use context to figure out the actual meaning. So as Fitzgerald says “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”(Fitzgerald

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