Examples Of The Valley Of Ashes In The Great Gatsby

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Fitzgerald’s description of the valley of ashes captures the reality of what the American Dream symbolizes in context of the novel. Fitzgerald’s use of colorless diction such as “ashes… smoke… ash-gray…bleak dust” (Fitzgerald 23), symbolically portray the obscured moral values amongst society. Daisy’s love affair with Gatsby, Tom’s love affair with Myrtle, Tom deceiving Gatsby, and Gatsby deceiving Tom, demonstrate the selfishness that exists among these characters. Personal gain and pleasure blind them from considering the consequences of their actions. Their minds justify any infidelity or act of revenge with the idea that because someone else did it to them, they have the right to do it to someone else.
The valley of ashes underlines the