Gatsby Essay

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Hovorka 1

Ashton Hovorka
Mrs.Freeman
English
November 5, 2013
Color/ Symbolism
Fitzgerald uses color and symbolism to portray deeper meanings in his work The great Gatsby. Throughout the book he has major symbols, like the green light on Daisy’s dock, the valley of ashes, Doctor T.J.
Eckleburgs eyes, Daisy herself, etc. Fitzgerald also uses color very effectively in the book. The two main colors he uses is green and yellow.
Because green and yellow are symbolic for wealth. Here are a few examples of color and symbolism.
One of the most famous symbol in The great Gatsby are “the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic” (Fitzgerald 23). Now this character Doctor T.J. Eckleburg has nothing to do with the book or is even in it, but his eyes are very symbolic for the eyes of god. And I believe the symbolism Fitzgerald put behind him is that any action an individual makes in the book is going to be seen or resurface sometime in there life.

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The eyes are also placed in sorta “the run down part of town” in the valley of ashes which is also a symbolic part of the book “But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg.” (fitzgerald
23). The color gray and black are associated with the valley of ashes, and i believe Fitzgerald used these colors and named this place “the valley of ashes”. To help the reader infer that the area once “was” and the sorrow of the community. I thought this because the book takes place post war, and i thought of the area as a product of post war economy. I also thought how clever it was how Fitzgerald placed the eyes in the middle of the valley of ashes, he wanted them to stand out to the reader.
Another symbol, which is very famous to the book, is the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock “and distinguished nothing except a single green light,” (Fitzgerald 21). This light, i believe is very detrimental to the character development of Gatsby. This symbolizes the hopes and dreams, of not only Gatsby, but anyone with ambition “I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock.” (Fitzgerald 180). The green light also symbolizes the wealth that Gatsby wants to obtain.

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Its not the wealth he already has (because he is already very wealthy), but the wealth of Daisy’s love. Gatsby, the whole book had the dream of Daisy running off with him, but not only that. He wanted her to tell her husband that she doesn't love him nor did she ever love him. That is why i believe Fitzgerald placed the light at the end of Daisy’s dock, to symbolize peoples dreams, and the dream that Gatsby has of Daisy.
Another symbol fitzgerald used in the form of a
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