Green Light In The Great Gatsby Essay

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The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is considered a literary masterpiece by millions of readers in that the piece captures both the prosperity and despair of life during the 1920s. This novel exposes the hardships the main character, Jay Gatsby, endures while pursuing the American dream. Gatsby believes that having possession of materialistic objects such as a large house, fancy car, lavish clothing, and the woman of his dreams, will help him to obtain the American Dream. However, Gatsby is a visionary of the future and his dissatisfaction will never cease until he achieves the life he always dreamed of. Unfortunately, Gatsby’s dreams are much larger than reality, which render them unreachable. Overall, the presence of the green light supports the overarching theme that reality often falls short of one’s expectations.
Throughout the novel, the green light symbolizes Gatsby’s hopes and dreams of one day acquiring the object of his obsession: Daisy Buchanan.
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In the beginning of the novel, the green light is seen as a source of hope for the future, in which Gatsby desires to obtain the woman he desires most. As the novel ventures further, the reader becomes entranced by the idea of Gatsby and Daisy together, like a fairytale ending. In an instant the green light vanishes as Daisy transforms into an object instead of a living being, which primarily demonstrates that the “real” Daisy cannot live up to the Daisy that Gatsby has envisioned. Towards the end of the book, Gatsby seems to be the only character oblivious to his chances with Daisy, in that he still has hope for their future together. To conclude, The Great Gatsby is a novel of much literary prestige because of the way Fitzgerald is able to capture the turmoil of the