The Role Of The Valley Of Ashes In The Great Gatsby

Words: 357
Pages: 2

Ashes consists of the disposing of industrial ashes similar to how the people in the 1920s were disposing their moral values. Fitzgerald mentions that when Nick first arrives in the Valley of Ashes he is greeted with an old billboard poster covered with the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. “But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground” (Fitzgerald 24). Eckleburg’s eyes, which is a main part of the Valley of Ashes, represent God’s disappointment in the behavior of the people in the 1920s. It is extremely evident that throughout this novel the moral values of people in the 1920s are lacking tremendously. The Valley of Ashes plays an essential role in developing the message Fitzgerald