What Does The Green Light Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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In the world today, no matter people's beliefs or culture, the color green symbolizes nature which correlates directly to hope and confidence. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the color green is described through a green light at the end of a boat dock. At the beginning, the green light is used to symbolize the hope of reaching his dream of being with Daisy. In the middle, the green appears again, but this time the light represents the dream slipping away from Gatsby's hands. Then the light comes up at the end, which symbolizes and reminds of Gatsby's death. Throughout the novel, the green light symbolizes Gatsby’s original hope, corruption of dreams, and his short lived life.
The first time the green light is brought up is in the first chapter. The night of the dinner party as Nick was walking into his house, he saw Gatsby stretching out his arms to a mysterious green light. Nick describes that “Involuntarily I glanced seaward - and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald 21). Later in the novel, it is revealed that the green …show more content…
After Gatsby dies, Nick is walking on the dock and reflecting on the life of Jay Gatsby. He says, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (Fitzgerald 180). Now that Gatsby is gone, the dream and significance is no longer existent. This also represents the short life that Gatsby lived. If he would not have been killed, the significance of the light would still be in effect. More of this is described in the passage, “It eluded us then, but that’s no matter - to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And one fine morning” (Fitzgerald 180). In this quote, Fitzgerald goes into more detail about the lost dream. He describes the idea of the dream and how Gatsby would do anything to live in his imaginary
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