What Does The Valley Of Ashes Symbolize In The Great...

The Great Gatsby, by F.S. Fitzgerald is set in America, New York City and Long Island, during the roaring twenties after World War 1. It is a hedonistic society which pursued the American Dream selfishly and recklessly. Fitzgerald used symbolism throughout his novel to emphasise and enhance the idea of the American Dream and the pursuit behind it. In the 1920s it was almost every Americans aspiration to host extravagant parties, own the finest cars, live in elaborate and expensive homes and to live an overall lavish and over-the-top lifestyle. Americans seemed to prefer the from time to time corrupt but eccentric lifestyle to moral decency. Fitzgerald uses symbolism through aspects such as colour, setting, characters and names to signify the American Dream and the importance it held to Americans of the 1920s.

In Fitzgerald’s novel, colour is a recurring symbolic circumstance he has used to display the pursuit of the American dream. Within the first chapter Nick Caraway describes Gatsby stretching “out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way”, when Nick looked up he “glanced seaward—and …show more content…
The Valley of Ashes is described as a “desolate are of land” which is between east and west egg. The colour yellow reappears quite a bit in this setting. The Valley of Ashes represents the moral decay of society and the irresponsible and inattentive pursuit of wealth and the dream. The events that occur in the valley of ashes are representative of the fact that people do not think about others but are selfish when chasing their dreams. Tom does not think about Daisy and the hurt she would feel from the affair, much like how Myrtle does not think of George when joining in the affair. Daisy and Gatsby did not stop after running over and killing Myrtle. Even though Daisy was driving, Gatsby had been so self-immersed in Daisy that anything he did for her was selfish on his

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What Does The Valley Of Ashes Symbolize In The Great Gatsby