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Analysis: The Great Gatsby - 1 views

www.msu.edu/...gatsby.html

shared by Bria Frame on 05 Oct 12 - No Cached

- Bria Frame on 05 Oct 12
  
  I feel like this really sums up the importance of symbolism. It's a really good synthesis of why we should note symbolism and how it gives the story meaning.
  
  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">I feel like this really sums up the importance of symbolism. It's a really good synthesis of why we should note symbolism and how it gives the story meaning.</div>
  
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Green is the color of promise, hope, and renewal - so it is fitting that Gatsby's dream of a future with Daisy be represented physically in the novel by this green light.
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- Bria Frame on 05 Oct 12
  
  Note: the Valley of Ashes was actually a place that Fitzgerald was describing, not a theoretical "valley of ashes."
  
  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Note: the Valley of Ashes was actually a place that Fitzgerald was describing, not a theoretical "valley of ashes."</div>
  
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...13 more annotations...
it is through advertising that the material aspects of the American Dream are revealed.
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Wilson, a very non-religious man, compares the doctor's eyes to those of God, watching over him through the "foul dust" and desolate wasteland in which the novel is set.
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The Great Gatsby is
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an insight into the flaws of real life during the "Roaring Twenties."
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a symbol for the "Jazz Age,"
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presenting the truth behind the twenties and creating an atmosphere which has earned a permanent place in American literature.
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Daisy is compared to the "Holy Grail"
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All these previous symbols - the green light, the ash heap, and the east and west - have one thing in common: change
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all major characters change where they live, with Tom and Daisy a prime example - moving frequently from place to place throughout their life before arriving at East Egg.
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Gatsby changes his name
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finally we have the changing of the seasons, which symbolically correspond to changes in the storyline during The Great Gatsby
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Overlooking this ash heap of the present are the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, which change in meaning throughout the novel. In chapter two, they symbolize materialism and advertising gone mad, showing how corrupt the American Dream and American idealism have become. However, later in the novel his eyes are compared to those of God - changing their meaning to a more spiritual one - symbolizing how American spirituality has been corrupted by our quest for wealth and material possessions.
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Gatsby cannot change because his life is based on a dream he set for himself as a youth and Tom and Daisy cannot develop because their life is one big advertisement, living in eternal youth, beauty, and wealth. Nick however, changes a great deal throughout the novel - which we see most prominently in two statements he makes
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