Symbolism in The Great Gatsby

1. Symbolism in The Great Gatsby

2. East and West • Nick describes the novel as a book about Westerners, a “story of the West.” • Tom, Daisy, Jordan, Gatsby, and Nick all hail from places other than the East. • The romanticized American idea of going West to seek and make one’s fortune on the frontier turned on its ear in the 1920’s stock boom; now those seeking their fortune headed back East to cash in. • But while Gatsby suggests there was a kind of honor in the hard work of making a fortune and building a life on the frontier, the quest for money in the East is nothing more than that: a hollow quest for money. • The split between the eastern and western regions of the United States is mirrored in Gatsby by the divide between East Egg and West Egg: once again the West is the frontier of people making their fortunes, but these “Westerners” are as hollow and corrupt inside as the “Easterners.”

3. People • Tom- power/abuse of power • Nick-un-innocent bystander • Gatsby- a dream deferred • Owl Eyes- all knowing, there for Gatsby when no one else is; twisted 20’s version of God • Daisy…see next slide • Jordan…See next slide

4. Daisy & Jordan • Fragile flower who can’t make up her mind • Daisy, of course, is guilty of superficiality and desires nothing less than self-satisfaction. • Jordan, on the other hand, possesses dishonest traits and is known for cheating. • What about the colors of a Daisy?

5. Colors • Colors are used in various points of the novel to represent different ideas/ideals and aspirations.

6. Yellow • Corruptness, decay • Gatsby’s car • Dr. T.J. Ekleberg’s glasses • The vivid, carefree brightness of the color yellow naturally attracts the attention of many. Objects associated with Gatsby's parties are for this reason illustrated in yellow.

7. Green • The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock is the symbol of Gatsby’s hopes and dreams. • It represents everything that haunts and beckons Gatsby: the physical and emotional distance between him and Daisy, the gap between the past and the present, the promises of the future, and the powerful lure of that other green stuff he craves—money. • . Long Island sound is “green” • George Wilson’s haggard tired face is “green” in the sunlight • Michaelis describes the car that kills Myrtle Wilson as “light green” (though it’s yellow) • Gatsby’s perfect lawn is green • The New World that Nick imagines Dutch explorers first stumbling upon is a “fresh, green breast.” • The symbolism of green throughout the novel is as variable and contradictory as the many definitions of “green” and the many uses of money—”new,” “natural,” “innocent,” “naive,” and “uncorrupted”; but also “rotten,” “gullible,” “nauseous,” and “sickly.”

8. White • Normally represents purity and goodness • Daisy and Jordan often seen in white • As Nick Learns more about Daisy and Jordan, their dresses become creamy, then yellow or gold. • East/West Egg • Eggs: white outside, yellow inside • Also represents superficiality • Who would this represent?

9. Gold • Represents wealth, but more so, the show of wealth. • Gatsby tried to win Daisy back by his parties and the show of wealth • Where do we see Gold mentioned?

10. Blue • symbolizes romance and illusions • Gatsby's dream-like parties are filled with blue music. • Blue possesses a showy attraction that appears promising and glamorous while distorting the actual image. • Myrtle is introduced in a "spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine", but it is confirmed that she displays no exceptional qualities of beauty. • Tom Buchanan’s Car

11. Pink • Possibly a sign of embarrassment • Childlike mind-set; innocence • “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such beautiful shirts before”. • Daisy to Gatsby: Gatsby’s silk shirts are an expression of the utmost exertion of all of Gatsby’s creative, interpretive, spiritual, purpose-seeking. • As she held those byproducts, those artifacts of his doomed, immortal soul, she must have felt the shadow of that terrible burden. That’s why Daisy weeps: because the responsibility that has been handed to her in absolute trust, in worship, is too much. 

12. Red • Blood and death • Myrtle, Gatsby, Wilson • Gatsby describes himself as a collector of jewels, "chiefly rubies," • Nick is dazzled by the glowing light, the reds, and the rosiness: he walks "through a high hallway into a bright rosy-colored space"; there is "a rosy-colored porch, open toward the sunset…” • "new red gas-pumps sat out in pools of light."

13. Summer • Summer is hot: represents the heat and boiling point of the story or conflict. • What is the high point/climax of the novel? • What do you remember about the description about the day’s weather?

14. Valley of Ashes • An area halfway between New York City and West Egg, the Valley of Ashes is an industrial wasteland covered in ash and soot. • If New York City represents all the “mystery and beauty in the world,” and West Egg represents the people who have gotten rich off the roaring economy of the Roaring Twenties, the Valley of Ashes stands for the dismal ruin of the people caught in between.

15. Gatsby’s Mansion • Gatsby’s mansion symbolizes two broader themes of the novel. • First, it represents the grandness and emptiness of the 1920s boom: Gatsby justifies living in it all alone by filling the house weekly with “celebrated people.” • Second, the house is the physical symbol of Gatsby’s love for Daisy. • Gatsby used his “new money” to create a place that he thought rivaled the houses of the “old money” that had taken her away.

16. Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg • The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg on the billboard overlooking the Valley of Ashes represent many things at once: • to Nick they seem to symbolize the haunting waste of the past, which lingers on though it is irretrievably vanished, much like Dr. Eckleburg’s medical practice. • The eyes can also be linked to Gatsby, whose own eyes, once described as “vacant,” often stare out, blankly keeping “vigil” (a word Fitzgerald applies to both Dr. Eckleburg’s eyes and Gatsby’s) over Long Island sound and the green light. • To George Wilson, Dr. Eckleburg’s eyes are the eyes of God, which he says see everything.

17. Cars • Symbolize status and represent carelessness/recklessness • Gatsby's car represents his egotism; in essence the car is a representation of himself. "It was rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length…” • At first, Gatsby's car is a cream color, but it soon evolves into a yellow instrument of death. (Yellow symbolizes money and materialism that eventually leads to the destruction of the American Dream).

18. Water • usually seen as representing hopelessness and despair • It is used when Gatsby and Daisy meet alone for the first time, The rain during the Tea Party, when Gatsby is murdered by the angry Wilson, and at Gatsby's poorly attended funeral