Great gatsby what does the valley of ashes symbolize

However, recognized or not, sloth produces guilt and depression Pynchon, 1 , causing a deep dissatisfaction. Even though dissatisfied, Couch Potatoes are too slothful to change, which leaves a modern society with a group of unproductive, lazy and anxious people whose number is gradually. As seen in The Pearl, wealth and the idea of wealth drew people further apart. The wealthy whites of the village is what left the darks on the outskirts of town.

This wealth also brought the power disparity. It is common in the world that whoever has the money also has the power to do more. Due to the wealth and power disparity in The Pearl, the darks were left behind and were shown no kindness from the whites. In the Great Gatsby, the valley of ashes is the dark side of the American Dream. The valley of ashes was a wasteland created by the waste of industrial ashes, which represented the lower class of society decay that results from not pursuing of wealth and those who have not yet achieved the American Dream.

In the valley of ashes lives Myrtle and George Wilson, which George is owner of an old auto shop in the valley of ashes. Myrtle Wilson is the mistress of Tom Buchanan, which she later dies by getting hit by Daisy Buchanan in the valley of ashes. After Myrtle dies in the valley of ashes Jay Gatsby tell Daisy to say that he was the one that killed daisy. Myrtle Wilson : George's wife remains vibrant and colorful despite her 11 years living in the middle of the ash heaps.

Her dreams of escape enable her to avoid being covered with the dust that ends up burying everyone else. However, because her path to leaving centers on Tom, the valley of ashes ends up being Myrtle's death trap. Society and Class : Everyone who can afford to move away from the dirty and depressing valley does so, which means the only people that left to live and work there are those who have no other options. The state of this area shows what happens in a culture where getting ahead is valued above all other things: those who cannot succeed on these vicious terms have no recourse but being buried alive by pollution and misery.

The Eyes of Doctor T. Eckleburg : The billboard that features the strikingly disquieting disembodied giant eyes of Doctor T. Eckleburg is located in the middle of the valley of ashes, right next to Wilson's garage. Just as the ash heaps reveal the huge gulf between the poor and the rich, so the eyes stare at the devastation that heedless capitalism has created.

This stare seems accusatory, but of course, the eyes are completely inanimate, and so whatever guilt they produce in the person they are looking at dissipates almost immediately.

Symbols: Colors. Fitzgerald doesn't deviate from the standard association of the color gray in this novel. It describes things that are dirty, unpleasant, dull, uninteresting, monotonous, and generally depressing—all qualities that are associated with the ash heaps as well. When this color is combined with the ashes, it also stands for death, decay, and destruction all the fun "d" words.

Motif: Cars. Although most of the time, the novel treats cars as a dangerous, exciting, and liberating mode of transportation, these positive qualities fade away whenever cars enter the valley of death:. This might well be the first time a drawbridge was directly connected to murder Now that we've explored the layers of meanings behind the valley of ashes, you're in a good place to think about how to write about this symbol.

Here are some tips for how to write an essay about the role of a symbol in a novel, including the valley of ashes:. Here are some possible essay arguments. You can build from them as-is, argue their opposite, or use them as jumping-off points for your own interpretation. The valley of ashes shows what happens to people who try to pursue the American Dream through honest hard work—they end up nowhere.

The valley of ashes is only the most obvious site of decay in the novel. In reality, all of the places show signs of rot and decomposition which underpins the seemingly glittering lifestyle of the rich characters. The whole place might as well have barbed wire around it for how easy it is to escape. Revisit Chapter 2 , Chapter 4 , and Chapter 8 to see the context surrounding mentions of the valley and its ash heaps. You can even explore why the valley of ashes almost made it into the title of the novel here.

Consider the characters of George and Myrtle Wilson to understand why he succumbs to the ash heaps and she rises above them. You can also read about all the other symbols in The Great Gatsby.

While the Valley of Ashes is all about imagery and tone words , there are several other l iterary elements at play in The Great Gatsby. Learn how to spot personification and rhetorical devices in action with our guides. Read up on assonance , iambic pentameter , and point of view. We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score.

Download it for free now:. In Chapter 9, Nick compares the green light to how America, rising out of the ocean, must have looked to early settlers of the new nation. First introduced in Chapter 2, the valley of ashes between West Egg and New York City consists of a long stretch of desolate land created by the dumping of industrial ashes. It represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure.

The valley of ashes also symbolizes the plight of the poor, like George Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result. The eyes of Doctor T. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes. They may represent God staring down upon and judging American society as a moral wasteland, though the novel never makes this point explicitly.

Instead, throughout the novel, Fitzgerald suggests that symbols only have meaning because characters instill them with meaning. The connection between the eyes of Doctor T. Read More. Words: - Pages: 8. Words: - Pages: 5. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby Myrtle perishes in the valley of the ashes, furthering the theme that the corruption of wealth will lead to the death of American morality. Words: - Pages: 4.

Words: - Pages: 6. Social Class In F. Words: - Pages: 9. Great Gatsby Morality Their insane desire for the life of upper class crushed out their ideals. Words: - Pages: 7. Related Topics.