Jaissica Li

2016/10/31
Teacher: Mrs. Hunt
American Dream and The Great Gatsby

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayed the actual quality of

life in America during the 1920s. In the book, the author uses some symbols
to highlight the actual life of the times. The author used the setting of the
book and the green light to represent his idea and portrayed the life during
the Roaring Twenties.
In the book, the first symbol of life is from the 3 major settings I the
novel: East egg, West egg and the Valley of the Ashes. The West egg and
East egg in the novel represent the American dream of going to the West to
seek for money and have a good fortune for people during the Roaring
Twenties. In Chapter 7, Michalis saw Wilson sick in his office and heard
Myrtle struggling upstairs. Wilson told him he had locked her up until they
moved west the following day. The West Egg symbolizes the people who
already rich off during the Roaring Economy of the 1920s. The West is a
place for people to make their fortune during the Roaring of the Twenties, but
people who were going to the West actually corrupted inside as the
Easterners.
In the book, the Valley of Ashes could represent the gloomy ruin of
people who caught in between during the time period. Ashes represents poor

people like George Wilson. They lived in dirty ashes and want to become
people like Gatsby or Tom or rich ones. But they will never become the
person that they wish they were but lost their life at the end.
Another symbol of the unattainable equality, which is the green light at
the end of Daisys dock symbolizes the Gatsbys failed hope. The green light
shows up everywhere in the novel and represents the gap between Daisy
and Gatsby, the past and present, and money. Nick considers calling out to
Gatsby, but stops himself when he sees Gatsby extend his arms out toward
the far side of the water. Gatsby is looking at the green light at the end of
Daisys dock. During this point, it is not clear what the green light
symbolizes, but it symbolized Gatsbys some hopes and dreams. He had
hoped that the magnificent house would impress her and win back her love.
Nick realizes that the green light he saw Gatsby gazing at sits at the end of
Daisys dock. Daisy sees money more important than love and Gatsby made
himself rich in which he think money will get her back. Gatsby represents the
New Money and Tom Represents the Old Money. The green light
represents Gatsbys hope that Daisy could come back to his life and also the
corruption of the American dream.
In The Great Gatsby, the author uses different symbols to represent the
actual inequality of life during the Roaring Twenties of America. The Green
light symbolizes peoples failed hope and the setting symbolizes the actual
situation during the 1920s.