Great Gatsby Essay

Great Gatsby Essay

Light is most often a positive symbol, a sign of an optimistic future, a sign of revelation, a sign of one's goal, and it creates these symbol whether it be in general or religious context. In the novel "The Great Gatsby" by F.Scott Fitzgerald, the significance of light is enunciated, as it is able to represent human dreams, aspirations and essentially the path to the American Dream. Fitzgerald makes a big deal out of light imagery and shows that it follows people through the process of the American dream. This is evident by looking at green light, moon light and eventually, sunlight.

The color green in most cases is associated with money, wealth or a goal. This representation is important because it deals with the first example of light imagery, green light. Since the theme of the American dream deals with a certain wealthy life style an individual can assume it is only attainable through money. This basic understanding will make sense of the green lights first appearance in the novel when Nick first noticed Gatsby. "Involuntarily I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock" (Fitzgerald, 25). This quote comes from the first chapter when Nick Carraway notices Gatsby trying to reach towards a green light at dock which we learn later is towards Daisy's house. Since the novel deals with Gatsby trying to achieve the "American dream" which includes Daisy we can only assume that the green light represent his ambition/goals. Another example of how green light represents the first process (the goal) of the American dream would be in chapter 6. "Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her" (Fitzgerald, 90). The quote comes from chapter 5 when Daisy gets a tour of Gatsby house and Gatsby tells Daisy about the green light he noticed at the end of her dock. This quote would be a direct indication of how Daisy represents the green light or in other words of how the green light represents Gatsby's goals. Since Gatsby indicates that the green light was at the end of Daisy's dock and then discusses how the significance of the light vanished. Zn individual can only conclude that it disappeared only because at the brief moment he believed he had achieved his goal (getting Daisy). Now that the goal is learned the second process begins and the moonlight imagery comes into play.

Moonlight is often used to symbolise something/someone mysterious, from this understanding you can conclude moonlight will prevent individuals from seeing the reality of some things. This will deal with the second process of the American dream which is misconception; the ideas of which individuals believe will help them achieve their goal. "A change had come over him, and he spoke gravely, and with decision. As we walked across the moonlight gravel to the porch he disposed of the situation in a few brisk phrases" (Fitzgerald, 135). This quote comes from chapter 7 when everything is revealed about Gatsby and Tom is returning home with Nick and Jordan. An understanding of Tom's character you realise that he's not a genuinely nice person but rather a supercilious arrogant individual. The idea that he shows kindness is surprising and maybe unbelievable. A reader of the novel would put his/her understanding of Tom and the symbolism of moonlight together to arrive at the conclusion that this is just a "fake Tom". When you grasp the idea of moonlight showing some sort of imitation or hiding a characteristic you take this into account with the character Gatsby. "So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen