Rather than simply telling his readers she lives in the slums, he uses textual evidence to link the barren valley of ashes to Myrtle's character. Fitzgerald refers to the valley of ashes as a " fantastic farm" in which "ashes grow like wheat," when in fact it is just a dumping ground for industrial waste. Those words portray Myrtle's tragic figure in the sense that she has to live in a representation of the high-class, lavish East Egg. The valley of ashes is also a representation of the situation of the poor. For example, the author portrays Myrtle to be a tragic figure that wants to have all the riches in life; unfortunately, she is set back and in a way shunned out of that category because she is just another one of those "ash-grey men" lost, somewhere, within those filthy
Rather than simply telling his readers she lives in the slums, he uses textual evidence to link the barren valley of ashes to Myrtle's character. Fitzgerald refers to the valley of ashes as a " fantastic farm" in which "ashes grow like wheat," when in fact it is just a dumping ground for industrial waste. Those words portray Myrtle's tragic figure in the sense that she has to live in a representation of the high-class, lavish East Egg. The valley of ashes is also a representation of the situation of the poor. For example, the author portrays Myrtle to be a tragic figure that wants to have all the riches in life; unfortunately, she is set back and in a way shunned out of that category because she is just another one of those "ash-grey men" lost, somewhere, within those filthy