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Symbolism Essay
Symbolism Essay
Soobin Park Pd. 2

Individual brains make different perceptions, and sometimes the brain can change one tiny little green light to be a meaningful hope. In the novel Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald describes fallibility of the American dream. He mainly focuses on a young man, Jay Gatsby, who after falling in love with a woman from the social elite, makes a lot of money in an effort to win her love. The green light in the novel Great Gatsby is described as American dream, hope, and optimism. Green light portraits the American dream which is the social ideals of United States. In the novel Great Gatsby, the American dream is dead. F. Scott Fitzgerald gives us a glimpse into the life of the high class during the twenties through the eyes of young man named Nick Carraway. Nick finds out that ever since he was young, Jay Gatsby worked hard on becoming a great man with his American dream. In the novel, Nick Carraway says that “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us (180).” Nick is saying that Gatsby tried to achieve his American dream but he failed, because the American dream is dead. By writing many examples, Fitzgerald symbolizes the death of American dream as a green light. Green is the color of hope. In the novel Great Gatsby, Gatsby says “if it wasn’t for the mist, we could see your home across the bay (92).” Then Nick says “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 has seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one (93).” The quote from Great Gatsby tells the readers that the hope of Gatsby being in love with Daisy is unattainable. The green light is used to symbolize the hope that Gatsby dreamed of,

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