Symbolism in the Great Gatsby

Cary L. Pannell Eng. 206 Mrs. Sanders 20 May 1997 Symbolism in The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby, by F.
      Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel about one man's disenchantment with the American dream. In the story we get a
      glimpse into the life of Jay Gatsby, a man who aspired to achieve a position among the American rich to win the
      heart of his true love, Daisy Fay. Gatsby's downfall was in the fact that he was unable to determine that
      concealed boundary between reality and illusion in his life. The Great Gatsby is a tightly structured, symbolically
      compressed novel whose predominant images and symbols reinforce the idea that Gatsby's dream exists on
      borrowed time. Fitzgerald perfectly understood the inadequacy of Gatsby's romantic view of wealth. At a young
      age he met and fell in love with Ginevra King, a Chicago girl who enjoyed the wealth and social position to which
      Fitzgerald was always drawn. After being rejected by Ginevra because of his lower social standing, Fitzgerald
      came away with a sense of social inadequacy, a deep hurt, and a longing for the girl beyond attainment. This
      disappointment grew into distrust and envy of the American rich and their lifestyle. These personal feelings are
      expressed in Gatsby. The rich symbolize the failure of a civilization and the way of life and this flaw becomes
      apparent in the characters of Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story, quickly
      became disillusioned with the upper social class after having dinner at their home on the fashionable East Egg
      Island. "Nick is forced unwillingly to observe the violent contrast between their opportunities- what is implied by
      the gracious surface of their existence- and the seamy underside which is it's reality" (Way 93). In the Buchanans,
      and in Nick's reaction to them, Fitzgerald shows us how completely the American upper class has failed to
      become an... [continues]

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