Preview

What Does The Green Light Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1393 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Does The Green Light Symbolize In The Great Gatsby
GREEN LIGHT Symbolism, the appropriation of an object or word to represent an abstract idea of quality, is used in literature in order to communicate a deeper meaning and facilitate weaving the thematic intricacies of the plot with one another. In the highly acclaimed novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, symbols are mentioned frequently to provide insight, such as the omniscient eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleberg, the mysterious Valley of Ashes, and the glowing green light Gatsby finds himself mesmerized with. The green light Gatsby reaches out for at the end of Daisy's east egg dock represents his hopes and dreams, and is symbolic of Daisy as his ultimate key to success, not only romantically, but monetarily and socially, exemplifying …show more content…
When Gatsby first met Daisy Buchannan in her hometown of Louisville, he was James Gatz, a young military officer leaving to fight in World War I. He fell in love with her aura of sophistication, of luxury, grace, charm and beauty, and consequently, lied to her about his background of poverty to convince her he was worthy of her. And still, when he goes to fight in the war, Daisy marries Tom, who is rich and powerful, everything Gatsby hopes for himself in the future. Gatsby, through various means is able to afford a luxurious West Egg nouveaux rich lifestyle, living in a mansion across from Daisy's own in East Egg. Gatsby longingly reaches out for the green light he sees on her dock miles away. "But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone- he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced …show more content…
James Gatz, as Gatsby was born, lived in North Dakota with a poor family in 1890. Gatsby takes advantage of society by making a fortune from bootlegging, thanks to his association with various con artists, especially Meyer Wolfsheim who is, as Gatsby later tells Nick, "the man who fixed the World's Series back in 1919." With the vast income he was able to accrue, Gatsby purchased a mansion in West Egg of Long Island, home to the nouveau riche, or new rich, across the bay from the old-money East Egg, where Daisy Buchanan, her husband Tom and their three-year-old daughter lived. The green light for Gatsby is symbolic of the physical and emotional distance between him and Daisy, and how because of their different social classes they will never be together. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." Nick concludes. In saying this, he notices the tendency of humans to both transcend and recreate their pasts. However, he shows they are unable to move from the past. Gatsby tried so much to reform his life, to make himself the perfect man for Daisy, but in the end he would never be the same social class as her. She would

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The green light at the end of Tom Buchanan’s dock represents one of the many motifs in The…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the symbolic nature of the green light conveys the message that love and hope inflate expectations and lead to disappointing outcomes. When Nick Carraway returns home from meeting with Daisy and Tom Buchanan, he sees Jay Gatsby with his arms “stretched out… towards the dark water” and staring at “a single green light” that was “minute and far away” (Fitzgerald 25-26). Gatsby’s deep desire for the distant light became his equally distant goal and unrealistic dream. Gatsby connects the green light to his longing for Daisy that continued to grow until he expected her to reach the unattainable and imaginative. After five years of longing, Daisy and Gatsby reconnect in Nick’s home where Gatsby’s “colossal…

    • 199 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Great Gatsby there were countless areas in the book that had emotions, feelings, and many other characteristics represented by various colors. Gatsby was one of the characters that had some of these colors representing his different characteristics. Gatsby was referenced to many colors, but a couple that stood out more than the others were yellow, green, and pink/red. Yellow has a lot of possible meanings, however, the ones pertaining to Gatsby include his moments of criticality, and corruptness. Another color that has some significance to Gatsby is Green. Green can show both Gatsby’s wealth and corruptness. The last color pertaining to Gatsby is pink/red which can illustrate lust as well as danger. The colors yellow, green,…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "A symbol, in the broad sense, is an image, an incident, or an item in a work that takes on a significance other than its evident objective meaning" (Lathbury 171). Symbolism assists a reader in understanding the true meaning of an object or event. It makes it easier for the author to create a tone that is easy to understand. Color is the clearest form of symbolism. Specific colors represent specific emotions or feelings. For example, red would show anger or violence whereas yellow would represent happiness. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, color symbolized joy, hopefulness and wealth that overshadows the hardships of life.…

    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dreams. A condition or achievement that is longed for. An aspiration. Dreams can give one hope and courage to complete some of their wildest fantasies. They can build desires in one's hearts, and bring individuals closer together. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates the idea that dreams are not always obtainable they are mere illusions. He best conveys this idea to the readers through the symbolism of money, the green light, and the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg because they play an integral role in urging the characters to dream.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Out of the many symbolic things in the Great Gatsby, the most prolific one is most definitely the green light at the end of the Buchanan’s dock. There is much thought and analysis about exactly what it represents. It could mean anything from Gatsby’s inability to let go of the past, to an unattainable dream , or the American dream.…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Symbolism plays a huge role in The Great Gatsby, they help add to the understanding that we get from the novel itself. Fitzgerald uses many symbols throughout the novel such as colors to symbolize a character's inner thoughts and feelings. The symbols are very much tied into the story to make implications more real. Fitzgerald conveys the spectacular lives of the ugly, rich, poor and the desperate through simple colors and objects.…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald there are many instances where symbolism is used. For sample, the green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan's dock represents the hope that Gatsby has that someday he and Daisy will finally be together. Symbolism also helps bring the theme of the novel to light. The most notable theme in this novel is love can make a person blind. Love plays a major role in the novel. All the actions of Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy are in direct relation with who or what they love. Throughout the novel, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleberg are used as a symbol for not truly seeing what is actually happening.…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The drawing I made about the Great Gatsby is about how Gatsby's dream with the green light. The green light is his dream to become wealthy successful. He also includes that everyone has a greenlight. That green light is how Daisy and him went out and how they got back together 5 years later. Another thing is that gatsby's way of the green light means that you have to be born into wealth or brought into it. That means that you have to do whatever you can to make a lot of money until you say that you are satisfied.…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Firstly, Nick introduces Gatsby in the novel. “Gatsby turned out alright at the end, it was preyed on Gatsby, what fool dust floated in the wake dream of his dreams and temporarily closed out my interest.”(44) Gatsby is fills with a single dream and that is to get out of West Egg and move to the East. He buys the nicest house, car, everything because he thought that would make him happy but it does not, it destroys him even more. He has his own little fantasy of what he thinks is expects from him and to get his one true love back, Daisy. Therefore, Nick is stating a fact after Gatsby’s death about how he has hope for Daisy return. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year recedes before us. He eluded us then, but that’s no matter-tomorrow we will run faster stretch out our arms farther[…] and then one fine morning-so we beat on, boasts against current , borne back ceasly into the past.”(173). The green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams with Daisy in the future after coming back from the war the light is away to guide him into Daisy’s heart and a sense of goal that he has. He has to be able but as it turns out he will not. He will not grasp with the moment of being with Daisy once again. Thirdly, Nick is talking to Gatsby’s closest friend [Wolshiem] “‘when a man gets killed I never like to get mixed up in it any way I keep out, when I was a young…

    • 1344 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine being the most wealthy person in America during the 1920’s, but are at a standstill of reaching the one most unachievable goal, one that everyone wants, the American dream. In America, during the roaring twenties, everybody was set to make the most money. This is represented in the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in this novel a young man named Jay Gatsby had everything everyone wanted except one portion of the American dream. That was love, Gatsby loved a woman named daisy but was sent off to war, and came back later to find out that his love was just across the bay married to another wealthy man, Tom Buchanan. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses many colors in the novel “The Great Gatsby” to highlight…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    James Gatz was born into a poverty stricken family in North Dakota. "His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" (Fitzgerald 104). He grew into adulthood wanting nothing more than to obtain wealth and not live as he was forced to in his youth. Subsequently, James "invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent" (Fitzgerald 104). Eventually, Gatsby met Daisy, a well-off girl and they formed a relationship leading to a love affair that was abruptly interrupted by World War I. Ensuing the war, Daisy no longer had an interest in Gatsby because of his lack of riches. Therefore, Daisy served as Jay's driving force to obtain wealth. Gatsby would go to great lengths to acquire a substantial amount of money, which is why he resorted to bootlegging and illegal interactions with Meyer Wolfshiem, his "business associate". After receiving enough money to live a more than comfortable life, Gatsby was able to purchase a massive mansion on the West Egg of Long Island. To possibly attract Daisy's attention, he would throw loud, expensive parties in hopes that…

    • 1238 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    GREAT GATSBY

    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the novel, The Great Gatsby, there were many symbols used to resemble the characters ideas and the novel’s story line. Some very important symbols throughout the book were Dr. T.J Eckleburg’s eyes, the green light, the valley of ashes, and the colors. I thought that the most important symbol explained in this novel was the green light. The green light was mentioned numerous times throughout the story and stuck with us while we tried to figure out if Gatsby was right for Daisy. The green light sounds like something not worth writing about, but it is really the most important symbolic feature of the whole novel.…

    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The flashing light at the end of the dock across the water is first symbolically associated with Daisy. However, throughout the novel it gains new aspects and connotations, covering a full circle at the end of the novel. Throughout the novel the green light symbolizes various elements: Daisy's love, money, renewal, death, and American Dream.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A Broken Dream

    • 1234 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Deep inside the heart of every human being lives a dream so all consuming that the person would go to almost any length to achieve it. In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby has an ambition that completely consumes every inch of his being. It drives him to such extremes that he becomes a slave to his lust for success. The story begins with Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner now living on Long Island, who finds himself fascinated by the mysterious and extravagent lifestyle of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. As the story unfolds Nick must watch as Gatsby gives up his identity to see that his lifelong dream of success is fulfilled. The key to Gatsby’s success lies buried in the heart of the woman that he loves and absolutely obsesses over, Mrs. Daisy Buchanan. Daisy is a married woman and mother who is extremely shallow and materialistic. Yet, somehow she has managed to capture Gatsby’s devotion. Fitzgerald uses many symbols to show the evolution and weight of Gatsby’s dream, however, the most prominent is a green light stationed on the end of Daisy’s dock that lies directly across a bay from Gatsby’s mansion. This light started as a dream and ended in a failure to let go of the past. Fitzgerald uses the green light to portray the evolution of the hopes and dreams of Jay Gatsby as he trys to do the impossible, relive the past.…

    • 1234 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays