What Does The Valley Of Ashes Symbolize In The Great Gatsby
Gatsby Symbols
Symbols within The Great Gatsby play an important role in outlining major themes, conveying certain characters attributes and foreshadowing upcoming events. This allows readers to understand the overall meaning and message put forth by the novel in a deeper sense.
One of the first symbols mentioned in the book is the Valley of Ashes. This is an area between West
Egg and New York consisting of a large area of desolate land described as, “A fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.” The Valley of Ashes is representative …show more content…
This lead to careless spending and extravagant uses of money, which would eventually lead to the 1929 stock market crash. Throughout the novel, we see how money is thrown around in this upper class society through Gatsby’s parties and the overwhelming extravagance of them. Guests marvel over his
Rolls-Royce, his swimming pool, his beach, crates of fresh oranges and lemons, buffet tents in the gardens overflowing with a feast, and a live orchestra playing under the stars.
This carefree spending of money is also conveyed through Tom and Daisy, this is shown through when Nick describes how Tom and Daisy spent a year in France for no reason, they simply had the money and ability to do it. “Why they came East I don't know. They had spent a year in France for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.”
Finally, the automobile within The Great Gatsby reflects the Jazz age as during this time mass production had started, and the car became a popular and more affordable use of transport.
Cars were seen as a status of wealth and a sense of new found freedom. In the novel,
Symbols within The Great Gatsby play an important role in outlining major themes, conveying certain characters attributes and foreshadowing upcoming events. This allows readers to understand the overall meaning and message put forth by the novel in a deeper sense.
One of the first symbols mentioned in the book is the Valley of Ashes. This is an area between West
Egg and New York consisting of a large area of desolate land described as, “A fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.” The Valley of Ashes is representative …show more content…
This lead to careless spending and extravagant uses of money, which would eventually lead to the 1929 stock market crash. Throughout the novel, we see how money is thrown around in this upper class society through Gatsby’s parties and the overwhelming extravagance of them. Guests marvel over his
Rolls-Royce, his swimming pool, his beach, crates of fresh oranges and lemons, buffet tents in the gardens overflowing with a feast, and a live orchestra playing under the stars.
This carefree spending of money is also conveyed through Tom and Daisy, this is shown through when Nick describes how Tom and Daisy spent a year in France for no reason, they simply had the money and ability to do it. “Why they came East I don't know. They had spent a year in France for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.”
Finally, the automobile within The Great Gatsby reflects the Jazz age as during this time mass production had started, and the car became a popular and more affordable use of transport.
Cars were seen as a status of wealth and a sense of new found freedom. In the novel,