Green Light In The Great Gatsby
The American dream is defined as “the ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved” by the Oxford English Dictionary. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald uses a green light to create symbolism and foreshadow the theme of the novel: the American dream. The green light is located directly across Gatsby’s dock and originates from the home of Daisy Buchanan. The scene in which Nick Carraway first encounters Gatsby, where Gatsby is standing at the end of his dock and reaching towards the mysterious green light plays a major role in the development of the entire novel. The green light is a major symbol used by Fitzgerald at the beginning
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Green is associated with nature and plants, which without it, there would be no life on earth. In the case of the novel, the green light represents Daisy and the hope of keeping the American dream alive for Gatsby. The American dream is achieved by gaining wealth and love. Coincidentally, money is also associated with the colour green. Money is a major theme in The Great Gatsby because it separated the social classes. Gatsby was born as James Gatz and came from a very poor family. This made Gatsby feel not worthy of Daisy. Therefore, Gatsby turned to illegal activity in order to achieve wealth and then win over Daisy. This shows the corruption that green represents. It symbolized the greed of money that many individuals encounter when pursuing the American dream. Daisy was the missing piece to Gatsby’s great American dream. The green light represented the little hope he had in completing his American dream. This is why Fitzgerald made the green light originate specifically from Daisy’s house. Gatsby reaches towards the light because he is so close to the American dream. In the scene when Nick Carraway first encounters Gatsby, Gatsby reaches towards a green light, whose origin is unknown at the time, on the other side of his dock, which foreshadows that Gatsby is reaching out for
Green is associated with nature and plants, which without it, there would be no life on earth. In the case of the novel, the green light represents Daisy and the hope of keeping the American dream alive for Gatsby. The American dream is achieved by gaining wealth and love. Coincidentally, money is also associated with the colour green. Money is a major theme in The Great Gatsby because it separated the social classes. Gatsby was born as James Gatz and came from a very poor family. This made Gatsby feel not worthy of Daisy. Therefore, Gatsby turned to illegal activity in order to achieve wealth and then win over Daisy. This shows the corruption that green represents. It symbolized the greed of money that many individuals encounter when pursuing the American dream. Daisy was the missing piece to Gatsby’s great American dream. The green light represented the little hope he had in completing his American dream. This is why Fitzgerald made the green light originate specifically from Daisy’s house. Gatsby reaches towards the light because he is so close to the American dream. In the scene when Nick Carraway first encounters Gatsby, Gatsby reaches towards a green light, whose origin is unknown at the time, on the other side of his dock, which foreshadows that Gatsby is reaching out for