Symbol, as defined in the dictionary, is "Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible", and plays a very important part in F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece The Great Gatsby. On the surface, it is a love story with a tragic ending, but if one looks deeper into the novel's many profound symbols and themes, one will find that it is a symbolic criticism of the corruption of the American dream and American society's moral decay. The author skillfully inserts many different kinds of symbols while unfolding the story, from colors, weather to objects, geographical locations, etc. As the story begins, these symbols are slowly introduced and start to show meaning as the story progresses. The major characters such as Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Nick, Jordan, Wilson and Myrtle all help develop and sometimes even explain the meanings of the symbols through their behavior and talking.
The cover of the first edition of The Great Gatsby...
Wilson arrv'g. in Wash'n. (LOC)
Wilson Leaves Hotel (LOC)The three most important symbols introduced in The Great Gatsby are respectively the green light on Daisy's dock, the valley of ashes, the eyes of Doctor. T.J. Eckleburg.
One of the first symbols mentioned in the novel is the green light. In the final part of the first chapter, the image of the green light is mentioned for the first time: "he stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way,â¦I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock." (Fitzgerald, 24) Green is the color for life and hope, the green light means something special to Gatsby, because it has something to do with Daisy, Gatsby associate it with his love and dream for Daisy and hope for...