The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1519 Words

The symbolic imagery, such as goods and color, is often used by authors to suggest and help readers to understand the invisible parts of the characters, which are their personalities and so on, through the specific goods they own, or the story, which help to develop the whole plot. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses a lot of symbols in this book. Among all those symbols in it, the symbol of the green light is the strongest, due to the changes of meaning in the book and leading the plot. However, each symbolic imagery is not unique, they interact with each other. This essay will argue that, with the help of other symbols, the symbol of green light becomes the crucial symbol for us to understand The Great Gatsby. Besides, this essay will†¦show more content†¦As a representative of those who have already achieved it, the green light is not only associated with Gatsby, but also the entire society. I will discuss this in the appearance of the green light. The first appearance of the green light is at the end of Chapter 1. When Nick came back from Tom’s house, he saw Gatsby â€Å"stretched out his arm toward the dark†, and there was â€Å"nothing except a single green light†.(p.25) And after this encounter, we know the green light is from Tom’s house, where Daisy lives. As the result of this, the green light for Gatsby must be related to Daisy in somehow, but not just Daisy herself. For Gatsby, the green light means the desire of becoming one of the upper classes, and it is Daisy who gives him the strength to work on it after meeting her. The green is more like a destination for Gatsby to endeavor, which is the same as the American Dream for the whole America. It gives those who are working class the meaning of living. Although the desire of becoming one of the upper classes arises from the shame of being part of the working class and starts when Gatsby is very young, he has his own timetable, from which we can see the ambition in Gatsby.(p. 164) Daisy just reinforces the desire in Gatsby’s mind and accelerate the process of Gatsby pursuing his personal desire. Besides, due to the identity of Daisy, which is that â€Å"many men had already loved Daisy† during the first encounter of Gatsby and Daisy, Daisy has already become a The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1519 Words Life is not always what it seems, but is constantly fooled by metaphorical masks people wear. The appearance of many of the characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby differs greatly from their actual selves. The use of illusion in the novel is used effectively to portray the nature of people in the 1920 s, and the â€Å"artificial† life that is lived in this modern age. There are many incidences in which the appearance of characters is far different than what lurks inside them. Several of these incidences are shown in the appearances of Gatsby himself, Daisy Buchanan, and Gatsby’s true love for Daisy. Gatsby goes through a dramatic transformation from his old self to his new self, even changing his name and buying a faux mansion in†¦show more content†¦He was so embarrassed about having to become a janitor in order to pay school tuition, he decided to drop out of St. Olaf College in Minnesota after only a couple weeks. Another illusion Gatsby deliberately makes people believe is his rise to wealth. In order to mask his poor upbringing, Gatsby says to the story s narrator, Nick Carroway, â€Å"I’ll tell you God’s truth†¦I am the son of some wealth people in the middle-west†(65). It is also stated by Myrtle Wilson’s sister Catherine that, â€Å"Well they say he’s a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm’s†(32). However, that is not true and it is later discovered that, â€Å"he and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side street drug stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter†(133). As a result, the truth of his family background is an example of the false reality Jay portrays. Gatsby’s educational background is another example of of illusion that he tries to create. A strong education is a must-have for Gatsby, as it is what categorizes the lower class from the upper class. Originally, Gatsby tells Nick that he was educated at Oxford. However, it is learned that he exaggerated the truth when he leaks to Tom that he actually only stayed five months there and â€Å"that’s why [he] can’t really call [himself] an Oxford man†(129). Therefore, Gatsby forms an illusion regarding his education in order to sound scholarly and to be accepted among the elite. After Gatsby erases his past in order to start aShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby by F. 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