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The Great Gatsby 12 - Online Term Paper

The Great Gatsby 12

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, symbolism adds depth to the story, without introducing confusion. Fitzgerald's symbols are large, concrete and obvious. Examples of this symbolism are the valley of ashes, T. J. Eckleburg's huge blue eyes, and the green light on the Buchanan dock which Jay Gatsby idolizes.
The valley of ashes is "a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the 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..."(23) The valley represents the moral disintegration of the roaring ...

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own business, doing their day-to-day activities, and suddenly get caught up in an impenetrable mess. This happened to Nick. He was just minding his own business, and then he met Gatsby, who planned things for him without his approval or advice, and who basically used him to his advantage. Nick had no way out of this mess, but he did not really want one. He was the only person who cared enough to give Gatsby a proper burial.
Another symbol in this novel is T. J. Eckleburg's huge blue eyes. "The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic- their retinas are one yard high. they look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose." (23) The eyes of T. J. Eckleburg are said to represent the eyes of God at one point. His eyes make Wilson, the husband ofTom's mistress, kill himself because he thinks that God is actually looking at him in shame for murdering Gatsby. When in the valley of ashes, the eyes of the doctor ...

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 8/13/2005 03:49:02 PM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 706
Pages: 3

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