15th June 2017

Symbols

The green light: This quote describes the green light:

‘he stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way…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.’  At the end of Gatsby’s dock when you look out into the water you can see a green light. This is coming from Tom and Daisy’s house. This symbol is used throughout the book to represent the illusion of the hope that Gatsby has. It starts off being far away (hope is little) and throughout the book it gets bigger until the mist comes and blurs the green light (Hope is fading). This symbol helps me understand the illusion that Gatsby has based his life off. He created a new and fake life just to try and get with Daisy. This light shows the hope that he has for their relationship. This hope is an illusion. It is not real. Gatsby is so involved in the illusion of his life and hope that he doesn’t even realise it anymore. He believes that their is hope throughout most of the book however this is not actually the case. 

 

The eyes of Doctor doctor tj eckleburg: These eyes are painted onto a billboard in the valley of ashes. . They were thought to be the presence of god.‘Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil.’ These eyes are the presence of God because they are always watching. He is all seeing which means he sees everything.       

 

The colour white: In this novel the colour white is used throughout the book to represent innocence especially associated with Daisy.  The colour white is the illusion of Daisy’s purity and innocence however we know that Daisy is not actually who she seems to be. Daisy is thought to be an angel but she is actually a rather bad person and a gold digger. ‘They had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.’ This shows us that Daisy is portrayed as an Angel. 

 

Join the conversation! 1 Comment

  1. With your “green light” analysis, think about why the hope is an illusion. Gatsby believes in what he thinks the light represents- in reality, what is it? You keep making comments about “it is not real”- what is not real? What is it really and how do you know this?

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