Wasteland

Wasteland

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1924 portrays the young and the wealthy enduring city life and superficial quarrels. Throughout Fitzgerald's array of accurate descriptions of the haughty upper class and the depressing realizations of the down-and-out forgotten society, stand his interpretations of how reality was truly defined in the 1920s. There are 5 main characters in this novel starting with the protagonist, Nick Carraway who narrates the story from his perspective. Daisy, Nick's cousin is married to a wealthy man named Tom Buchanan and has a friend named Jordan who is casually dating Nick. Fitzgerald utilizes symbolism through green colored light, the valley of ashes, and Gatsby's yellow car to portray the complete and utter moral destruction of the 1920s.

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays America's obsession with financial aspirations and dreams through the use of green light. Frequently, Gatsby, a fellow West-Egger such as Nick appears to be a successful man. He is young and resilient, resides in a mansion, has a sports car, and butlers and maids to answer his every beck and call. He hosts parties almost every weekend and keenly depicts a man that has it all, however this is only the perception of the people around him. As Fitzgerald dives deeper and deeper into the motives of this man, the reader gets a clear view of Gatsby's true intentions; he is in love with a married woman named Daisy, a fling from his past. Although she has moved on, he has not. In fact, the sole purpose of purchasing his mansion was to be closer to Daisy in hopes of just seeing her. After a quick rekindling of the fire, Daisy

eventually goes back to Tom and leaves Gatsby's heart in shambles. At the end of the novel, Nick speculates that "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us"(189) as if this was Gatsby's only motivational force. Fitzgerald associates Gatsby's wanton desires with the color green. Similarly, money is green in color. Gatsby's life was only driven by financial success, not true happiness. The green colored light, on a broader theme, represents the American Dream. Gatsby himself is in pursuit of his "dream", however, he fails to understand that no goal can be reached by immoral means in Fitzgerald's beliefs. Throughout 1920s, prosperity was eminent in all aspects of society and many Americans looked to find the quick fix to become wealthy instead of working hard to gain success. Fitzgerald was one of the only writers during this time to accurately develop the cynical lifestyle millions of Americans followed. The sense of urgency to become rich fast led to increased crime and violence, both of which Gatsby not only accepted but followed in his marred cookie cutter life which was once destined to be something original.

Nestled between West Egg and East Egg, the valley of ashes portrays a complete moral wasteland that is the only impoverished area depicted in the entire novel. Although both the east and west have wealth, in order to go to the city, they must travel through this poor desolate area. Nick even compares the repulsive scenery to the people found in this abhorrent place: "This is a valley of ashes- a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of the houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air" (27). The people who

live in this valley have become