How are Seasons Used in Constructing this Novel? Symbolism in the Great Gatsby

Observing Disparity: The Symbolism of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg in the Valley of Ashes

Scott Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby, uses symbolism to show how random objects throughout the novel symbolize the reconstruction of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan’s relationship. Fitzgerald contains many forms of symbolism throughout the novel. For example, the Green Light, Gatsby’s Mansion, Valley of Ashes, etc. The many forms of symbolism are noticed, but if you dig even deeper, there are objects and other things used to symbolize other themes of the story.

Symbolism helps to enhance the meaning of the novel.

In the Valley of Ashes, the billboard named “Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg” represents the differences between the lives of the rich and the poor. Nick first sees the Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg in chapter two when driving through the Valley of Ashes. “But above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. 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 nonexistent nose”. The quote expresses the billboard as powerful and just how aggressive the eyes on the billboard must seem to the people who live in The Valley of Ashes. Fitzgerald also uses imagery to describe how the billboard, or the eyes, overlooks The Valley of Ashes.

Seasons in 'The Great Gatsby': The Green Light, Mansion, and Echoes of Desire

There is a green light placed at the end of Daisy’s dock, and that green light is used to symbolize Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future, to have Daisy back. Near the end of chapter one, Nick Carraway, the narrator, sees Gatsby at the end of his dock, reaching towards the green light that is at the end of Daisy’s dock across the bay. This important part was described by Fitzgerald, “he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily, I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light, a minute far away, that might have been the end of a dock”. The quote from the novel introduces the green light and suggests it as an important figure in the story, and presents Gatsby, as this is the first time he is in the story rather than just spoken about by other characters.

Jay Gatsby owns an extremely expensive mansion, but if you look closer, the house is an important symbol that ties into the reasoning of the roaring parties that Gatsby throws, and it also ties into the green light symbol. “It was a strange coincidence,’ I said. ‘But it wasn’t a coincidence at all.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would just be across the bay”. Gatsby bought his mansion not because he liked it but because he wanted to be close to Daisy. This also shows that all of the parties that Gatsby throws are happening in the hope that Daisy will arrive at one. Gatsby is lonely, and that is the reason behind many parties. He isn’t throwing parties to satisfy people because Fitzgerald explains that Gatsby doesn’t even know most of the people who come to his parties.

The green light that Gatsby is reaching in the first chapter of the book symbolizes his reaching toward his hopes and dreams for Daisy. Jay Gatsby’s house, a gigantic mansion, always empty, symbolizes Gatsby being empty and lonely because he cannot find his happiness of having Daisy back, and it also can represent the roaring twenties by having his parties. A billboard overlooking the Valley of Ashes can be symbolized as the rich overlooking the poor, and to some people, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg can be a symbol of God.

References

1. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "The Great Gatsby." 
2. Bryer, Jackson R., and Cathy W. Barks, eds. "F. Scott Fitzgerald: New Perspectives."
3. Tredell, Nicolas. "F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby."
4. Lathbury, Roger. "Fitzgerald's Seasons: The Symbolic Structure of The Great Gatsby." 

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