What Does The Green Light Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

The novel The Great Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The setting of the book takes place in Long Island and New York in the early 1920s. Fitzgerald has one of the main characters, Nick Carraway narrate his life with his friend Jay Gatsby by his side. Gatsby hopes Nick will help him on his journey to win back to the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald relates important symbols to the theme. The green light at the end of Daisys dock, Gatsbys car, and the Valley of Ashes all portray the unachievable American Dream which in Gatsbys cases is his lust for money and his love for Daisy. The first significant symbol appears when Gatsby reaches out toward the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock†¦show more content†¦No matter how hard he tries or how much money he has, he will never be good enough for Daisy. He is running on an endless treadmill that he cannot seem to get off of and this is essentially how the green light is symbolic of the unachievable American Dream. Another important symbol is Gatsby’s car because it represents wealth. Throughout the book Jay Gatsby constantly tries hard to fit in with the wealthy class. However, he will never fit in because he comes from new money rather than old money. Just as Daisy is a goal for him, money is also a goal for him. He displays the importance of money throughout the novel. Take his car for instance. Nick talks about Gatsby’s car, Everybody had seen it. It was a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-bo xes and tool-boxes, and terraced with labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns. Sitting down behind many layers of glass in a sort of green leather conservatory... (64). Gatsby’s car is flashy because he wants everyone to see that he could afford the top of the line cars. Fitzgerald makes the car the colors of cream and green and at night it turns into a beautiful gold to demonstrate Gatsbys love for money. Gatsby’s greed for wealth also ties into the concept that the American Dream is unachievable because no one who is classified as old money accepts him; thus, his dream is not possible. Another significant symbol isShow MoreRelatedWhat Does The Green Light Symbolize In The Great Gatsby736 Words   |  3 PagesThe Great Gatsby by Baz Luhrmann is about a hopeless, in love, millionaire by the name of Jay Gatsby and his dream lover Daisy Buchanan, despite her beauty is a self-centred, shallow and hurtful woman. Gatsby being a millionaire he could have potentially obtained anything with his money, The green light which was at the end of Daisy’s dock was a vision of his goal to have Daisy. Daisy Buchanan had assured Gatsby that she could not be bought. 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