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SYMBOLS USED IN THE GREAT GATSBY

HOW ARE CARS A SYMBOL IN "THE GREAT GATSBY?"

Cars are a symbol in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” because they represent status, wealth and power. Jay, Tom and George associate cars with their place in society.

People choose to display their wealth in many different ways, and Jay Gatsby decides one way he can exhibit his wealth is with his car. He owns a 1928 Rolls Royce, which is a definite symbol of status. Jay Gatsby had no problem disclosing his wealth to the public, and the car he drove was just another way to express himself and his money to the masses. The symbol of the car as wealth is also important to Tom and George as they exchange words over a car that symbolizes their relationships with Myrtle. Tom offers to sell his car to George, but George does not realize that Tom never intends to sell the car. Tom eventually confesses to Nick that he believes George is “so dumb he doesn't know he’s alive.” The car in the story of The Great Gatsby represents Tom’s deceitfulness and immorality.

GREEN LIGHT SYMBOLISM IN "THE GREAT GATSBY"

The purpose of colour symbolism in "The Great Gatsby" is to convey the different emotions of F. Scott Fitzgerald's characters and to depict the societal mind-set of the time. 

"The Great Gatsby" is a novel set in a fictional Long Island community and makes use of colour symbolism. Fitzgerald used various colours to depict the emotions of his characters as well as to convey a sense of the societal mind-set of the upper-class society where the story takes place.

The green light at the end of Daisy's dock is the symbol of Gatsby's hopes and dreams. It represents everything that haunts and beckons Gatsby: the physical and emotional distance between him and Daisy, the gap between the past and the present, the promises of the future, and the powerful lure of that other green stuff he craves—money.

Situated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock and barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg lawn, the green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future. Gatsby associates it with Daisy, and in Chapter 1 he reaches toward it in the darkness as a guiding light to lead him to his goal. Because Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is broadly associated with the American dream, the green light also symbolizes that more generalized ideal. In Chapter 9, Nick compares the green light to how America, rising out of the ocean, must have looked to early settlers of the new nation.






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