The Great Gatsby
Symbolism
- Green light: Green is the symbol of the "orgiastic future" - the limitless promise of the dream Gatsby pursues to its tragic end. In the end, this dream becomes a bitter illusion.
- Billboard: The billboard of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg looking down on the dirty streets of the city symbolizes the eyes of God. The billboard is practically ignored and the eyes of "God" are faded, symbolizing the departure of the civilization from religion to materialistic gain.
Religion in the 1920s did not play as important a role as it did in the years before. People who moved into the cities were looking for easy living and amenities--like cars, lights, and inexpensive factory produced products--which were available only in the cities. The middle class social groups in the 1920s did not care about the past or future; they were aware only of living life to the fullest in the present. The people ignored God as they enjoyed the new wonders of city life. People went to parties, dances, speakeasies (illegal liquor bars), and jazz clubs, to name a few.
In a way, everybody in the 1920s was living a dream.
- Gatsby's Car: Gatsby's car represents his egotism; in essence the car is a representation of himself. "It was rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hatboxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of windshields that mirrored a dozen suns" (68). The cream color symbolizes great wealth; together with the bright nickel, the car has a sense of purity and richness. The "swollen boxes" which are blatantly displayed represent his extreme pride, like the saying "a swollen head" or one who has an inflated sense of importance. The labyrinth of windshields reflects Gatsby's dream, metaphorically displayed as the sun, with the pure light that Gatsby has committed himself to follow.
- Gatsby's Library: The library represents the superficiality of the people during the 1920s. The man with the owl-eye spectacles describes the books in the library as "a bona fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop too--didn't cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?" (50) The man is describing how Gatsby's library is filled with genuine books, but these books are for display only. When "owl-eyes" mention that Gatsby had not cut the pages, basically it means that Gatsby has not even read these books. Gatsby never went through any of his books because none of the pages had been trimmed. "Owl-eyes" also relates Gatsby to Belasco (1854-1931), who was a Broadway producer known for the realism of his sets. Gatsby's library is just an expensive and realistic set, but it is nonetheless just a set.
Page created on March 5, 1999.
Curator: Jeff Lin
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