Locations as Metaphors in The Great Gatsby
F. Scott's Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby often uses locationsas metaphors for the qualities of the characters and for the themes of thenovel. This occurs with West Egg and East Egg, where the distance betweenthe two sides represents Gatsby's distance from Daisy, his longing for hisdream, and the fact that the dream may not be attainable. West Egg andEast Egg also represent the differences in the characters of Gatsby andDaisy, especially communicating that Gatsby's attempts to reinvent himselfcan only take him so far. The valley of ashes is also important because itcontributes to the theme of the novel by showing the result of wealth. Theall-seeing eyes of the billboard looking over the valley of ashes alsorepresents that the characters cannot escape judgement. These metaphorsall contribute to the theme of how money is not the solution to life, but The first metaphor occurs with West Egg and East Egg, two egg-shapedislands lying opposite each other and separated by a bay. West Egg is theisland where Gatsby lives and also the less fashionable of the two islands. While West Egg is less fashionable, it is also the more real of the two
It is described as, "a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take to the forms of houses and chimney and rising smoke, and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men, who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air" (Fitzgerald 19). This shows that his reinvention of himself will only take him so far. The other important thing about the location of East Egg and West Eggis that it represents the distance between Daisy and Gatsby in terms oftheir characters. This concludes the consideration of the way Fitzgerald uses locationsas metaphors in the novel. These eyes and the valley of ashes can also be considered as a reference tothe valley of death, where God will judge the characters as they passthrough. Gatsby thendemands that Daisy tell everyone that she has only loved him, but Daisyadmits that she does love Tom as well. In contrast, East Egg isall mansions, with the sense of elite making it the least real of the twoislands. West Egg can be considered as representing Gatsby'scharacter because it is the side of new money and the people there arecloser in character to those of the real world. This is truefor Gatsby especially, because his quest to earn money are not based on hisdesire for the money itself, but on his desire for Daisy. The valley of ashes is a desolate area that has to be travelled through toget from West Egg to New York. This makes Gatsbyquite close to her, yet he remains separated by the body of water. Nick describes this atone point saying, "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashedup things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or theirvast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together" (Fitzgerald152). The valley of the ashes is also an important location in the novel. This contributes to the novel by adding to the theme of thecorrupting power of money. Nickrealizes the significance of this light at the end of the novel where herefers to Gatsby staring at the light saying "his dream must have seemed soclose that he could hardly fail to grasp it" (Fitzgerald 182).
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