“He flipped a switch. The gray windows disappeared as the house glowed full of light” (94). Unlike the various areas that represent a motif in Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, the Valley of Ashes is portrayed as a forsaken, dull, and polluted wasteland. Fitzgerald does an exceptional job at depicting the barriers of wealth and poverty by creating this location a common motif. The Valley of Ashes is described as “...a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke...Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track...the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud…” (23). From the
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The color gray that is associated with the Valley of Ashes conveys a theme of death and failure as well as emotions of sadness and hopelessness. At the moment of Myrtle’s death, “Wilson's glazed eyes turned out to the ash heaps, where small gray clouds took on fantastic shapes and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind” (159). Through word analysis, it is depicted that Wilson is not taking his wife’s death very lightly. He is depressed and lacks faith in his sorrow. However, his sadness soon turns into vengeance towards the murderer of Myrtle, who he strongly believes is Gatsby. However, to make a long story short, it was Daisy who actually ran over Myrtle with Gatsby’s car. As Wilson was preparing to murder Gatsby, Nick describes “A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dream like air, drifted fortuitously about...like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees” (161). The quote once again emphasizes the idea of ash and the color gray. Moreover, brings about the element of ghosts. All of these elements put together depict the theme of death. At this point in the novel, Gatsby is killed and then Wilson kills himself …show more content…
Through the quote “He flipped a switch. The gray windows disappeared as the house glowed full of light” (94), the author develops Gatsby’s character. As illustrated in the novel, Gatsby has worked vigorously to get to where he is to this day. His former life was gray, dull, and unsuccessful. But now that he is wealthy, he wants to boaster his success. By switching on the lights, he is ready for the guests to show up to his party. To Gatsby, this is the definition of success, which is displayed by the switch. The switch symbolizes the transition from a gray and dull life to a successful life that exemplifies the American
The color gray that is associated with the Valley of Ashes conveys a theme of death and failure as well as emotions of sadness and hopelessness. At the moment of Myrtle’s death, “Wilson's glazed eyes turned out to the ash heaps, where small gray clouds took on fantastic shapes and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind” (159). Through word analysis, it is depicted that Wilson is not taking his wife’s death very lightly. He is depressed and lacks faith in his sorrow. However, his sadness soon turns into vengeance towards the murderer of Myrtle, who he strongly believes is Gatsby. However, to make a long story short, it was Daisy who actually ran over Myrtle with Gatsby’s car. As Wilson was preparing to murder Gatsby, Nick describes “A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dream like air, drifted fortuitously about...like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees” (161). The quote once again emphasizes the idea of ash and the color gray. Moreover, brings about the element of ghosts. All of these elements put together depict the theme of death. At this point in the novel, Gatsby is killed and then Wilson kills himself …show more content…
Through the quote “He flipped a switch. The gray windows disappeared as the house glowed full of light” (94), the author develops Gatsby’s character. As illustrated in the novel, Gatsby has worked vigorously to get to where he is to this day. His former life was gray, dull, and unsuccessful. But now that he is wealthy, he wants to boaster his success. By switching on the lights, he is ready for the guests to show up to his party. To Gatsby, this is the definition of success, which is displayed by the switch. The switch symbolizes the transition from a gray and dull life to a successful life that exemplifies the American