Symbols – The Great Gatsby
Directions: Complete the following chart using your knowledge of the novel and class discussion throughout. These symbols will be in the written
portion of the final test.
The Green Light
“He stretched out his arms toward the dark
water…I glanced seaward and distinguished
Nothing except a single green light”
“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic
future that year by year recedes before us. It
eluded us then, but that’s no matter…tomorrow
we will run faster…and one fine day”
Gatsby
(And Nick)
The Green Light symbolizes both hopes and dream.
Fitzgerald (and by extension Nick) both admires and
pities Gatsby for believing in his dreams – both the
American dream of becoming anyone, growing in
wealth and possession and the Daisy dream in which
he gets the golden girl – the princess in the tower –
for himself.
Gatsby’s
Party/Funeral
“At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers
came down …buffet tables garnished with
glistening hors d’oeuvres,”
“ Why my God… they used to go there by the
hundreds”
Gatsby
(And Daisy)
The parties represent Gatsby’s desire to fit in and to
draw Daisy to him. Although he is at the parties, he is
not really part of them – is constantly seen alone,
isolated.
The guests know nothing and care nothing about who
he is; they are there for the goodies.
Thus – none of them come to his funeral; they are
indifferent.
The Blessed
Precious/Pammy
“The Blessed Precious…come here to your own
mother that loves you”
“Afterward he kept looking at the child with
surprise. I don’t think he’d ever really believed in
its existence before.”
Daisy
(And Gatsby)
Pammy is a symbol of the impossibility of repeating
the past
Pammy is a flesh and blood reminder that Daisy and
Gatsby can never – “repeat the past”.
Even if they get together Daisy will have a child and
can never truly turn her back on Tom.
Dr. T.J.
Eckleburg’s Eyes
“The eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckeleburg are blue and
gigantic – their retinas are one yard high. They
look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of
enormous yellow spectacles.”
“ ‘God knows what you’ve been doing, everything
you’ve been doing’…standing behind him,
Michaelis saw, with a shock that he was looking at
the eyes of Dr. T J Eckleburg”
Wilson
(And Myrtle)
The Dr’s eyes represent the eyes of God who sees all
and from whom no one can hide.
Wilson uses them to show Myrtle that she cannot get
away w/ infidelity.
