Written in 1924 by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Great Gatsby is an iconic novel that has served its place in history. However, this novel is not as it seems, it is intertwined with different examples of illusion and corruption. Fitzgerald uses different symbols to create an illusion of different things throughout the book. For example, Fitzgerald uses objects such as a green light and water to show how unrealistic the ‘American Dream’ is, and he uses the different colours such as white to hide corruption by everyday Americans. This book is reflective to life in the 1920’s, self-centered, corrupt and secretive, which is what F. Scott Fitzgerald was trying to do.
The green light is a symbol that Fitzgerald used in this novel. It is situated on the end of Daisy’s dock. This light represents Daisy, which is what Gatsby wants. However she is out of Gatsby reach, represented by Gatsby reaching for it, but is it to far for Gatsby to get. Gatsby thinks this light or his dream is very close to him, but this is just an illusion “He stretched his arms out across the dark water in a curious way and as far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily, I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light…”, the light is very far away, unreachable “As close as the stars to the moon”, the stars seem like they are close to the moon by they are not close at all. However Gatsby will keep trying, it is his American Dream so he believes that his dream will eventually become reality, but it won’t. The American Dream is unrealistic for everyone, but more so for Gatsby. He wants his American Dream to be with Daisy, but she is married, and she doesn’t love him anymore. The green light is an illusion because it gives off false hope to Gastby. He believes that he is close to the light but he is not, the Green Light lied to him. This is the same for many americans. They work very hard for their american dream but they never make it. Their dream is unrealistic but the american dream is a promise that all americans should have.
Water is another symbol in this novel. Fitzgerald has used water to symbolise a sort of blockade. For example, Gatsby house is on one side of the bay and Daisy’s is on the other. The thing that is stopping Gatsby from going and getting the Green Light is the water that is found in the bay between their houses. It is all kinds of water in this novel that represent a blockade to what Gatsby wants. The green light represents hope, a hope for Daisy, and when Gatsby was with her he didn’t need hope as he had what he wanted “If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your house across the bay”, as it turns out, the Green light is Daisy, so when this disappeared, blocked by the mist, Daisy also slowly snuck out of Gatsby grasp. The water makes his relationship with Daisy unclear, it is creating an illusion that him and Daisy are going to last, because the light is hidden by the mist and rain, but it is actually meaning that Daisy is not going to be with him for long. The water eventually turned out to be Gatsby’s end, “Well I suppose we take a plunge in the swimming pool? I haven’t made use of it all summer.” While Gatsby was in the pool he was shot by George Wilson. Again the water is acting as an illusion. Gatsby thought that it was all over, he knew that him and Daisy were never going to be, he was trying to get back into his life again, look on the bright side of things, but truly it wasn’t over and his peace was ruined by being shot and then dying in his pool. With most people there is always someone or something to block their american dream, this blockade normally is the reason that people don’t reach their american dream.
White is also a symbol used in the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald used White in different way to the other symbols. It is used to hide corruption in different ways. This colour is Daisy’s colour throughout the book but it is also seen other times. Gatsby was a bootlegger, that was how he made his money, and the police were obviously told not to arrest him “Taking a white card from his wallet, he waved it before the mans eyes”. This shows that for Gatsby to get anywhere all he had to do was show his white card. The card was an illusion. It may have just looked like a white card but it allowed criminals to get places without being arrested. It shows how corrupt their society was. Daisy was also corrupt and immoral. It was supposed to show that Daisy was pure and noble, that she was perfect in everyway, “High in the white palace, the kings daughter, the golden girl”, but it was just hiding the fact that Daisy was immoral and a bad person in general. This is like many rich people are, they seem to be nice on the outside but all of their money has changed them and has made them not as nice as they seem.
To conclude, throughout the book many symbols were used to display the idea of illusion. F. Scott Fitzgerald displayed this idea very well with subtle indications of these symbols. These subtle symbols such as a green light, water and the colour white really put together the entire book, they make the novel have more depth and mean a lot more which is why it is a very popular book. The Great Gatsby portrays how corrupt and fake America was, most people were immoral. Also everyone believed in the american dream, they were working towards something they would never get, which is a sad way to live.
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