Fitzgerald’s Aspects of Symbolism

Xavier Parco

English 11 H | Period 6

December 16, 2014

Ms. Pastore
 In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the character of Jay Gatsby is an individual of hope

who pursues his ideal of bringing back together his past with Daisy Buchanan through wealth, of

his mansion’s gleaming parties located right across the bay. However, from the view of Nick

Carraway, there is no way to bring the past back, as he saw Gatsby as a hopeful person to do so.

Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald uses many aspects of symbols which have significance towards

the concepts of moral corruption and the pursuit of his dream.

To begin, Fitzgerald has a usage of colors throughout the Great Gatsby which depict

significance towards the chase of the ideal, and moral corruption. This includes in the beginning

of the novel in the first chapter when Nick Carraway comes home from the dinner with his

cousin Daisy Buchanan, and her husband Tom Buchanan. He sees Jay Gatsby standing outside,

and it is stated in the text: “He stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way,

and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling.” He is reaching out towards a

green light right across the bay which is at the end of the dock of Daisy Buchanan’s house. The

reason Jay Gatsby buys this mansion located here specifically is to be closer to reaching his

dream, of bringing back his past of his old love life with Daisy. He hosted many shining parties

every night at his mansion which attracted many people, but his purpose for them were to attract

Daisy right across the bay. However, the significance of this green light disappears in the fifth

chapter when Gatsby unites with Daisy Buchanan, Nick Carraway’s cousin, when he invites her

over for tea. It is stated in the text: “Daisy put her arm through his abruptly, but he seemed

absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance

of that light had now vanished forever.” Once Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby were in each

others arms, the concept of reaching out for the green light across the bay had truly vanished,
because after five years of distance apart from each other, they are finally together. As Fitzgerald

states “Compared to the great distance that had separated from Daisy it had seemed very near to

her, almost touching her”, this also signifies the distance between Jay Gatsby and Daisy

Buchanan which had now disappeared, physically, being in each others arms that at very

moment. Ironically, in the eighth chapter, before Jay Gatsby goes into his pool for the first time

all summer and is murdered by George Wilson, it is stated in the text: “He stretched out his hand

desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she had made

lovely for him”. Jay Gatsby reaches out his arms towards his ideal of Daisy Buchanan one last

time before his death, but he was never able to bring back the past. Another aspect of symbolism

Fitzgerald used in The Great Gatsby is the color white which resembles Daisy Fay. In the fifth

chapter, it is stated in the text: “The most popular of all young girls in Louisville. She dressed in

white, and had a little white roadster.” Her name itself, “Daisy”, symbolizes white as in the color

of the flower itself as well. However, altogether, the color of white signifies purity, and being

angelic. Ironically, Daisy Buchanan doesn’t represent any of these qualities, as towards the end

of the story, she is responsible for running over Myrtle Wilson. Also, in the last chapter, it is

stated in the text that “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and

creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness.” This interprets

Fitzgerald’s message of Daisy and Tom Buchanan’s careless beings, having fun, and not cleaning

up after yourself. Daisy and Tom Buchanan are morally corrupt regardless of her white purity.

As Nick Carraway brings Jay Gatsby and Daisy Fay together for tea after five years,

Fitzgerald has a significant use of “time” in this part of the story. In the fifth chapter, when

Gatsby is leaning against the clock as Daisy is sitting down looking frightened, it states in the
text that “The clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure of his head, whereupon

he turned and caught it with trembling fingers and set it back in place.” This scene symbolizes

not only his clumsiness and catching the clock to save it from shattering, but catching that very

moment of time after five years apart from Daisy before his ideal of her shatters itself. Also,

when Gatsby says “I’m sorry about the clock” once he catches it, he is saying he’s sorry about

the five years they have been apart from each other. Another use of symbolism by Fitzgerald is

the significance behind the locations of West Egg and East Egg. West Egg is recognized to be the

“less fashionable”, consisting of residents with self-made money, while East Egg consists of

residents with established money. Although Fitzgerald uses these two locations to distinguish

between these two types of earned wealth, they also symbolize between the careless and morally

corrupt, and vice versa. In the last chapter, it states Nick’s vision of East Egg as a night scene by

El Greco: “A hundred houses, at once conventional and grotesque, crouching under a sullen,

overhanging sky and a lustreless moon. In the foreground four solemn men in dress suits are

walking along the sidewalk with a stretcher on which lies a drunken woman in a white evening

dress. Gravely the men turn in at a house-the wrong house. But no one knows the woman’s

name, and no one cares.” Nick Carraway’s vision of East Egg signifies how their values are

distorted, of wealth and carelessness. Also, this concept of distorted values corresponds with the

Buchanans who reside in East Egg as well, for they are described by Nick as “careless people

who smashed up things and creatures and retreated back into their money or vast carelessness.”

This follows up with Daisy’s running over of Myrtle Wilson, whom is reassured by Tom that

there is nothing to worry about. Also, they do not attend Gatsby’s funeral despite the fact that

they were basically responsible for his death. As Daisy was responsible for running over Myrtle
Wilson, George Wilson seeks revenge to kill her other lover, whom he assumes is also

responsible for running her over, Jay Gatsby. East eggers lack morality, as they are careless of

their actions and continue to have fun.

Fitzgerald uses variating weather and seasons in the text to signify different concepts

throughout the text. In the beginning of the seventh chapter, it states that “The next day was

broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest, of the summer.” Also, on the train, the conductor

states “Some weather!.. Hot!... Hot!... Hot! Is it hot enough for you? Is it hot? It is…?” This was

an indication of the upcoming boiling point to the confrontation of Tom and Gatsby at the Plaza

Hotel over Daisy, and whom she “truly loves.” Also, after the confrontation was over, when Tom

offers Nick a bottle of whiskey, he states “I just remembered that today’s my birthday. I was

thirty.” This symbolized a new beginning of a new decade, in which Gatsby must also leave the

previous decade of Daisy behind. Also, Fitzgerald uses change of weather in the fifth chapter in

which it’s a rainy day where Gatsby is waiting for Daisy to come over for tea. He becomes

impatient, and states “Nobody’s coming to tea. It’s too late!” He then walks outside in the rain,

drenched in water, so it looks like he wasn’t waiting all day. Once he comes inside and has tea

with Daisy, “it’s stopped raining” he said. The presence of rainy weather symbolizes the time

waiting for Daisy after having been apart from each other for so long, and once it stopped,

symbolizes their coming together after five years, across the bay from each other. Finally,

Fitzgerald uses reference to season in the eighth chapter when Gatsby finally swims in the pool

for the first time all summer. His servant says “I’m going to drain the pool today. Leaves’ll start

falling pretty soon, and then there’s always trouble with the pipes” but Gatsby says not to do it

that day. It’s finally fall season, as the text states “The night had made a sharp difference in the
weather and there was an autumn flavor in the air.” However, Gatsby wants it to be summer with

Daisy still, but he has to accept that he can’t get the past back as it’s now a new season of fall.

Symbolically, when Wilson comes and murders him, he falls from grace. Gatsby falls from

reaching his dream with Daisy, as it’s stated in the text before his death: “But it was all going by

too fast now for his blurred eyes and he knew that he had lost part of it, the freshest and the best,

forever.”

To conclude, in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses a wide range of aspects of symbolism

towards depicting the concepts of the pursuit of Gatsby’s dream, and moral corruption

throughout the story. Whether it’s through colors, locations, time, weather, or seasons, there’s

always a meaning behind every symbol in the text towards the overall theme of the story.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. (2004). The Great Gatsby (p. 180). New York, NY: Scribner.