The image of the green light in the novel Great
Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a significant symbol which reflects Gatsby's
dream and other aspects beyond Gatsby's longing. Throughout the novel Fitzgerald uses many
other images or symbols. At first, it
may seem very basic, but when the symbol is closely studied, one may see the
deeper meaning found within it.
Fitzgerald uses these symbols to make a point across to the reader. He then uses this point and converts it into
a deeper meaning, into a myth about America.
The green light mentioned in the novel clearly represents and is a prime
example of this.
Before examining the significance of the green
light, one must learn what a symbol is.
A symbol cannot be seen as a sign.
The two are very different. A
sign is an object which signifies something else. For example, a green traffic light instructs
drivers to proceed. A symbol is much
more complex than this. A symbol may
also stand for something else as seen in its simplest case. A symbol sums up a large number of ideas and
attitudes. The complexity of a symbol
may be more intense than a sign because it can have several meanings in
different situations. (Beckson and Ganz 207)
The green light is first mentioned in chapter
one of the Great Gatsby. Nick, the
narrator of the novel, sees Gatsby curiously stretching his arms out towards
the water. Nick went to see what Gatsby
was looking at and all he could see was "...nothing except a single green
light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock."
At this point in the novel the symbol of the
green light is introduced to the reader.
The reader does not know that the light is on Daisy's dock. Therefore, one cannot affiliate Gatsby with
Daisy. The reader does know that Nick
admires Gatsby for his dream which is some way linked with the green
light. The color green represents life,
hope, and youth. Gatsby's fantasy will
live as long as long as he remains gazing at the green light.
In chapter four of the novel, Nick finds out
from Jordan that Gatsby bought the house so that Daisy would be just across the
bay. Nick responds to this fact:
"Then it had not been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June
night. He came alive to me, delivered
suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor."
Until this point, Gatsby was a puzzle. Nick, at this moment, solves the puzzle:
Gatsby's house and extravagant style of living is a necessity to reaching and
fulfilling his dream rather than a flamboyant exhibit of wealth. The truth that Gatsby is yearning for Daisy
is now apparent. This is being
symbolized by the green light at the end of the dock.
Gatsby finally meets Daisy in Chapter five of
the novel. The symbol of the green light
becomes very evident. It becomes so
distinct that Gatsby even shows Daisy the green light. He says, "If it wasn't for the mist we
could see your home across the bay... You always have a green light that burns
all night at the end of your dock."
Daisy is so close to fulfilling Gatsby's dream, but she falls short of
what he expected. From this location in
the novel, Gatsby's chances of fulfilling his dream become increasingly
impossible.
Before Gatsby gets killed, Nick wonders what
Gatsby could have been thinking while he layed on the mattress in the pool:
He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky
through frightening leaves and shivered
as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is
and how raw the sunlight was upon
the scarcely created. A new world, material without being real,
where poor ghosts, breathing
dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about...
The phrase
"Material without being real" is an important part of this
passage. Nick was saying that Gatsby was
living in a material world where he could feel, see, and touch, but which had no meaning to him. A rose does not possess beauty in itself, but
it is beautiful because we feel its beauty.
The green light in the same way was special only because it meant
something special to Gatsby. Gatsby
encounters a rose which is no more than a rose.
The green light found throughout the novel represents this rose. Gatsby cannot live without this wonder, or
private vision, the green light. Without
it he is lifeless. In a sense, Gatsby
was already dead when Wilson shoots him.
As one can see the green light is of great
significance in the novel Great Gatsby.
This symbol is depicted throughout the novel. It is first mentioned in the first chapter of
the novel. At first, it was no more than
a green light. When it is further
examined in chapters four and five it becomes more evident that this green
light is not Daisy, but a symbol representing Gatsby's dream of having
Daisy. The fact that Daisy falls short
of Gatsby's expectations is obvious.
Knowing this, one can see that know matter how hard Gatsby tries to live
his fantasy, he will never be able to achieve it. The green light is mentioned one last time by
Nick on the last page of the book:
...I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first
picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's
dock....and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to
grasp it.
He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that
vast obscurity beyond the city...
The main point in
this quotation is that Gatsby could not get over his dream. Through this quotation and through close
examination of the green light, one may learn that the force that empowers
Gatsby to follow his lifelong aspiration is that of the "American
Dream." Fitzgerald, the author of
the novel, through Gatsby, was able to make this myth about America and the
American Dream of self-fulfillment.
Works Cited
Beckson and
Arthur Ganz. AReader's Guide to Literary Terms. New York: The Noonday Press,
1986.
No comments:
Post a Comment