Examples Of Green Light In The Great Gatsby

Jason Yan

This passage is from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This passage is when Daisy and Gatsby finally meet again after 5 years and take a tour of Gatsby’s house. This really gives Gatsby hope of being with Daisy and further motivates him to make Daisy his. This passage is powerful because it shows corruption and social mobility. It is an example of corruption in order to achieve social mobility which is a very strong aspect of the American Dream. Fitzgerald uses a few literary elements and devices in the passage to further showcase the American Dream.A literary element in this book is definitely character motivation. Gatsby is very motivated to be in love with Daisy.Fitzgerald uses the green light in the passage as a
symbolism of Gatsby motivation to get Daisy. The green light is this light that Gatsby always see’s on the dock of Tom and Daisy’s home.
Green is usually associated with the emotion of envy and jealousy. Gatsby says, “If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay,”. That color characteristic really embodies Gatsby’s feelings each time he stares at the home of Daisy and Tom across the bay. Then the text goes on to say, “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.” When the text says that the green light might possibly have now vanished forever, it is refering to how in Gatsby’s eyes they are almost together already, but right after that Gatsby acknowledges that they aren’t together yet. “Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock.” After being suddenly so close to Daisy again, and
feeling everything is going so well, reality soon hits Gatsby that Daisy is still with Tom and isn’t really completely Gatsby. This suddenly once again keeps the green light burning. Daisy and the green light resembles how close Gatsby is to his American Dream. The American Dream is attaining what fufills an individual’s life. Generally, many people believe wealth will fufill their lifes but Gatsby has already attained wealth but he does not feel fufilled without Daisy.
Another strong symbolism in this passage is Gatsby’s wealth.
Gatsby’s wealth symbolizes both corruption and the American dream.When Gatsby and Daisy first met, Gatsby came from a poor background. Gatsby’s parents were farmers. When Gatsby met Daisy, Daisy was this unattainable angel to him. Since Daisy seemed so unattainable, this really motivated Gatsby to make Daisy his women. Gatsby sought to become wealthy so Daisy could look up upon him instead of a lowly husband. The idea of marrying a lowly husband seemed very frowned upon in the book. Earlier in chapter two, at Myrtle’s apartment during the party, Myrtle talks to someone who chose to marry someone wealthy over someone who was poorer. Myrtle then talks about her regrets marrying George Wilson because of his inability to afford her materialistic needs. Since Gatsby needed to be wealthy for Daisy to look up to him, he sought after wealth. Gatsby was involved in shady business with Wolfsheim which eventually lead Gatsby to his current great wealth. This is an example of social mobility in America. The idea of going from rags to riches is surely great, but just how achievable is that dream? Although not impossible, it is very unlikely for one to go from poor to rich legitimately. It only took Gatsby a short period of three years to attain his wealthy status . In accomplishing this American Dream, Gatsby showed how corrupt the American dream was. Gatsby had wanted to gain wealth so much that he went through illegal means
to attain it. It shows how America is corrupted by this “American Dream” because it shows how American ideals has been corrupted by the want of material possesions and wealth.
This passage is very strong in showing the meaning of the American Dream. Fitzgerald shows how the American ideals are being corrupted by people’s strong desire and quest for wealth using Gatsby as an example. It implies that the American dream shouldn’t be all about just having wealth. Fitzgerald implies that the American dream should be more about persisiting after what makes you happy.