Examples Of The Green Light In The Great Gatsby

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts Jay Gatsby as hopeful who throughout the novel always pursues one individual, his lover Daisy from five years ago. The green light exemplifies Gatsby’s single goal and dream. Considering Gatsby has spent the last five years being a very successful bootlegger, to get Daisy to be his would be Gatsby’s American Dream and his token to his success. The American Dream for Daisy however consists of having a materialistic lifestyle and wealth. Fitzgerald uses the motif of the green light to emphasize the relationship between Daisy and Gatsby in order to convey the unethical logic of how society views the American Dream as having wealth, yet many still cannot fulfill ones happiness after achieving it. The green light represents society’s aspiration and the likelihood of accomplishing the materialistic American dream. Coincidentally, when Nick and Gatsby encounter each other for the first time, it happens to be the first time Fitzgerald introduces the green light. The green light points to the idea that his goal seems impossible to reach and achieve when Fitzgerald writes, “distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away”(Fitzgerald 21). This foreshadows how Gatsby goes about his life and his desire to have Daisy that eventually leads him to his
death. The word “single” portrays how Gatsby only reaches for one single goal in life, which causes obsessively impulsive decisions and actions. This shows significance in the way that Gatsby eventually pays the price of death for living with only one goal. Eventually Fitzgerald reveals that Gatsby desires and longs for Daisy equally as much as he desires to relive the past, “just as if it were five years ago” which happens to be the first time Daisy and Gatsby meet and fall in love (Fitzgerald 109). Daisy symbolizes the wealth and social rank in society. All the men in The Great Gatsby view Daisy as stunning which means that for Gatsby to accomplish his goal means he needs to be the most worthy of her love. Fitzgerald uses the metaphor of the traffic lights to point out that Gatsby wants to drive through a green light but in order for that to happen it will require him to get a car, which requires money. Eventually Gatsby does just that and becomes very wealthy to use towards his perusal of his goal, Daisy. Even though many characters fulfill the ideal American dream of having wealth, they all fall short of happiness. The green light represents Gatsby reaching into the future and chasing his one true love, but also it represents Gatsby’s desire to relive the past that Daisy and him shared five years ago. In the last paragraph of the novel, Nick returns to the idea of the green light to exemplify the importance of the past to the hopes of the future. He focuses on the hardships of an individual to accomplish their goals by recreating and outdoing the past. However, humans prove to be incapable to move on from the past and never lose their optimism, “tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther”, proving they consume all of their energy chasing after their goal that drifts even farther away (Fitzgerald 180). Just previous to the last famous lines, Nick depicts the “fresh, green breast of the new world,” the new world consisting of Nicks fantasy that existed many years ago. Green represents a kind of hope, however that does not necessarily mean the good type.
The color green also generally stands for the future, life, and exploration, which Fitzgerald proves in this quote. Nick portrays an indifferent melancholy tone on Gatsby’s life when he states “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us”(Fitzgerald 180). The word “recedes” signifies how Gatsby’s feelings never go away and always reoccur. This shows significance because Gatsby reveals his incapability to move one from Daisy and his past. He ends up only battling himself and chasing his own lonely sad fate. The incapability to move on shows Gatsby’s hardships and the American dream
itself. The American Dream to this day has yet to change. Individuals remain striving to become wealthy and famous so much that they will do anything for to become it. This relates significantly to how badly Gatsby wanted Daisy that he would do anything for her, for example the parties. In a traffic light green means go, and when people drive they do not hesitate to go forward unless they get distracted by something along the way. Daisy was distracted when she first leaves Gatsby because he did not have enough money for her. Now she realizes what a mistake it was leaving her one true love for money. No matter what generation, the majority of people will always go after money and strive for fame to accomplish the American dream.