Symbolism In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a tragedy in which true love does not prosper. Fitzgerald’s pencil coursed with the composure of the arm of a composer as it birthed beautiful images to convey concealed connotations. Perhaps the most significant of all the images is the “pyramid of pulpless halves” that appeared as a waste product of one of Gatsby’s fancy fandangos. The image of Gatsby’s trash is comparable to another image of trash found earlier in the novel. “The valley of ashes” is an area between West Egg and New York where Wilson lives (23). It can be inferred that the “ashes” were remnants of the cremation of garbage. It is also implied that because it is a “valley,” it is reasonable to believe the garbage formed a mountain. The oranges and lemons in Gatsby’s trash formed a “pyramid,” which is practically just an expensive mountain. Since they pertain to the same shape, Fitzgerald basically asks for the reader to compare. At first it would seem as though Gatsby’s trash is more value as it is much brighter, but Fitzgerald negates any previous value the oranges and lemons had by describing them as “pulpless.” This interpretation is very important to the rest of the novel because it shows that the rich and poor people are the same in
The idea of the image of the rich and poor garbage is further amplified through the end of the book when Wilson performed a murder suicide on Gatsby