Valley Of Ashes Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

It’s the 1920s, you have just came to to America, poor as dirt with no job. Fast forward 10 years and you are as rich as can be. How did this happen, it is all thanks to the American dream. In The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main character, Jay Gatsby fulfilled the American Dream by starting as a soldier, and building his way up to living in west egg with a frivolous mansion. The American Dream however is not perfect, and the author tells us so. Fitzgerald portrays the tragedy of the American Dream through symbolism. Some of these symbols include the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, Gatsby’s phoniness, the eggs, and the valley of ashes.
The eye of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, otherwise seen as god, and the failure of the American dream, is located in the valley of ashes. The valley of ashes also symbolizes the failure of the American dream, housing lower class people. The all-seeing eyes shows us that while the American dream can be widely
The author does not really show us the American dream like this though. The two eggs, west egg, and east egg, house people at the top of the social ladder, but there are very distinct differences. For instance, if your grandfather was apart of the American dream, you would live in east egg, like Daisy and Tom. If however you managed to get everything yourself, you would live in west egg, where you are known as new money, “and the less fashionable of the two”(7). Old money people tend to have more manners and they know how to be rich. New money people on the other hand, are reckless and do not know how to behave properly. They are in an essence, less dignified. This shows us the tragedy of the American dream, because even though two different people did the exact same thing, and worked just as hard, the time at which they did so determines how elite you are in the top of the food