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F. Scott FitzgeraldA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
At numerous points in the narrative, a green light emanates from Daisy’s dock, which can be seen from Gatsby’s house. To Gatsby, this light represents his hopes and dreams of rekindling his youthful relationship with Daisy from many years ago. Of this light and Gatsby’s attitude toward it, Nick says, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (176). Beyond Gatsby’s feelings toward Daisy, the light has a broader meaning: It represents the American dream that beckons while remaining just out of reach. Gatsby’s success only emphasizes The Illusion of the American Dream in the 1920s. To achieve his social status, Gatsby had to become a criminal, and even then he is still excluded from the upper echelons of American society and watches it from across the water.
The valley of ashes is an industrial dumpsite filled with the waste created by the wealthy residents of West and East Egg. Both literally and symbolically, it represents the stark divide between rich and poor on Long Island. Given that Tom’s mistress Myrtle lives there, it is a place where the ostensible morality of the upper class is suspended.
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Babylon Revisited
Babylon Revisited
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Bernice Bobs Her Hair
Bernice Bobs Her Hair
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Crazy Sunday
Crazy Sunday
F. Scott Fitzgerald
May Day
May Day
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Tender Is the Night
Tender Is the Night
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Beautiful and Damned
The Beautiful and Damned
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Last Tycoon
The Last Tycoon
F. Scott Fitzgerald
This Side of Paradise
This Side of Paradise
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Winter Dreams
Winter Dreams
F. Scott Fitzgerald