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The Valley of Ashes

The document discusses two symbols from The Great Gatsby: the valley of ashes, which represents the moral and social decay resulting from the pursuit of wealth, and the fading eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg painted on a billboard over the valley, which may represent God judging society but instead come to represent the essential meaninglessness of the world.

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21 views

The Valley of Ashes

The document discusses two symbols from The Great Gatsby: the valley of ashes, which represents the moral and social decay resulting from the pursuit of wealth, and the fading eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg painted on a billboard over the valley, which may represent God judging society but instead come to represent the essential meaninglessness of the world.

Uploaded by

mostarjelica
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Valley of Ashes

 
First introduced in Chapter II, the valley of ashes between West Egg and New
York City consists of a long stretch of desolate land created by the dumping of
industrial ashes. It represents the moral and social decay that results from the
uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with regard for
nothing but their own pleasure. The valley of ashes also symbolizes the plight of
the poor, like George Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their
vitality as a result.
 

The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg

 
The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes
painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes. They may
represent God staring down upon and judging American society as a moral
wasteland, though the novel never makes this point explicitly. Instead, throughout
the novel, Fitzgerald suggests that symbols only have meaning because
characters instill them with meaning. The connection between the eyes of Doctor
T. J. Eckleburg and God exists only in George Wilson's grief-stricken mind. This
lack of concrete significance contributes to the unsettling nature of the image.
Thus, the eyes also come to represent the essential meaninglessness of the
world and the arbitrariness of the mental process by which people invest objects
with meaning. Nick explores these ideas in Chapter VIII, when he imagines
Gatsby's final thoughts as a depressed consideration of the emptiness of symbols
and dreams.

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