What Does The Green Light Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

1159 Words5 Pages

The Great Gatsby In the novel, the narrator was able to represent the themes and symbols that were conveyed in the book. He was able to set some examples and further explaining what each represented within how the characters responded towards one another. One of the main symbols that were really demonstrated throughout the novel was the green light. This is because Gatsby made several attempts of showing what the green light meant to him. The green light symbolizes rebirth of something new and a need of belonging while also having a double meaning of indifferent, envious and selfish. Gatsby demonstrates these characteristics and more which gives us a deeper understanding of what he was aiming for.
The color green symbolizes many things such …show more content…

Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away…” (Fitz 20-21). He could have been trembling with longing and desire of having Daisy back when he was reaching for the green light. He throws parties every night hoping that Daisy would one day come back so he can pick her up on her feet. The narrator also demonstrates that the green light was a “minute and far away” so this dream that he is trying to achieve could be impossible due to other factors such as, Daisy is married to Tom and had a child with him. Another factor is that the younger Daisy that loved Gatsby is not the same Daisy that Gatsby is seeing and Gatsby hasn’t moved on from the past while Daisy did. Not to mention, at the end of the novel Nick mentions that “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitz 180). We came to the conclusion that Gatsby never had the ability to move from the past even when he told Tom of his plans, he kept trying. Tom proved a point when he let Gatsby take Daisy home and Gatsby took the blame for killing Tom’s mistress. This …show more content…

Gatsby is trying to achieve his dream by going towards what he desires the most which is Daisy. “His dream has been futile from the beginning: he will never be accepted into the world of old money that Daisy could never leave” (The Great Gatsby Encyclopedia of the Novel). He aims for an impossible feat and no matter what is stacked against him, it seems that he turns a blind eye to it and continues. In chapter 7, Gatsby confesses to Tom that Daisy loves him while at the same time pleading to Daisy to come back to him. However, Tom had demolished that dream by bringing up all of Gatsby’s illegal acts and conveying to him that Daisy will not leave him for Gatsby because she has a family and she was not in love with Gatsby anymore. Even though the odds was put against him, Gatsby took the risk because he was desperate to see that Daisy would come back to him so they can go back to the way things were. Not only did we see his desire for the past, but the narrator made us see what Gatsby became for the younger Daisy, which at the time she wanted wealthy men. Gatsby put on a façade to fool everyone and obtain many illegal things to make himself look good. Once Tom had brought everything he learned out and about, Daisy realizes her mistakes and knew that she couldn’t leave Tom and that she had a moment of weakness thinking that she could went back into the past where she enjoyed life and no

Open Document