Describe how a technique has been used in the Great Gatsby. Explain how this technique is used to convey an idea.
Greenlight at the hotel in the city palms, water and white are symbols used by the author F. Scott Fitzgerald in the novel The Great Gatsby. The use of green light suggests hope. Hope is what Gatsby hung onto during the whole period of the 1920s, it represents his dream to be with the golden girl, Daisy Buchanan. Water represents the time between Gatsby and Daisy and the rebirth Gatsby went through to become his new persona. In the 20s, white is seen as a pure and wealthy colour. It is used by the characters in a corrupt way to give an image of power. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses these symbols to create an illusion among the characters Gatsby, Daisy and Nick. In this novel, the story is shown from the biased perspective of Nick Carraway.
The green light sits at the end of Daisy’s dock across the water from Gatsby’s house. Gatsby is drawn to the green light because it gives him hope that he can be with Daisy again. Gatsby reaches for the green light but the fact that it is so far out and that he will never be able to reach it is this illusion that has been created. “Compared to the great distance that separates him from Daisy, it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her, it had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again, a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.” (p100). As Gatsby finally connected with Daisy and had her for a small amount of time the green light had vanished as Gatsby had felt like he had completed his mission of getting her back. “Perhaps it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of the light had now vanished forever.”(95) For a small-time, Gatsby had achieved the American dream.
F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the colour white to portray the idea of innocence and the upper class. He uses it several times talking about Daisy because she is seen as pure and innocent and but in the inside, it is a different story. This creates an illusion because everyone thinks she has this perfect life but underneath she is empty. “She dressed in white, and had a little white roadster”(74) White represents Daisy in her younger years when she was 18, the colour conveys her innocence and is seen as pure. Gatsby was driving in his car while speeding and got pulled over by a police officer, “Taking a white card from his wallet, he waved it before the man’s eyes. “Right you are,” agreed the policeman, tipping his cap.” Gatsby’s white card is shown as a corruption of the law because he was let go with no ticket for speeding. The white card in Gatsby’s wallet is a sort of get out of jail free card, This creates the illusion to Gatsy that the law doesn’t apply to him and he is free to do what he wants.
Water symbolises the distance between Daisy and Gatsby and how much time has been between them. Gatsby wants to go back to how it was five years ago when he first met Daisy, The fact that Gatsby can see where Daisy is, creates the illusion to Gatsby that he actually can go back and everything will be how it was before they parted. The water symbolises the distance between the pair and the memory of what once was, which seems so close, yet is so far. The last line of the novel “so we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past.” explains how no matter how far or close Gatsby got to achieving his goal to be with Daisy, he didn’t make any ground because he was going against a current.
F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism to portray the idea that an illusion is happening within The Great Gatsby. The illusion created by the green light, white and water really shows how delusional Gatsby was. Symbols are used in this novel to show that what we see on the outside isn’t always what is happening in the inside. Fitsgerald shows that no matter how much you want something to go back to how it was, it will never be the same. that’s the message behind how symbols were used to create an illusion in the characters lives.
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