Symbolism
How many symbols or
motifs can you think of?
 The colour of dreariness
 It symbolizes the lack of life and/or spirit
 It is the place of no hope, and no future
 Valley of Ashes
 Grey Dust
 Everything covered, including the people
 Purity and innocence
 Because this is a novel that is submerged in the
theme of appearance vs. reality, this has the a
deeper meaning of FALSE purity and goodness
 “White” becomes a superficial cloak to hide the
underlying darkness and corruption
 Daisy and Jordan always seen in white
 Also, Gatsby, when he wanted to meet Daisy again
for the first time in five years, worse a white suit as
it to show that he was good and pure
 Largest representation in the novel
 Money
 Hope
 Green light
 Something to strive for
 Gatsby reaches out to the green light at the beginning of the
novel
 We find out later that it is at the end of Daisy’s and Tom’s dock
 Life with her would represent wealth and prosperity
 In the book, wealth is something to hope for and reach out for
Yellow:
 This shows up in many facets of the book
 Yellow symbolizes corruptness and things that go bad
 In the fall, the leaves turn yellow and decay – this is similar to the
corruption that happens in the world
 Gatsby’s yellow car represents corruptness, dishonesty and
deception
Gold:
 Gold represents wealth, or the show of wealth
 Gatsby tries to win back Daisy using gold, or his wealth as a
motivation
Red:
 Blood
 Death
 Bloody death of Myrtle
How many can you think of?
 Tom’s mistress
 Vitality
 She is full of life
 She makes spontaneous
decisions
 She is voluptuous
 She is a healthy, strong
and dangerous woman
 Her name is a type of
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flower
She embodies the idea
of a fragile flower
She embodies the
notion of the
conventional woman of
the 1920’s
She is a fragile person
She is indecisive
She uses Gatsby
She is beautiful to look
at, but like a flower, you
cannot have it forever
 Represents power
 He abuses power
 He is arrogant
 He is masculine
 He is the epitome of the
man’s world in the 1920’s
 He is authority
 Brute
 Equilibrium
 Stands to the side
 Has his own opinion but does
not always express it
 He is one of the main people
who connect Gatsby to Daisy
 He is the un-innocent
bystander
 He is like Pontius Pilot, where
he sends Gatsby to his death
although it is not his intention
or what he wants to happen
 The result of a dream deferred
 Tries to achieve the ideal (Daisy),
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but the ideal falls short
She could never live up to his
expectations
She is on a pedestal, and he has
created a fantasy that cannot
connect to reality
The more he cannot attain the
dream, the more involved and
complex the fantasy becomes
He is the cause of his own ill-fate
 Love Connection?
 They have something in common
 They are the only three people in the novel who ever
loved
 They are the only three people that die
 This doesn’t leave the reader with the most optimistic
impression love…
 What do you think of this “Character”
 Is he even a character?
 What could he represent?
 Our fearless leaders will uncover his mystery
in their seminar…
 Owls represent wisdom
 They are also be an omen of death
 The glasses: all-seeing, God-like, more perceptive than others
 This is ironic because upon our first introduction to the
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character, we find out that he is drunk – which contrasts against
our initial impression of him.
He doubts and investigates Gatsby further, displaying his
wisdom.
He sits in the library, drawing attention to the books in the
library.
The books represent the reality or façade that Gatsby is creating
for himself, and the Owl-Eyed man is bringing attention to it.
He brings together the critic, reader and the characters all into
one being…
Others…
Billboard
Right over the valley of ashes
Billboard consists of really big eyes
Also consists of really big spectacles
It watches over everything that goes on around the valley
The glasses have yellow rims that symbolize corruptness in
two different ways: a) All he sees is corruptness b) He sees
through all of those who are corrupt
 The empty face represents the hollowness of people and
their materialistic values
 The empty face also represents an empty, unresponding,
and dead God in a world of corruption
 He is a God-figure who is watching over the two Eggs
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 The East and West eggs are where they live, and there is always
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drama going on
An egg is white on the outside, and yellow on the inside
So on both sides of the spectrum there is deception everywhere
An egg symbolizes a false show of purity on the outside, but
rotten and corrupt on the inside
Also the East Egg represents old money that has been passed
down from generation to generation
The West Egg represents new money that the people who live
inside there have earned
There is always constant bickering between the eggs because the
West Eggers are rowdy and don’t know how to handle themselves
amongst the continually wealthy people.
 Cars are a status symbol and can also represent
carelessness and/or recklessness
 Spring represents a new beginning, a clean slate to
mess up all over again
 The seasons and the weather play a large role in
reflecting the realities of what is happening in the
book.
 This is a type of pathetic fallacy, drawing the readers
attention to the feelings, tone and meaning of the
various elements of the plot.