2. 1 Nick’s role as a carrier to express the symbolism of the novel
Symbolism is defined as the use of symbols to represent things, especially in art and literature, and symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. In the Great Gatsby, the author wildly implies symbolism to express his thoughts, such as extensive use of color, “the green light”, “the valley of Ashes”, and “the eyes of Doctor T.J.Eckleburg”[1] and so on. These are distinctive symbols playing important part in the novel. However, these symbols, to a great extend, is carried on by Nick, through his description, experience, or imagination, the meaning of symbolism is fully expressed.
2. 1. 1 Nick’s role in “the green light”
The green light, situated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock and barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg lawn, represents Gatsby’s hope and dreams for the future. Gatsby’s association with Daisy. Because Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is broadly associated with the American dream, the green light also symbolizes that more generalized ideal. What’s more important, it is Nick who sees the green light when he catches first brief glimpse of his neighbor; he sees Gatsby standing on his lawn, stretching his arms toward the dark water that separates East Egg from West Egg, and separates Daisy from himself. When Nick looks out across the water, there is nothing visible “except a simple green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock”[1]. So to speak, Nick is the person discovering the “the green light” and he is the carrier of expressing the symbolic meaning. Also, Nick compares the green light to how America, rising out of the ocean, must have looked to early settles of the new nation, so that readers can further understand that, “the green light” is the contemporary signal which summons the traveler on his way, serves well as the symbol for man in hurried pursuit of a dream. Nick discovers the signal, then defines it, what’s more, he explains it to the full meaning. In sum, it is though Nick that makes the symbolic meaning of “the green light” come to the effort.
2. 1. 2 Nick’s role in the “the valley of Ashes”.
The “valley of Ashes” is also one set of symbols that pervades the entire book and makes it a sharper commentary on contemporary civilization. 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 uninhabited pursuit of wealth. “the valley of Ashes” also symbolizes the plight of the poor, like the Wilson’s, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result. Yet, what should be point out is , Nick gives the description of the “the valley of Ashes” when he passes the area.
“this is a valley of ashes – a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat in to ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-gray men, who move dimly and dready crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gay cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with red spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight”[1]
Thus, through Nick’s description, on one level, the valley of ashes represents the gray, dismal environments of the Wilson’s and the life of the class to which they belong to. As he returns to the valley of ashes again and again, the desolate area begins to take on greater significance: it becomes the primary background against which the tragedy is played out. From this point of view, the function of Nick is standing out.
2. 1. 3 Nick’s role in “the eyes of Doctor T.J.Eckleburg”.
No doubt, it is evident that Nick plays a key role to express the symbolic meaning of “the eyes of Doctor T.J.Eckleburg”. “the eyes of Doctor T.J.Eckleburg” are pairs of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes.
“but above the gay and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.J.Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high—they look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist ate them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many painless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground”[1]
That is, “the eyes of Doctor T.J.Eckleburg” 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, the connection between the eyes of Doctor T.J.Eckleburg and God exists only in the 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. This kind of thought is coming from Nick , when he imagines Gatsby’s final thoughts as a depressed consideration of the emptiness of symbols and dreams.
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