Symbolism in the Great Gatsby
Symbolism in the Great Gatsby
Symbolism in The Great Gatsby
In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald presents a book with great symbolism. Fitzgerald puts symbolism into the heart of the book so strongly that it is said you have to read the book several times to gain any level of understanding. Three themes dominate the text of The Great Gatsby. They are “time” how valuable
it is, appearance, and perspective. Most of the books structure falls neatly into one of these things. In order to understand the book, we have to look at the roles of these three themes. The word “time” appears 450 times in the book either by itself or in a compound word. Fitzgerald obviously wanted to emphasize the importance of time to the overall design of the book. Time is most important to Gatsbys character. Gatsbys relationship with time is a big part to the plot. He wants to erase five years from not only his own life but also Daisys. Gatsbys response to Nick, telling him that he can repeat the past, is symbolic of the tragic irony that is behind Gatsbys fate. Gatsby says on page 116, “Cant repeat the past? Why of course you can!” Gatsby cannot accept Daisy until she erases the last three years of her life by telling Tom that she never loved him to his face. Gatsby fully believes what he says and thinks (or desperately hopes) that that is true about Daisy. At one part of the story he tells Nick how, as soon as Tom is out of the picture, he and Daisy were going to go to Memphis so they could get married at her white house just like it were five years before hand. In another scene, when Gatsby and Nick go to the Buchanans for lunch towards the end of the book, Gatsby sees Daisys and Toms child for the first time. Nick describes Gatsbys expression as one of genuine surprise and suggests that Gatsby probably never before believed in the girls existence. Gatsby is so caught up in his dream that he becomes vulnerable to the worlds brutal reality.
Fitzgerald creates a time symbolism in the scene when Daisy and Gatsby meet for the first time in five years. As Nick enters the room where Daisy and Gatsby have just met, Gatsby is leaning nervously against the mantelpiece while resting his head upon the clock on the mantle. At an weird
pause in the conversation, the clock starts to tip as if to fall off the mantle. Gatsby dramatically catches the clock before it falls and all three characters are speechless, stricken with a strange awe of the precious clock. Nick, narrates, “I think we all believed for a moment that it had smashed in pieces on the floor.” The clock was symbolizing time and Gatsbys head resting on it was all the pressure that Gatsby was putting on time. Time could not support the demands that Gatsby was making. Gatsby gingerly catching the clock and his resultant apology symbolizes the sensitivity of his plan and how necessarily delicate his methods were. Gatsbys continuous trouble with time is again illustrated in the scene when a couple stops by Gatsbys house with Tom Buchanan on a Sunday afternoon in the midst of a ride. The woman invites Gatsby to join them for dinner. While her invitation was sincere, she was a bit tipsy and her friend, Mr. Sloane, tried to change her mind. Having accepted the invitation, Gatsby went for his coat. Mr. Sloane then dragged the other two with him and rode off saying to Nick, “Tell him we couldnt wait, will you?” Just then Gatsby walks out the door with his coat and hat, ready to go. This scene has strong overtones that connect it to how Gatsby lost Daisy to Tom. Five years ago, Daisy and Jay Gatsby were in love. He loved to tell her all the things he was going to do in the future and she loved to listen. After he was sent overseas, they loved each other through their letters. When the war ended, he had only been gone from her for a little over a year. However, at that point Daisy was running out of time and desperately wanted Gatsby to return. Gatsby, however, realized the social barrier separating himself from Daisy and subsequently delayed his return so he could go to Oxford for an education in an attempt to remove the barrier. This delay cost him his love. Daisy did love Gatsby for one time she tried to leave home to be with him in New York before he went overseas, and on another occasion, Gatsby touched her so much that she wanted to call off the wedding the day before the ceremony. However, after such a wait she finally gave in to her parents and married Tom Buchanan. Similarly, Mr. Sloane dragged a woman away from Gatsby while he was briefly absent, as Tom Buchanan was present. Gatsby is the common victim, who does not receive even the smallest apology, in both instances with time as one of the chief assailants.
There are many characters in this book whose perspectives