Analysis of Symbolism in The Great Gats

1、淺析了不起的蓋茨比的象征主義analysis of symbolism in the great gatsbycontentsabstracti內(nèi)容摘要iiintroduction11. the code of the colors21.1 green: life, hope, future21.2 white: innocence?31.3 yellow or golden: wealth, money, and death31.4 blue: illusion42. the green light43. the valley of ashes, west and east egg54. t

2、he eyes of dr. t.j. eckleburg65. automobiles76. time and weather8conclusion9works cited11analysis of symbolism in the great gatsbyabstractfrancis scott fitzgerald, one of the most prominent novelists in american literary history in the 1920s, has been regarded as “the singer of the jazz age”, and “c

3、hronicler” and “poets laureate”. his works give us an accurate picture of the social state of america in early twenties of last century. his works are regarded as symbolism and allegorical stories. and, among them, the great gatsby is the most successful one. finished in 1925, the great gatsby wins

4、lots of favorable praise. nowadays, people keep reading it, and many films have been adopted from it. just as above said, the great gatsby is a symbolism story, in which, many symbols are used, for example, green light, the ash valley, automobiles and so on. this paper will analyze the novel by mean

5、s of the respective symbolism meanings of these symbols. key words: gatsby; symbolism; green light, symbol淺析了不起的蓋茨比的象征主義內(nèi) 容 摘 要美國(guó)著名象征主義代表作家弗朗西斯司各特菲茨杰拉德，20世紀(jì)20年代美國(guó)文壇最著名的作家之一，素有“爵士時(shí)代”代言人，“編年史家”和“桂冠詩(shī)人”的稱號(hào)。菲茨杰拉德的作品準(zhǔn)確地反映了美國(guó)上世紀(jì)20年代的社會(huì)狀況。完成于1925年的了不起的蓋茨比可以說(shuō)是那個(gè)年代最偉大的文學(xué)作品之一，受到讀者和評(píng)論界的一致好評(píng)，知道現(xiàn)在還有很多人愿意去讀這部作品，并且

6、不斷有人把這部小說(shuō)改變成電影搬上銀幕。值得注意的是現(xiàn)在仍然還有很多人從這部小說(shuō)的寫作手法，敘事視角和結(jié)構(gòu)加以分析討論。菲茨杰拉德在本書中運(yùn)用了大量的象征手法在人物、色彩和意象等方面，描繪了美國(guó)年輕一代在第一次世界大戰(zhàn)后的精神面貌和生活方式。象征主義也就成了這部小說(shuō)的最大特點(diǎn)。本文意在通過(guò)對(duì)這部小說(shuō)中最明顯的一些象征的分析，來(lái)說(shuō)明象征主義在這部小說(shuō)中的重要性，即象征主義讓這部小說(shuō)不朽，從而成就了菲茨杰拉德在美國(guó)文學(xué)中的歷史貢獻(xiàn)，讓更多讀者發(fā)現(xiàn)這部小說(shuō)的奧妙，對(duì)其有更全面的了解。關(guān)鍵詞：蓋茨比；象征；色彩；意象iiianalysis of symbolism in the great gatsby

7、introductionfrancis scott fitzgerald is one of the greatest novelists in the 20th century in america. for his contribution to american literature, he is honored as “the singer of the jazz age”, and “chronicler” and “poets laureate”. at the time of his death, fitzgerald was considered as a failed lit

8、erary figure. but his literary reputation has risen steadily for people concentrated on the topics which emerged from his works. today he is judged to be one of the major american prose writers in the last century. (wu weiren, 1990)during his short life, fitzgerald had finished many great books, for

9、 instance, this side of paradise, the beautiful and damned, the great gatsby and tender is the night. fitzgeralds works have been considered as a symbol for the “jazz age”, a time of wealth and promise. his stories not only inform us the backgrounds of the story, for example, the atmosphere of polit

10、ics, how people felt and thought at that time and others, but also tell us the truths behind the story. among these works, the greatest and most successful, in my opinion, is the great gatsby, which was finished in 1925. and its true that it is this book that has earned him a permanent place in amer

11、ican literature.in fact, the great gatsby has its own merits either on its literary techniques or its subject matter. dos passos, one of the american novelists, once declared that the great gatsby was “one of the few classical novels”. (bruccoli, 1980, p.5) many critics such as malcolm cowley, edmun

12、d wilson, dennis hardy have acknowledged this novels classicality and its authors artistic achievement. gilbert seldes wrote in dial in august in 1925: “fitzgerald has more than matured, he has mastered his talents and gone soaring in a beautiful flight, leaving behind him everything dubious and tri

13、ck in his earlier works, and leaving even further behind all the men of his generation and his elders.”(byan, 1991, p.1016) in 1945, william troy identified the great gatsby as fitzgeralds only complete successful novel, and in 1946 john berryman declared it a masterpiece. from those praise, we can

14、see that this book is a sheer success. in this book, a lot of symbols were used by the author, and this is the reason the great gatsby has been considered as a symbolism and allegorical story by critics and readers. one of the most remarkable features of this book is to use lots of symbols to repres

15、ent characters, background and details and to sublimate the story. so, it is acceptable to say that its symbolism that makes this story and fitzgerald great. symbolism, which used wildly in the great gatsby, is defined, by wikipedia, as “using multiple symbols to present differentiated terms in a sy

16、stem which conveys meaning.” symbolism in literature was used from the “19th century to the early 20th century.” symbol is “a thing, in literature, that refers or suggests more than its literal meaning”, it is “an object, animate or inanimate, which goes beyond the objective referent by evoking or s

17、uggesting to the reader a meaning another level, a meaning beyond itself.”(yuan xianjun, 2004, p.229) symbol is an important element in symbolism, and symbolism is the greatest feature of the great gatsby. there are lots of symbols in this novel, for example, balloon, colors, cars, times, the valley

18、 of ash, the green light, the eyes of dr. t. j. eckleburg and others. even the characters and the name of the place have their symbolic meaning. among them, the code of colors, the green light, the valley of ash, the eyes of dr. t. j. eckleburg, the automobiles and time in the following will be anal

19、yzed respectively. 1. the code of the colorswe can see lots of colors in this story, for instance, the green light, red tower, gray valley, golden car and so on. if you are a careful reader, you must be able to pick out something from those colors, because colors can speak under fitzgeralds pen, and

20、 those colors all have their meanings.1.1 green: life, hope, futurethe color green calls our attention at first. it emerges at the beginning of the story, yes, the green light. seeing the color green, we are going to think about plants, trees, grass and everything in springtime. and spring is a seas

21、on of life, hope and future. in a word, the color “green” can symbolize hope and dream. when nick sees gatsby for the first time in his backyard, he notices that gatsby is looking intensely at a green light, with his arms stretching towards it, as if trying to reach it. later on, we learn that the s

22、pecial light is the end of daisysdock, across the bay which separates east egg from west egg. the action stretching out looks as if he is worshipping for something. but, what would we worship for? only dream or hope. then we can say the color green represents gatsbys ambition and dream-to win daisy,

23、 that light is the reason why he is ready to do everything he can to win her love. to reach that light is his only desire in life. so, in this case, gatsby, who represents american people at that time, is in a loss time. that indicates the emptiness of american people at that time clearly. 1.2 white

24、: innocence?white is a color which appears many times throughout the novel. at first, it is used to describe daisy. the first thing nick mentions when he sees daisy in the buchanans is that she is in a “white dress.” later on, we learn that daisys clothes are always white, even her car is also white

25、. more than that, we can find lots of description of her are white, for example, her “white neck”, “white girlhood”, the kings daughter “high in a white place” and so on. the color white is closely related to daisy. then, it is natural to define the color white as “her” color. i think that is why so

26、me critics insist that white symbolized innocence in this novel. dose this color represents her purity and her innocence? no! the reason is that, at the end of the novel, daisy is described as a selfish and careless woman. besides seeing the color white on daisy, we also can see the white on gatsby.

27、 once when gatsby took nick for a ride in his car, they were stopped by a policeman. gatsby acted fast and showed the officer a white card, and the latter immediately excused him. at first, gatsby made nick believe that it was a christmas card sent to him by the commissioner, but later on we learn t

28、hat gatsby had bribed the police officer. so, in contrast, “white” also represents corruption. we can see from above that it is ridiculous to say the color white represents innocence in this novel.1.3 yellow or golden: wealth, money, and deathin our mind, we will see the color yellow or golden as we

29、alth, richness and money. but, in this book, yellow also represents death. it is easy to see the first symbolic meaning. in order to show his wealth, the major character gatsby nearly uses everything in yellow. his car is yellow, he wears a gold tie, and he is in a golden suit. what is more, his par

30、ty plays “yellow cocktail music”, and he sits with “tow girls in yellow”.gatsbys car is yellow, toms car is blue. that is the reason of gatsbys death. if both had been black-as they usually were in those times-gatsby would not have beenkilled by george wilson. so, yellow, in a way, lead to gatsbys d

31、eath.1.4 blue: illusion then there is color blue, which i think represents gatsbys illusion. because his romantic dream that wins daisy back is totally unrealistic. though he lives in a golden world, we also do notice that the color blue is presented around gatsby much more than any other characters

32、. his chauffeur wears blue, his garden is blue, the water separating him from his love daisy is “blue lawn”, mingled with the “blue smoke of brittle leaves” in his yard. and his tutor of life cody buys him a “blue coat”. before you tie this up under one simple label, pay attention that the eyes of d

33、r. t. j. eckleburg, who stands for god, are also blue. if blue represents illusion to reality and dream, god is just the passerby.2. the green lightthe green light is probably one of the most important symbols in the great gatsby. the green light has appeared three times in the story, and its first

34、appearance is at the end of the first chapter, and that is also the first time nick, in some point the authors incarnation because the author uses the third part to express his mind and became the all-known god, met gatsby. i decided to call him, miss baker had mentioned him at dinner, and that woul

35、d do for an introduction. but i did not call to him, for he gave an sudden intimation that he was content to be alone-he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as i from him, i could have sworn he was trembling. involuntarily i glanced seaward-and distinguished nothi

36、ng except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. when i looked once for gatsby he had vanished, and i was alone again in the unquiet darkness. (zhou dunyi, 1982, p.34)so ends the first chapter of the great gatsby and brings our attention to the first symbo

37、l in this book - that mysterious green light. in our first acquaintance with the light, we see gatsby reaching out for it, we can also say, worshipping for it. later on, we find out that this green light is at the end of daisys dock, and is a symbol for gatsbys dream and the hope for the future. bec

38、ause green is the color of promise, hope, and renewal -we have shown it clearly to you at the part of “the code of the colors”- so it is fitting to say gatsbys dream of a future with daisy is represented physically in the novel by this green light. later, in the final chapter of this novel, fitzgera

39、ld compares gatsbys green light to the “green breast of the new world” and compares gatsbys dream of rediscovering daisy to the explorers discovery of america and the promise of a new continent. however, gatsbys dream is tarnished by his material possessions. the means corrupt the end, and gatsbys d

40、ream dies because of daisy, gatsby, and toms carelessness and superficiality, as does gatsby for the same reasons.and as i sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, i thought of gatsbys wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of daisys dock. he had come a long way to this blue

41、 lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. he did not know that it was already behind him, some where back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.(zhou dunyi, 1982, p.273)at the end of the sto

42、ry, fitzgerald encouraged his american readers or his contemporary ones that they should stretch out their arms just like gatsby for their dreams though gatsbys dream, or in some point it is american dream, is dead. “it eluded us then, but that is no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out o

43、ur arms farther. and one fine morning-” from those words we can see the green light not only the symbol of gatsbys dream and future, but also the americans. 3. the valley of ashes, west and east eggat the end of the first chapter we are given the green light, a symbol for the hope and promise of the

44、 future. at the beginning of the second chapter, however, we are introduced to the “foul wasteland” of the present. fitzgerald calls it a “valley of ashes-a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridge-sand hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the farms of houses and chimneys and r

45、ising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-gray men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powder air.” (zhou dunyi, 1982, p.35) this section of the novel can be interpreted as the foul, material-driven world that the main characters live in, which helps to destroy gatsby

46、s dream-it is here that daisy killed mrs. wilson, and later gatsby picked the obligation.the location of the valley is also interesting. its located between the west egg and east egg where the rich people lived. the neighbor-ship between rich men and poor people can also be seen as the reason of the

47、ir compact. gatsbys house “is a factual imitation of some hotel de ville in normandy”, which contains “a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy”. the luxurious house is a symbol of gatsbys social status and large illegal income. east egg is the home of the more prominent estab

48、lished wealthy families. tom and daisys home is on the east egg. their house, a “red and white georgian colonial mansion overlooking the bay” with its “wine-colored rugs” is just as impressive as gatsbys house. the valley of ashes resembles something dark and lifeless. as a result, the fire ashes st

49、and for destruction and death. furthermore, the death of myrtle wilson in the valley of ashes stands for the pain associated with this valley. also, the fact that the wilsons live in the valley shows that they are not with such high social standards as the other characters are in the novel. by havin

50、g to pass through the valley of ashes in order to get to new york, the other characters have to betake themselves to this lower status. then the storys conflict arises. 4. the eyes of dr. t.j. eckleburgthe eyes of dr. eckleburg are blue and gigantic-their retinas are one yard high. they look out of

51、no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose.(zhou dunyi, 1982, p.37)this is a quote from nick, the central character of the story. it is the first time we see the eyes of dr. t. j. eckleburg. the eyes are on an image of a human figure, which e

52、merges many times throughout the novel. the eyes of dr. t. j. eckleburg symbolize tow things. first, it symbolizes that the society goes mad; second, dr. t. j. eckleburg is symbolized as all-seeing god by author.nick notices the eyes again as he heads into the city with tom, gatsby and daisy in chap

53、ter seven. “we were all irritable now with the fading ale, and aware of it we drove for a while in silence. then as dr. t. j. eckleburgs faded eyes came into sight down the road.” on the way to new york they remember that they need to refuel gasoline. it is at the gas station that tom and the other

54、three learn that wilson is planning to move his wife myrtle out west, because he finds the fact that his wife myrtles is disloyal to him. on the way back from new york, gatsby and daisy are driving together and he kills daisy by accident. the description of dr. t. j. eckleburgs eyes is used as an ex

55、ample that god is careless to the poor.later on in the great gatsby, george wilson, a very non-religious man, after seeing his wife die in a tragic car accident, entails the eyes of dr. t.j. eckleburg a whole new meaning. standing behind him, michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the eye

56、s of dr. t.j. eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night.“god sees everything,” repeated wilson.(zhou sunyi, 1982, p.241)from the quotation we can get a point that author symbolizes the eyes of dr. t. j. eckleburg as all-knowing god.5. automobilesthe cars，or auto

57、mobiles play a major role that make a regular appearance in the great gatsby. the cars in the great gatsby symbolize what the person is like and the houses symbolize whoever is in the world. we all know that, in the american society, the car is always seen as a symbol of status. the cars of all hero

58、es are symbolic of many things of themselves in this story. gatsbys car is “a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of windshields that mirrored a dozen suns” obvio

59、usly shows his materialism.on every week-ends, his rolls-royce, we all know the brand of this car is a luxurious one, “became an omnibus” to bear “parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight.” associated with his favorite color yellow we can see his car symbolizes his vulgar materialism and conveys his newb