The Dark Realm of the Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
In the twenties, the era of glitter and gold, counterfeit wealth and artificial success obscured the vision of a disaster foreboding: The Great Depression, the Red Scare, the crash of the stock market, and many others. New York City, the capital of the world, was the place where the dreadful sickness originated. Just beyond the glamorous displays of traffic and lights, a dark, and lonely ash heap resides at the outskirts of New York City. In the book, the ash heap is a symbol of a disease, materialism, that spreads to destroy the hopes and dreams of the ones who possess them.
Fitzgerald uses the ash heap as a symbol of a disease that spreads to destroy people s dreams and passions. Fitzgerald shows how the Valley of Ashes is a symbol of a destroyer of hopes and dreams that pass from New York City to the East and West Egg. This ash heap is a garbage dump located just outside New York City. The dim ambiance of the valley of ashes is represented by the workers. Occasionally, ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operation from your sight (17). They remove the trash of NYC and bring it to the ash heap to burn until it turns to ashes. The men who shoveled the trash off the train are like digging up dirt for a grave to bury someone.
The ash is what is left over after the trash has been burnt; it is residue left over after a destruction. The men who shoveled the trash off the train are like digging up dirt for a grave to bury someone. The comparison to gravediggers depicts that this ash heap is not a golden place; it reminds the reader of death and decay. It is described as the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over (27). This ash heap is a drury place. When desires are no longer desires anymore, they go into the trash. The burning of the garbage is like burning passions, but it burns until only the residue, the desires and dreams, are left over. The dream and desire are burnt away and there is no hope for them to be dreams and desires again.
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The Valley of Ashes represents materialism of the modern world. It s really a crude hell created by modern society. After the trash burns, it will become ashes along side an invisible train track. Jay Gatsby dreams the great American dream of being wealthy, and his hope of someday being with Daisy. However, until his dreams take an unexpected turn into the ash heap, reducing to residue. His dreams of being with her are diminished after Tom and Daisy moves away. Tragically, Gatsby has to pay the ultimate price for the love of his life, Daisy. If it was not for her dream, and the valley," Gatsby could have lived a longer life, and a happier one.
The valley of ashes symbolizes how gray and desolate Jay Gatsby s life was after the war. The dark, gray, dirty facade of the valley of ashes produces the feeling of desperation that Gatsby lives, trying to reproduce the past. He lived a life with an ever growing feeling of loneliness waiting for his one true love. His helpless romanticism ultimately leads to the loss of his own life. In the end, nobody shows up for his funeral, except for a few people, and he remains alone. Gatsby was never able to fulfill his dream of being with Daisy.
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