The Green Light

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that‘s no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning - So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." - Nick Carraway (Chapter 9, p. 115)

• the green light is a permanently lit electric lamp that marks the end of Daisy and Tom’s boat dock
• represents the abstract concepts of yearning and the American Dream, in fact to Gatsby, the green light represents his dream Daisy (attaining her equals to having completed the American Dream)
• in Chapter 1 he reaches toward it in the darkness reminscing of a guiding light to lead him towards his goal
• it is described as minute and far away which makes it impossible to reach
• green light also represents the hazy future as seen in the last chapter as well as the way that the United States must have look to early settlers (Chapter 9)

The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg

"But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. [...] But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground." - Nick Carraway (Chapter 2, page 16)

• fading eyes with glasses painted on an advertising billboard in the Valley of Ashes
• although the novel does not mention this explicitly, the eyes might represent God who stares down upon the American society as some kind of moral wasteland and judges it, thus symbolizing the loss of spiritual values in America
• also symbolize the corruption of America’s people
  
  • stare down on the main characters as they pass underneath the Valley of Ashes on their way into New York City
  • Tom meets his affair Myrtle Wilson, Gatsby introduces Nick to Meyer Wolfsheim
  • Daisy visits the city with her lover Gatsby

The Valley of Ashes

"This is a valley of ashes — a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into 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 men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air." - Nick Carraway (Chapter 2, p. 16)

• represents absolute poverty and hopelessness, also represents the moral and social decay hidden by the West, and East Egg
• illustrates how the American Dream is impossible to achieve for those who are less fortunate than Tom Buchanan
  
  • Myrtle - in her attempt to escape poverty and working-class life with Wilson - starts an affair with Tom in hopes to make it out of her misery, but she gets killed by Daisy and thus, her dream has never come true
• confrontation of Tom and George over the selling of Tom‘s car shows how the rich look down on the poor because of the difference in their social status
• valley was created through industrial dumping and is hence considered a by-product of capitalism

Gatsby‘s mansion

"A factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn." - Nick Carraway (Chapter 1, page 5)

• the mansion symbolizes the grandness as well as the emptiness of the roaring 20s since Gatsby is living alone in it, yet invites a trmendous amount of people to his parties every weekend
• it is also a symbol for Gatsby‘s love for Daisy Gatsby used his money made from bootlegging in order to buy and create a place that is better than the houses of people who come from old money (and who had taken Daisy away from Gatsby)
• the house doesn‘t represent Gatsby‘s personality but his belief that in order to get Daisy back, he must reinvent himself
  
  • he has never read the books in his library but wanted to create the appearance of intelligence