| symbol | 3 quotes from the book that describe the symbol | 3 moments when the symbol appears | major characters that the symbol is connected to | what the symbol is representing | important things the symbol reveals about ideas and characters |
| water | “it’s stopped raining”. “has it ?”
“If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay,” said Gatsby. “You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock.” “Of course, of course! They’re fine!” and he added hollowly, “. . .old sport.” The rain cooled about half−past three to a damp mist, through which occasional thin drops swam like dew. |
the symbol appears:
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the symbol of water:
it is a portrayal of time and a barrier of how the 5 years that Gatsby and Daisy have been apart for is not allowing Gatsby to achieve his dream. Gatsby has a dream of turning back time but you can never turn back time. |
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| eyes | Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward.
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. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic their irises are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose
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the symbol of eyes appears:
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the symbol of eyes are kind of connected to most of the significant characters s they re used to establish characters but the mood of Gatsby is quite often portrayed by his facial features such as his eyes. | the eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleburg- a symbol as if they are gods eyes looking down and judging the American society. The eyes of god see everything and look down on the death of the American dream. | |
| the colour white |
They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house. Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtrusively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire. Taking a white card from his wallet, he waved it before the man’s eyes. |
When Nick went over to the Buchanans house and Daisy and Jordan were on the couch wearing white fluttery dresses rippling in the breeze
When Gatsby takes Nick for a ride in his fancy car to New York and on the way back he got pulled over but flashed his white card and flashed it at the policeman. Gatsby turned up to Nicks house for his and Daisys set meet and he was wearing a white flannel suit. |
The colour white is mainly connected to Daisy but also Gatsby and Jordan. | the colour white is generally seen as a colour and symbol of innocence and purity but Daisys character is far from pure and innocent and is a false representation
This idea of innocence and purity hides Daisys true character and in reality she is very bland and plain like a white piece of paper. |
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| yellow and gold |
An hour later the front door opened nervously, and Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold−colored tie, hurried in. His bedroom was the simplest room of all except where the dresser was garnished with a toilet set of pure dull gold. That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it. . . . high in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl. .. . |
When Gatsby was preparing for his meet with Daisy he arrived at Nicks house wearing a gold coloured tie.
in Gatsby’s house when he is giving Daisy a house tour his bedroom is described as being very simple apart from the dresser which was garnished with pure gold. just before Gatsby, Nick, Daisy, Tom and Jordan go to New York City Gatsby talks about how Daisys voice is full of money and mentions the golden girl.
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The colour gold is a representation of money and riches. The gold gives a sense of superiority as only certain characters can be linked to the colour gold as it is a symbol of wealth. Yellow on the other hand seems like a symbol of fake gold. | |
| the green light |
Involuntarily I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. “If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay,” said Gatsby. “You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock.” And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. |
When Nick first sees his neighbour Gatsby he is standing on the end of his dock in the dark reaching out to the dark water where there in the distance was the single green light.
When Daisy is at Gatsby’s house and it begins to rain again they all look outside and Gatsby makes a reference to the light. After Gatsby’s death when Nick is thinking about Gatsby’s life and his dream he again wonders about the green light. |
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The green light is a symbol of Gatsby’s unattainable hopes and dreams and the future he perceives with Daisy. For Gatsby it is as if the dream and future he has created for him self in his mind in within arms reach but at the same time just out of his grasp and as time passes his dream becomes further and further out of his reach. |
Hi Emma,
I am going to have to work on how to make effective tables on this blog. If you are unhappy with how the table looks, you can copy and past your work into a table in Google Docs and then embed that into your post. I can show you how to do this.
I think you need to look at your analysis of the symbol. Can you go a bit deeper on what some of the symbols are representing?
You have awesome evidence! Perhaps you can try and use some extracts from it to drive your analysis that bit further.
Mrs. P
Hi Mrs P
yes could u please help me put it onto a table on Friday because I tried to but the format from it makes it super long and skinny on a doc and I’m not sure how to fix it. ok thanks ill check that out now ! I also don’t know how to complete the last column im just not quite sure what its asking. thanks a lot, Emma