The Valley of Ashes

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While reading "The Great Gatsby", our class has picked up on a couple of motifs such as the green light, the valley of ashes, and the reoccurring color of yellow. Motifs most of the time are a sort of object such as the green light, or a symbol such as the color yellow. Given that the valley of ashes acts as a motif, but also is a setting within the novel urges me to expand my knowledge on the mysterious place even more. 

The valley of ashes is a stretch of desolate land between West and East Egg consisting nothing more than just ash and dirt itself. The name itself is contradictory serving as ironic due to the fact that a "valley" is a place normally looked upon as beautiful in comparison to ashes which serve as a symbol of uncleanliness and being poor. Putting aside the name, the unkempt area is described as "a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke" (Fitzgerald 23). Why would such a place be correlated with a "farm"? The time at which this novel is set, the 1920s, was a time when there was an assortment of technologies on the rise, also known as the industrialization period. Also following the war was a time of extreme economic growth within the majority of the population.Those able to indulge in extreme industrial purchases, such as Gatsby with his mansion and car, most likely were those who benefited from the growth of the economy. Most of those individuals moved to the area of West Egg as it symbolically represented new money. This serves as ironic in the sense that the valley of ashes is a place of disparity although it is suggesting the growth of society. By pairing the two ideas of a farm that grows ashes can be perceived by the audience as one of the many ways Fitzgerald displays the constant yet ironic upbringing of wealth within his novel. Given that both the name and the description target wealth, the valley of ashes can be concluded as the moral and societal decay that results from the inhibited pursuit of wealth. 


Comments

  1. Sawyer DarishNovember 11, 2019 at 7:02 AM

    I really liked how you analyzed the irony of wealth within the novel, especially when it comes to the valley of ashes and Gatsby. I also liked how you analyzed the difference between west and east egg islands.

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