One of the prominent figures in American literature of the XX century is Francis Scott Fitzgerald. His main novel, The Great Gatsby, which brought the author world fame, was repeatedly recognized, and included in the list of masterpieces of world literature. The novel is replete with symbols, without which it will be impossible to form images as well as to deepen the content of the work itself. Although the author uses many different symbols, one of the main ones is the green light, which appears throughout the work and carries a significant semantic and symbolic load.
The author uses this image as a symbol of dreams and aspirations that correlate with his love for Daisy. In the future, the author uses this symbol to express Gatsby’s attitude to the image that he created in his head, and which went out by the end of the work. Readers encounter a green light at the end of the first chapter for the first time when Gatsby, trembling, reaches out to him. This light is burning at the pier next to the house where Daisy lives. For Gatsby, this fire is associated with Daisy herself, and it was she who became the meaning and incentive of life for him. Moreover, the same green light occurs in the middle of the novel when Daisy visits Gatsby’s house, and it loses its former meaning for him but brings a new sense. Jay Gatsby realizes that he created an image of Daisy that was better than herself and better than anything in the world. The author shows the vast difference between an illusory dream and a sincere dream because the green light has not stopped shining, but for Jay Gatsby, it has gone out forever.
In conclusion, the work of Francis Scott Fitzgerald called The Great Gatsby is one of the most significant for the XX century and carries a deep meaning reflected through symbolism. The novel describes various characters, but one of the main ones is the green light, which is of great importance in the life of Jay Gatsby. This light relates to the love of his life, the girl Daisy, and this light is more than once found at different stages of Jay and Daisy’s relationship. The image of the symbol successfully achieves the goal that the author sets to show the reader the meaning of Jay Gatsby’s life.