Valley+of+the+Ashes

= VALLEY OF ASHES =

Introduction: In __The Great Gatsby,__ by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author incorporates the Valley of Ashes between New York and the West Egg to symbolize the remnants of the chase for wealth and the ultimate 'American Dream'. Throughout the book the characters are shown to be corrupt and immoral, and that is especially clear when the characters are in the Valley of Ashes. In West Egg, the characters puts on a smile and appear to be happy on the outside, however when at the ash-heaps reality occurs and the truth comes out. Tom commits infidelity and Daisy accidently kills his lover. Above the Valley of Ashes sits an advertisement with the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg staring down at all the characters. To the audience, and also George Wilson, he seems to be God looking down and judging the events that are occurring. He's the other 'character', along with Nick, that seems to know what has happened amid all the chaos and confusion without being biased.


 * Topic Sentence 1: **
 * Valley of Ashes represents the remains of the chase for the American Dream. **

//[First time Nick goes to the Valley of Ashes, introduction]//

“This a valley of ashes” (16)
 * The simple fact that the author has labeled this piece of land ‘valley of ashes’ represents the empty pursuit for wealth.
 * Ashes symbolize death, and more specifically to the book a place that has been deserted by the people who are only interested in their own pleasures.
 * Fitzgerald regards the place as **ash-heaps** throughout the book:
 * //[The first time Doctor T. J. Eckleburg is mentioned]// “Over the **ash-heaps**…” (79)
 * //[The first person to find George Wilson sick in his office]// “…Michaelis, who ran the coffee joint beside the **ash-heaps**…” (87)
 * //[The first time that Nick met Myrtle]// “…and when we stopped by the **ash-heaps** he jumped to his feet…” (17)
 * The first image of the valley of ashes is that it’s a pile of ash-heaps, which gives the audience the image that the whole place is ‘dead’.



//[Nick's description the first time he sees the Valley of Ashes]//

“Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track… and immediately the ash-grey men…” (16)
 * The color grey is mentioned twice in the same sentence to describe the cars and the people that occupy the Valley of Ashes
 * Represents how lifeless the valley is

//[Nick's first encounter with George Wilson]//

“…he was a blond, spiritless man, anaemic, and faintly handsome. When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes.” (17)
 * Not only is the Valley of Ashes lifeless, but so are the people who live there
 * A certain place reflects the people who live there, the people who have to tend and take care of it
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Each word Nick uses to describe George Wilson represents a man who is physically alive, but emotionally and mentally he is basically dead
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Spiritless: Gives a sense of an unhappy man who no longer cares about life
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Anaemic: He lacks vitality and color
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Faintly handsome: He used to be a different person in the past, but his spirit has left him
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wilson isn't living or trying to live the American Dream. However, the hope that appears in his eyes represents what see in people such as Tom, who do have the American Dream. Shows that he admires the rich.

**Topic Sentence 2:**
 * The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg represent God judging the characters.**

//[The first introduction to Doctor T.J. Eckleburg]//

<span style="color: #2127ed; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic – their retinas 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.” (16)
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">﻿Eyes symbolize being watched, looking over the events that are occurring
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By not giving Doctor T.J. Eckleburg a whole face, Fitzgerald emphasizes on the eyes as the most important part
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When picture 'God' we do not give him a face or any real physical features, but we focus on what it is that he represents as our moral compass and what he is expecting from us



//[When George Wilson becomes sick and Michaelis has to take care of him]//

<span style="color: #2127ed; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“…he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night.” <span style="color: #2127ed; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“ ‘God sees everything,’ repeated Wilson” (102)
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The author doesn’t tell you what Doctor T.J. Eckleburg represents, but lets the characters and the audience have their own interpretation of symbols
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">" I told her she might fool me but she couldn’t fool God. I took her to the window.” (102) //Wilson said to Michaelis about his confrontation with Myrtle//
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wilson told Myrtle that “God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me, but you can’t fool God!’” (102)
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wilson views the Doctor’s eyes like God, who sees everything that happens and is the only true ‘character’ in the book that understands completely what the situation is
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Judging the corruption that has occurred within people, due to the chase for wealth
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nick mentions in the beginning of the book that he wishes to go about without judging others and keeping an open mind, the Doctor takes his place to judge the characters with a knowing eye. Both characters know what's going on, without a biased eye.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">**Topic Sentence 3:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **The Valley of Ashes represents the corruption and the dark events throughout the book, it is the place where reality checks in.**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//[Tom and Myrtle's affair starts from the Valley of Ashes]//

<span style="color: #2127ed; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"There is always a halt there of at least a minute, and it was because of this that I first met Tom Buchanan's mistress." (16-17)
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">﻿Back at West Egg, to any outsider, Tom and Daisy seem to live a perfect life. However, it is when he reaches the Valley of Ashes when that seemingly perfect image starts to break down.
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here, he commits infidelity and has an affair.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Characterizes Tom and George Wilson as characters. Tom is having an affair with George's wife right under his roof in front of his face, however George only seems to look up to Tom. Tom is confident and shameless enough to do so, and George is clueless enough to let it happen for so long.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//[Myrtle's gruesome death]//

"The 'death car' as the newspapers called it, didn't stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment..." (88)
 * In the beginning of the book the Valley of Ashes is associated with infidelity and pain, however Fitzgerald takes it to the next level and links it to death.
 * Myrtle's life slowly fell apart when living at the Valley of Ashes, and in the end it killed her

"I tried to make her stop, but she couldn't..." (92)
 * It is also at the Valley of Ashes, when Daisy's true personality shines through after she hits Myrtle
 * If she stopped, she would've had to deal with all the problems that would come with the accident, so she drove on in hope that she could avoid it
 * Dislikes confronting problems and takes the easy road out of situations


 * Below is the link to the first 20 minutes of the movie The Great Gatsby, at around 8:50 Nick starts to talk about the Valley of Ashes as they are approaching it. It's interesting to see how others have perceived it, whether different or similar to your own. **

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjIxOTMwOTI=.html