Symbol #1 - The Weather
- The weather is a physical representation of Gatsby's moods. It changes as his mood does. - Pathetic Fallacy - Pg. 89 "But there was a change in Gatsby that was simply confounding. He literally glowed; without a word or gesture of exultation a new well-being radiated from him and filled the little room. 'Oh, hello old sport,' he said, as if he hadn't seen me for years. I thought for a moment he was going to shake hands. 'It's stopped raining.' 'Has it?' When he realized what I was talking about, that there were twinkle-bells of sunshine in the room, he smiled like a weather man, like an ecstatic patron of recurrent light, and repeated the news to Daisy." |
Symbol #2 - The Green Light at the End of Daisy's Dock
- It represents Daisy, the light that is guiding his path and the reason for everything he has done and gained. It shows how he is so close to her yet still so far away. - Pg. 92 "Possibly it had just occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock." |
Symbol #3 - The Mantle Clock
- This particular clock sits on Nick's mantle. When Gatsby, Daisy and Nick are all awkwardly sitting in the living room of Nick's home, Gatsby knocks the clock off the mantle and then catches it. - This clock and Gatsby catching after almost dropping it in front of Daisy represents time lost with Daisy and his now finally making it up or "catching it". - Pg. 86 "Luckily the clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the the pressure of his head, whereupon he turned and caught it with trembling fingers and set it back in place. Then he sat down, rigidly, his elbow on the arm of the sofa and his chin in his hand." ----AND A FEW LINES DOWN---- "'We haven't met for many years,' said Daisy, her voice as matter-of-fact as it could eve be. 'Five years next November.' The automatic quality of Gatsby's answer set us all back at least another minute. |
Symbol #4 - Gatsby's Room
- Gatsby's room is much simpler than the rest of the house. The only part of the house no one else really gets to see. - Represents the act he puts up in front of other people and the real parts of him that no one else gets to see. - Pg. 91 "Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real. Once he nearly toppled down a flight of stairs. His bedroom was the simplest room of all-" |
Symbol #5 - Gatsby's Shirts (and Other Clothing)
- During the tour of his mansion, they stop in Gatsby's room and he starts throwing piles and piles of expensive shirts out of his closet to show them.
- The represent the wealth he has accumulated and the time he has spent to win Daisy's love back. They show his drive and how far he is willing to go to gain her heart.
- Pg. 92
"Recovering himself in a minute he opened for us two hulking patent cabinets which held his massed suits and dressing gowns and ties, and his shirts, piled like bricks in stacks a dozen high."
-----A FEW LINES DOWN-----
"He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-coloured disarray."
- During the tour of his mansion, they stop in Gatsby's room and he starts throwing piles and piles of expensive shirts out of his closet to show them.
- The represent the wealth he has accumulated and the time he has spent to win Daisy's love back. They show his drive and how far he is willing to go to gain her heart.
- Pg. 92
"Recovering himself in a minute he opened for us two hulking patent cabinets which held his massed suits and dressing gowns and ties, and his shirts, piled like bricks in stacks a dozen high."
-----A FEW LINES DOWN-----
"He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-coloured disarray."