Let’s look at how
Fitzgerald uses the Valley of Ashes to establish tone and purpose, to create
meaning.
Tone
At the beginning
of chapter two, Nick Carraway describes the Valley of Ashes using negative
diction, including “grotesque gardens,” “ash-gray men,” “solemn dumping
ground,” and “paintless days” (21), to create a gloomy, unsettling and hopeless
tone. Creating a dark and hopeless tone, evokes dark and gloomy images from the
reader and enables the reader to picture a corrupt atmosphere and setting fit
for the immoral events that occur in the Valley of Ashes, including the murder
of Myrtle Wilson. The use of the diction, “impenetrable cloud,” “spasms of
bleak dust,” “rising smoke,” and “powdery
air” (21), also accentuates the dismal tone of the novel, by enabling the reader to
picture the waste, pollution and moral decay that is hidden behind the wealthy
and extravagant facades of both East Egg and West Egg.
How does the tone create meaning?
At the beginning
of chapter two, Nick Carraway’s description of the Valley of Ashes is
structured into paragraphs. The first paragraph describes the physical features
of the valley, whereas the second paragraph of chapter two introduces the
symbol of the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. The narrator describes how the eyes
of Eckleburg “brood on over the solemn dumping ground,” through a pair of “enormous
yellow spectacles” (21). Fitzgerald uses a metaphor to refer to the Valley of Ashes
as a “solemn dumping ground,” to highlight how the valley represents the moral
and social decay of the wealthy. Likewise, the colour yellow of the spectacles represents
the decayed moral values, during the Jazz Age era. Since Gatsby’s Rolls Royce is
also the colour yellow, the colour yellow can also represent death, due to the
fact that Gatsby’s yellow car kills Myrtle Wilson in the Valley of Ashes.
The Valley of
Ashes is also a geographical symbol in which decayed moral values are
practiced. For example, Tom Buchanan is free to publicize his relationship with
Myrtle in the Valley of Ashes. However, in East Egg, Tom Buchanan keeps his
affair with Myrtle hidden.
Purpose
Now let’s discuss
the purpose of the Valley of Ashes.
Through the use
of literary techniques, Fitzgerald develops the dismal tone and atmosphere of
the Valley of Ashes. Fitzgerald uses a simile when he makes a comparison of the
Valley of Ashes to “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges
and hills and grotesque gardens” (21). The use of the word, “ashes,” has
negative connotations because ashes are associated with death. Moreover, associating
the Valley of Ashes with death develops the novel’s plot, by foreshadowing the
death of Myrtle Wilson in chapter seven of the novel. Fitzgerald also uses the
literary technique of juxtaposition, when he describes the Valley of Ashes as a
place in which ashes grow into “grotesque gardens.” By placing the words, “grotesque”
and “gardens” beside each other, Fitzgerald creates a contrast. Gardens have a
positive connotation, whereas the word “grotesque,” is associated with a
repulsive, ugly and distorted image and therefore a negative implication, which emphasizes the dismal and hopeless tone of the novel.
One of the main
purposes of the Valley of Ashes is to contrast the valley with East Egg and
West Egg. At the beginning of chapter one, the narrator describes East Egg and West Egg as
home of the wealthy and the “well-to-do people” (6). During Nick Carraway’s
stay in West Egg, Nick describes Gatsby’s extravagant parties, using vivid
imagery and he appeals to the reader’s senses. For example, at Gatsby’s
house party in chapter three, Nick states, “The air is alive with chatter and
laughter,” and “The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the
sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music. Laughter is easier
minute by minute…tipped out at a cheerful word” (34). The sound of laughter and
chatter appeals to the reader’s sense of sound and the use of positive diction,
including “cheerful,” “alive” and “brighter,” creates a blissful atmosphere,
which contrasts the dreary tone in the Valley of Ashes. Unlike East Egg and
West Egg, the Valley of Ashes is where the moral corruption of both Eggs are
hidden. Therefore, the Valley of Ashes emphasizes the theme of the decline of
the American Dream in the 1920’s, and how the 1920’s was an era in which moral
and social corruption was prominent.
Another purpose
of the Valley of Ashes is to develop the characters in the novel and to develop
the novel’s plot.
So what does this mean?
Fitzgerald uses
the Valley of Ashes to compare the rich with the poor. The characters who live
in the Valley of Ashes, including George Wilson and Myrtle Wilson, contrast the
characters that live in East Egg, including Tom Buchanan and Daisy Buchanan. When
the reader is first introduced to Daisy Buchanan’s character, Fitzgerald describes
Daisy with “bright eyes” and a “bright passionate mouth” (11), to highlight her
innocence. Contrarily, Fitzgerald introduces Myrtle Wilson to the reader, after
the description of the Valley of Ashes in chapter two. Since the Valley of
Ashes represents the moral decay of the society during the Jazz Age era,
introducing Myrtle Wilson, following the Valley of Ashes, is appropriate
because she is the epitome of the corruption and ugliness hidden by the
beautiful facades of both East Egg and West Egg. When Nick Carraway first meets
Myrtle in chapter two, he describes her as “Tom Buchanan’s mistress” (21) who
has a “thickish figure of a woman [that] blocked out the light from the office
door” (23). Nick also states how Myrtle was “faintly stout,” but “carried her
flesh sensuously” (23). The physical description of Myrtle therefore contrasts
Daisy’s dainty and pure description. Since the reader associates sensuality as a
form of moral corruption, Myrtle is a representation of the moral corruption in
The Great Gatsby.
