Saturday 23 February 2013

THE VALLEY OF ASHES

Why is the Valley of Ashes important in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald?

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.

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