An Analysis Of Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's greatest writers and considered as a member of the "Lost Generation" of the Twenties. The Great Gatsby is widely accepted as a classic of American literature. It is not only a great story, but an insight into the flaws of real life during the "Roaring Twenties".Beside the excellent technique and style in narrative form and structure, its outstanding artistic merit also lies in Fitzgerald's original and successful use of symbolism in the novel to depict his view, especially of his own times.On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess.The thesis analyzes the novel through the perspective of symbolism in terms of four levels, symbolism in literature, symbolism in colors, symbolism in settings and symbolic meaning in the American Dream and Gatsby's Dream. It consists of six parts. Chapter one, the introductory part, introduces the writer and his works. Chapter two concerns symbolism in literature, in which the functions of symbols are studied. Chapter three focuses on the "colors". Colors symbolize many different intangible ideas in the novel. In the following chapter discusses the settings. The use of settings represents an extraordinary achievement in Fitzgerald's fiction-writing career. Based on the Chapters three and four, Chapter five explores the theme of the novel expanded through symbolism. What's more, Jay Gatsby functions as a symbol of America Dream in the 1920s-he becomes a more perfect symbol of the strange combination of moral decadence and vibrant optimism that Fitzgerald portrays as the spirit of 1920s America.