Megan Hetterick
Mr. Kantor
Hour 1
January 13, 13
Fitzgerald Paper
“Here was a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creeds, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride; a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken...” – F. Scott Fitzgerald. In The Great Gatsby, dust symbolizes poverty. This is shown through the pain of Gatsby over losing the wealthy Daisy, cold through Wilson’s hopeless shop in the Valley of Ashes, and lies through Myrtle and Gatsby’s lies about their moneyless past. First, dust symbolizes poverty and pain that keeps Gatsby from marrying Daisy. At the very beginning of the novel, Nick concludes that Gatsby’s failure with Daisy came about because of “what preyed on Gatsby—what foul dust floated in the wake of [his] dreams” (Fitzgerald 2). Dust here suggests that Gatsby’s dreams of marrying Daisy will never be fulfilled. This is suggested by the beginning phrase “preyed on,” which treats dust as a predator that has followed, “floated in the wake of,” Gatsby his entire life. Daisy, on the other hand, is associated with rich colors: silver and gold. Her childhood was filled with the company of the rich. Nick mentions that a “hundred pairs of golden and silver slippers shuffled the shining dust” at Daisy’s place (?). While Gatsby’s dust