THE GREEN LIGHT AND THE BAY

The green light:
The green light which is situated across the bay in front of Daisy’s East Egg home lies at the end of her dock. It is a physical representation of Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future and mainly for attaining Daisy. Attaining Daisy is his ultimate goal and this can be seen through his action in Chapter 1 when he reaching out to the light in the darkness, reaching for his goal which is Daisy. “He stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way, and as far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been at the end of the dock.” The green light is described as “minute and far away” which portrays Gatsby’s American Dream of attaining Daisy so close yet just out of reach. Green is the colour of promise, hope and renewal and so the connotation of the green light and its significance is that it physically represents Gatsby’s dream of a future with Daisy.
The green light as describe by Nick as “fresh green” of a “New World” that awaited the Europeans shows the simplicity and purity of the American Dream in aspiring to a better future, which in turn corrupts all that are born into it such as Daisy, Tom and Gatsby. “And as I sat there on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picket out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to his blue lawn and his drawn must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.” But despite the American Dream being portrayed as simple, the green