Gatsy Chapter Two Analysis

In the Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the dullness and bleak environment of the

Valley of Ashes by emphasizing the pale, lifeless tone the gray colors evoke. After describing how ashes

stem from houses and chimneys and rising smokes, the narrator points out the "gray cars," the "ash-gray

men," and the "gray land." Throughout chapter one and chapter two, Fitzgerald explores the

characteristics and attributes of the settings and characters by expressing the connotation of colors - in

which they serve as a motific representation of the overarching subject. The Valley of Ashes is not only

an area between the West and East eggs polluted with smokes. But it also represents the rigid divide

between the social classes, and Fitzgerald reinforces this symbolic figure by exploring the interactions

between Tom and the inhabitants of the Valley of Ashes - subtle yet defiant.