The Symbolic Meaning of the Green Lights

The Symbolic Meaning of The Green Light

The green light has a many different symbolic meaning that what first comes to thought. Gatsby would often reach towards or look at the light. Also, Gatsby built his house across from Daisy and used the light to feel closer to Daisy. When the green light is first introduced to the book, it seems very miniscule in the grand scheme of things, but when further looked into, the role of the light is revealed as a important symbol to the story.

The most obvious symbol of the green light is Gatsby’s desire and hope to be with Daisy once more. In chapter one Gatsby is at his dock looking longingly towards Daisy’s dock with the green light. Then later on in chapter five Gatsby is caught reaching towards the green light as if he expects Daisy’s hand to be next to his.

Gatsby has a sense of hope when looking at the light. That hope is carried on throughout the book. He believes that it is his way of staying connected to Daisy and hope to be reunited once again with her. He hopes that Daisy will learn to love him like she once did, and things would go back to like they were before. Daisy, of course, can’t bring herself to leave Tom for Gatsby. Gatsby continues in his hopeful fantasy of the past. He becomes overly consumed by his fantasies that his thought process in the present is manipulated into thinking that are just simply not reality. Its a dream that Gatsby strives for, and will go to any lengths to get it.

When Gatsby realizes at the hotel that Daisy also shares love for Tom, Gatsby’s hope wavers a bit. The lost hope causes Gatsby to lose control at the hotel and go back to his non-gentleman ways. At the hotel we get a strong sense that Gatsby is so consumed by the past and his hope for Daisy.

The strive for the “American Dream” is an undeniable symbol of the green light. It is Gatsby's inspiration as he aspires toward his unattainable dream. The American Dream is defined as the ideal that every US citizen should have an...