The Great Gatsby: Motif Tracking -
Light
Summary
of Motif:
The motif of lights occurs numerous
times in The Great Gatsby, with the most major appearance being of the green
light that Gatsby attempts to reach out to, with the green light representing
Daisy. Furthermore, light also consistently appears in Gatsby’s parties.
Quotations
& Analysis:
Page |
Quotation |
Analysis |
21 |
“Involuntarily I glanced
seaward - and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and
far way, that might have been the end of a dock.” |
This light represents Gatsby’s
dream and perhaps the fact that it is “minute and far way”, suggests not only
his ability to dream but also the fact that it is unattainable. The narrator’s fascination with
Gatsby’s dreams and hopes is also explored in this quotation as he
“Involuntarily … glanced seaward” and this suggests the way in which Nick
seems, almost unwillingly at times, to be attracted to Gatsby and his ability
to dream. This perhaps foreshadows some of the tension we see at the end of
the novel where Nick is torn between wanting to believe in the power and
beauty of dreams and his inherently pragmatic and skeptical instinct that
these dreams aren’t realistic. Gatsby’s astounding capacity
for hope may also be suggested when he “stretched out his arms”, desiring to
determine “what share was his of [the] local heavens” (20), with the
reference to heaven possibly suggesting the magnitude of his dreams. Although Nick yearns to be a
dreamer like Gatsby, he does not understand why Gatsby reaches out to the
green light, which may suggest that ultimately he is not able to dream on the
same scale. |
40 |
“The lights grow brighter as
the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow
cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher.” |
The lights symbolize the
glamour and extravagance of Gatsby’s parties, which have the same beautiful
nature as dreams. At the same time, the image of “lurching away from the sun”
suggests gaudiness and the grotesqueness of Gatsby’s dreams and so once again
we see Nick’s ambivalence as he is both attracted to and repelled by what he
sees in Gatsby. |
81 |
“When I came home to West Egg
that night I was afraid for a moment that my house was on fire. Two o’clock
and the whole corner of the peninsula was blazing
with light, which fell unreal on the shrubbery and made thin elongating
glints upon the roadside wires.” |
The overwhelming “blazing” of
lights suggests a brightness and clarity, which differs from the soft
‘yellow’ colours of Gatsby’s parties. This
description occurs when Gatsby is waiting for Nick to come back after the
meeting with The fact that the lights make
“elongating” glints, implies that the lights are
distorting the natural form of objects which potential links the motif of
lights to dreams which may also change the character and nature of a person
like Gatsby, as well as distort reality. |
93 |
“Possibly it had occurred to
him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever …
Now it was a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished
by one.” |
When Gatsby finally meets Daisy
again for the first time, he achieves what he has been dreaming of for the
past five years but at the same time the “colossal significance” of the green
light which is the symbol of his dreams “vanished forever”. Here Fitzgerald
hints at the fundamental irony of dreams as they (and we) are at their most
beautiful and compelling when we don’t have the thing we dream of. However,
as soon as our dreams are realized they become dulled by the pragmatism of
compromise and the necessity for ‘being realistic’ and as a result they
inevitably lose their shine. In this sense dreams are self-destructive. This creates pathos for Gatsby
(and for the human condition in general) because he seems to lose a source of
magic from his life as “his count of enchanted objects had diminished by one”
where the word enchanted implies the way in which a mere physical object was
lent a beauty by being associated with a dream … a beauty that it has since
lost. |
94 |
“The gray windows disappeared
as the house glowed full of light … He lit Daisy’s cigarette from a trembling
match, and sat down with her on a couch far across the room, where there was
no light save what the gleaming floor bounced in from the hall.” |
When Gatsby and Daisy hide away
from the lights, Fitzgerald suggests that they want an intimate place to
spend their time together and do not want to reveal their affair. At the same time, the “glowing”
light and Gatsby’s house may be a metaphor for the glamour and superficiality
used to attract Daisy in the first place and as such this contrasts markedly
with the darkness, which suggests the presence of a genuine emotion, a
sincerity accentuated by the use of “trembling”. This describes a moment of
brief withdrawal into a darkness that does not, unfortunately, last forever.
In the end, stronger forces (and perhaps also weaknesses) draw both
characters out of their private and intimate dark corner, back into the world
of superficiality and glamour. |
107 |
“It was dark here in front;
only the bright door sent ten square feet of light volleying out into the
soft black morning.” |
There is a great contrast
between the light in the house and the dark outside in the “soft black
morning”. Perhaps the light represents the wealth and socially elite in
society and its “volleying” connotes the power of glamour and the wealth but
it also suggests a violence due to the association with gunfire. As such it
seems to damage the beauty of the “soft black morning” making it seem like an
unwanted, unnatural and harsh intrusion. |
108 |
“Her glance left me and sought
the lighted top of the steps … was drifting out the open door.” |
At this point in Chapter 6,
Daisy is leaving Gatsby’s house with Tom and her longing look back at the
party suggests her attraction to the world of ‘romantic possibilities’ that
exist at the parties that Gatsby has created for her. At the same time, the
tune of a “sad” waltz is heard from the source of light, which evokes pathos
as we realize that Daisy seems to be worried about the dream slipping away
from losing Gatsby to someone else. |
110 |
“The quiet lights in the houses
were humming out into the darkness and there was a stir and bustle among the
stars.” |
The sense of quiet light and
the way in which they hum out into the night seems to imbue this moment
(Gatsby’s first kiss with Daisy five years ago) with a sense of romantic
potential. Although Nick is clearly extemporizing here both we and he are
caught up in the charm of the moment. |
135 |
“Human sympathy has its limits,
and we were content to let all their tragic arguments fade with the city
lights behind.” |
“City lights” suggests the
charm of the wealthy lifestyle, however the reference to “tragic arguments”
implies the corrupting nature of wealth and Nick’s “[contentment]” to let go
of the attractive lights hints at his increasing disinterest and
disillusionment with the superficial world of the elite of |
138 |
“His eyes would drop slowly
from the swinging light to the laden table by the wall, and then jerk back to
the light again, and he gave out incessantly his high, horrible call” |
Fitzgerald conveys |
145 |
“So I walked away and left him
standing there in the moon-light - watching over nothing.” (145) |
This quotation effectively
creates a sense of pathos, encouraging the reader to sympathise
with Gatsby. The abrupt ending of “watching over nothing” suggest the
inevitable truth that Gatsby’s dreams are empty and unachievable and the use
of moon-light and the night setting also creates a lonely atmosphere, which
isolates Gatsby not only from Tom and Daisy in the Buchannan house but also
as the only character who does not really grasp the ineffable nature of his
dreams. Nick’s metaphorical separation
as an outsider can also be observed through the physical “walk[ing] away” and “[leaving]” Gatsby, displaying the sense
that Nick is within and without at times. |
147 |
“I waited, and about four
o’clock she came to the window and stood there for a minute and then turned
out the light” |
This quotation occurs when
Gatsby reveals to Nick that Daisy “turned out the light” the night before
when he was waiting for Daisy. The use of “waited” suggests Gatsby’s
unwillingness to accept that he has lost Daisy while the “turn[ing] out [of] the light” symbolizes the extinguishing of
Gatsby’s dream. The use of “stood there for a minute” is poignant as it
suggests a moment of pause before a definite decision. It becomes apparent to
the reader at this point that Gatsby will never be able to fulfill his dream
of marrying Daisy and this further creates pathos as this is a realsiation that Gatsby never makes as he continues to
dream on in vain. |
180 |
“Gatsby believed in the green
light, the orgastic future that year by year
recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter - to-morrow we
will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…. And one fine morning-” |
Once again, the green light in
this quotation represents Gatsby’s dream. The receding of the dream suggests
that, regardless of how hard one tries, the dreams will eventually fade. The use of “orgastic”
(an invented word that suggests a cross between orgasmic and orgiastic)
suggests the grandness of the dream implying a sense of awe but also hinting
at its gaudy sexuality and echoing back to the ‘universe of ineffable
gaudiness’ dreamt up by the 17 year old Gatsby. A sense of optimism is
portrayed through the use of asyndeton in the “run[ning] faster, stretch[ing] out
our arms farther” creates a sense of rhythm and hope for the future. However,
this hope falls short with the use of an ellipsis, suggesting a pause and the
inevitable unachievable nature of dreams. |
Role
and Significance of Motif:
The motif of light may represent
Gatsby’s hopes, dreams and ideals. As these hopes and dreams are often
superficial and empty, the light that appears in the Great Gatsby also suggests
emptiness of all the glamour.