Symbol vs Motif
● A symbol is an image or object that stands for bigger abstract idea, belief or feeling.
Unlike a motif, a symbol can be used on a single occasion and never mentioned again.
● A motif is a recurring word, phrase, image, object or idea running throughout the text.
Motifs, each of which stands for a complex range of feelings, associations and values,
are part of the structure of the novel, providing continuity and coherence.
Symbols
● Everyday objects had a symbolic value → symbolic realism
●Green light → represents Gatsby’s dreams for Daisy. This stops becoming a symbol
when Gatsby and Daisy meet and is explicitly stated by Nick.
● Clock → on pg. 84, Gatsby leans against the mantelpiece and the clock falls down.
Gatsby catches it and places it back on the mantelpiece. He wants to go back in time to
what it was like before.
● Valley of ashes -- failure, death, end of life, dust
● Eyes of T. J. Eckleburg -- hangs over the Valley of Ashes, references to vision and
seeing clearly.
○ Appearance vs reality is a theme in the story
○ Owl Eyes is kinda like Eckleburg
○ There’s that moment where Wilson sees Eckleburg after Myrtle’s death and feels
that God is Eckleburg.
● Motor car -- symbol of liberation, excitement, harbinger of death
● Telephone -- symbolises idea of communication,
○when it rings in first chapter, it prevents people from talking because they know
who is calling -- a breakdown in communication which is ironic
● Breasts, noses, sun, moon, water -- all of them are symbols
●Colour symbolism
○ White -- Daisy and to some extent to Jordan, to innocence and purity. It’s ironic
because Daisy is not innocent, she’s corrupted.
○ Gold and silver -- Daisy is associated with these to show money
○ Green -- reference to new world, green light
■ Traditionally, it relates to envy.
Names
● Buchanan → is a Scottish name, so one of the older settlers
● Gatz → like Central Europe so newly immigrated (old money vs new money)
