The Great Gatsby: Imagery 6 key examples

The sounds of insects’ “wings beating in the trees” and the “persistent organ sound” of frogs lend musicality to the surrounding nature, foreshadowing the orchestras that will play at Gatsby’s parties throughout the summer. Notably, Gatsby is an observer of his glamorous guests at these parties—similar to how he gazes at “the silver pepper of the stars” in this passage—but he never actively participates in the festivities. The juxtaposition of the “loud, bright night” and the image of Gatsby standing alone outside his mansion gives a similar sense that Gatsby is something of a loner, an outsider whose motivations are different from those of the people around him.

On another note, Nick recognizes Gatsby not by his appearance, but by Gatsby’s “leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn.” This image of Gatsby moving lazily—not unlike the cat “waver[ing] across the moonlight”—and looking “secure” immediately characterizes him as confident and suave, someone whom other people are drawn to. Indeed, Nick can’t help but watch him here, and just after this he briefly considers calling out to Gatsby. Yet Gatsby’s magnetic presence does not counteract the sense that he’s isolated and perhaps lonely under “the shadow of [his] mansion,” just as he’s dwarfed by the vastness of the “local heavens” above.

While New York City represents promise and the American Dream (the idea that anyone who works hard can achieve success), and West Egg represents the realization of that dream, the valley of ashes represents the grim reality of the working-class people caught in between. The image of farms, neighborhoods, and people made out of ashes associates the valley with filth, death, and decay, creating the sense that while middle- and upper-class people are able to take advantage of the Roaring Twenties’ economic boom, working-class people are still toiling and suffering to no avail. Nothing life-sustaining or profitable can grow in “ridges and hills and grotesque gardens” that are made of ashes rather than fertile soil, which leaves little hope for the people who live and work here to succeed and rise up in the world.

Moreover, the ashes that “take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke” contrast with the gaudy mansions in West Egg and East Egg, and with the gleaming rows of upscale apartment buildings in New York City. This image drives home the immense wealth gap between affluent characters like Nick, Gatsby, and the Buchanans and working-class characters like Myrtle and George Wilson. And, in fact, the debris in this area is a result of New York City’s industrial waste, a byproduct of the flashy cars and other expensive goods that Long Island’s wealthy North Shore residents indulge in. In this way, the image of houses made of ashes underscores the fact that working-class people are living in squalor as a direct result of the new technologies and luxuries that the upper classes enjoy.

Finally, the image of people made of ashes “crumbling through the powdery air” and the “impenetrable cloud” of ashes obscuring the valley from view give the sense that the people who live here are invisible to outsiders because they’re considered to be less than, to be expendable. All in all, the imagery in this passage shows that although the people in the valley of ashes are indispensable to the industry that has catapulted so many people in New York City and Long Island to success, they are cast aside and forgotten, and they have no hope of aspiring to success themselves.

In describing the industrial area in Queens where the billboard is located (the “valley of ashes”) as “grey land” full of “spasms of bleak dust,” the book sets the scene as one of desolation and filth. Then, the emphasis on the size of Eckleburg’s eyes on the billboard—”blue and gigantic” with “enormous yellow spectacles”—creates the sense that Eckleberg is a godlike figure who hovers over the valley of ashes, observing everything that goes on there. Indeed, later in the book, George Wilson (an auto mechanic who lives and works in the valley) likens Eckleberg’s billboard to God watching over people and judging their behavior. The Great Gatsby is largely a critique of the moral depravity of the Roaring Twenties, so Eckleberg’s eyes serve as a symbolic reminder of the fact that people’s actions have consequences.

Since Doctor T. J. Eckleberg’s eyes are also an important symbol of the past’s ability to haunt people in the present, describing their vast size and “dimmed,” weathered appearance in such vivid detail emphasizes how large the past looms over the novel’s characters—particularly Jay Gatsby. The image of Eckleberg’s eyes “brood[ing]” above the city is similar to that of Gatsby gazing across Long Island Sound at the green light on Daisy Buchanan’s dock, desperately longing to rekindle his and Daisy’s youthful romance. Yet the fact that the eyes are brooding “over the solemn dumping ground” gives the sense that the present is like a wasteland where nothing new or beautiful can grow—and therefore that Gatsby’s dreams of recreating the past are doomed to fail.

The first type of imagery in this passage is sound. The “yellow cocktail music” and “opera of voices” reaching a higher pitch connote happiness and vibrancy, corresponding with the lights growing brighter and the attendees’ growing excitement and energy as the sun sets and the party gets underway. Then, the laughter “spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word,” associating the guests’ gaiety with the bootleg alcohol that’s no doubt being served at the party, flowing freely and further lifting people’s moods and lowering their inhibitions.

The second type of imagery in this passage is sight. The image of the groups of guests “swell[ing] with new arrivals, dissolv[ing] and form[ing] in the same breath” gives the sense that the people at Gatsby’s parties are like ocean waves repeatedly cresting and dissipating, again imbuing the party with liveliness and fluidity. It also gives the sense that the individual attendees are indistinguishable and interchangeable, subtly hinting that the upper-class characters in the novel all conform with one another. This is further emphasized by the “sea-change of faces and voices and color under the constantly changing light,” which again likens the crowd to a homogenous yet ever-changing body of water and emphasizes the dizzying backdrop of different voices, colors, and bright lights.

Together, this vivid imagery immerses the reader in the party and makes the event seem larger-than-life, almost as though the crowd and the surrounding sensory details are an immense natural force flowing as one entity. It captures the intoxicating and bustling atmosphere of Gatsby’s parties, giving readers a sense of the grandeur that the titular “great” Gatsby has built up around himself.

The first type of imagery in this passage is visual: the “lilac-trees” and Daisy’s “three-cornered lavender hat” and “bright ecstatic smile” all convey a sense of brightness and optimism—perhaps reflecting Gatsby’s romanticized view of Daisy and his hope that this meeting will lead to a rekindling of their past love affair. And although this meeting takes place during the summer, the pastel colors and rainstorm connote spring, a time of year that’s symbolically associated with new life or rebirth. In this sense, the imagery in this passage makes it seem as though Daisy’s presence is reinvigorating Gatsby’s life and bringing his dream into fruition, like spring rain makes flowers bloom. Yet the fact that the lilac trees are “bare” rather than flowering hints that Gatsby’s dream is doomed to fail—that he won’t be able to win Daisy back.

The second type of imagery in this passage is auditory: Nick describes Daisy’s voice as an “exhilarating ripple” and a “wild tonic in the rain” that Nick feels pulled in by even before he understands the actual words Daisy is saying. This imagery characterizes Daisy as exceptionally captivating and charming, even for someone like Nick, who (as Daisy’s cousin) isn’t interested in her romantically. Gatsby will eventually be so taken with Daisy that he’ll take the blame for a serious crime she commits, so the description of her here as “exhilarating” and intoxicating (like a “wild tonic”) speaks to the fact that she’s a difficult person to resist or distance oneself from—particularly for Gatsby.

First, the image of the closed businesses and “the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat” in the darkness creates an atmosphere of isolation, mournfulness, and desolation. This is fitting given that Nick is still reeling from Gatsby’s death. Whereas the imagery used to describe his surroundings earlier in the novel was bright and lush, now it becomes dark and moody to match his grief and pessimism.

By contrast, describing Long Island as a “fresh green breast” emphasizes how vast and full of potential this part of the “new world” seemed to the Dutch settlers who colonized it in the 17th century. The color green here subtly links this image to the green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s dock, which for much of the novel symbolized Gatsby’s dream of winning Daisy back. In creating this link, the imagery in this passage elevates Gatsby’s dream to epic proportions and suggests that in pursuing Daisy, Gatsby was chasing a different form of the same American Dream that the original settlers were trying to achieve: wealth, success, and happiness.