The Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby symbolizes societal decay beneath the facade of prosperity.
It is a dismal, polluted area borne out of industrial waste, embodying the moral and emotional decay brought about by the insatiable pursuit of wealth.
The valley’s grotesque reality starkly contrasts the opulent lives in East and West Egg as a stark reminder of the consequences of extreme wealth disparity and unchecked self-interest.
The Great Gatsby Quotes With Page Numbers
What Is The Valley of Ashes In The Great Gatsby?
The Valley of Ashes in “The Great Gatsby” is a grim symbol of the socio-economic divide, the degradation of moral values in the pursuit of wealth, and the harsh reality of lost dreams and failed aspirations.
It underlines Fitzgerald’s critique of the American society of his era, providing a stark contrast to the glittering wealth of places like West Egg and New York.
This desolate place, as described through the eyes of narrator Nick Carraway, exhibits the following characteristics:
- The Valley of Ashes is positioned between West Egg and New York, physically representing the societal divide (Chapter 2, Page 19). Halfway on the journey to the city, ashes grow like wheat, forming mountainous ridges and grotesque gardens and taking the shape of houses and chimneys.
- This wasteland is limited on one side by a small foul river, emphasizing its unattractiveness (Chapter 2, Page 19). The passengers on the waiting trains can gaze upon this desolation, often up to half an hour when the drawbridge is up.
- The Valley of Ashes is symbolic of decay and ruin. It’s filled with ash-covered men moving through the powdery air, symbolizing the devastation and erosion of spirit in people who are victims of a wealthy society’s relentless pursuit of materialistic wealth (Chapter 2, Page 19).
- This wasteland has minimal signs of life in the form of a small yellow brick building, the only thing visible in the desolate landscape (Chapter 2, Pages 19-20). One of the three shops it houses is for rent and is covered in ashes, suggestive of the deserted state.
- The presence of George B. Wilson’s garage, specializing in car repairs, speaks to the industrial aspect of the Valley of Ashes. Ironically, the situation dwarfs the garage’s proprietor, George Wilson, as he easily blends and mingles with the cement colors on the walls, almost as if he is as insignificant as the ashes around him (Chapter 2, Page 20).
- The Valley of Ashes also serves as a backdrop to the working class. This is exemplified in the representation of Myrtle Wilson, who exudes an aura of life and vitality as she pumps gas in contrast to the deadened surroundings of the ash heaps (Chapter 4, Page 44).
- Nick Carraway consciously distances himself from this dismal place when passing on the train. This deliberate choice to move to the other side of the car underscores his discomfort with the harsh reality the valley represents (Chapter 8, Page 96).
- This area is also the domain of the disillusioned, as highlighted in Wilson’s glazed stare at the ash heaps, where small gray clouds took on fantastic shapes (Chapter 8, Page 98). His hollow gaze and the transformation of the gray clouds echo the overall feeling of despair and emptiness in this space.
- The Valley of Ashes is further annotated as a spooked world where lost dreams and shocking realities collide in the visage of Jay Gatsby (Chapter 8, Page 99). The ashen figure gliding through the amorphous trees is a poignant metaphor for the failed dreams and harsh reality Gatsby confronts, tethering the image of Gatsby to this desolate landscape.
The Valley of Ashes Quotes
“I enjoyed looking at her. She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet. Her gray sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discontented face. It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, (Nick Carraway as the narrator about Jordan Baker), Chapter 1, Page 12
This quote is a symbolic connection between Jordan Baker and the valley of ashes theme in “The Great Gatsby”. Initially, the description of her “gray sun-strained eyes” and “wan, charming discontented face” mirrors the bleak and lifeless imagery of the valley of ashes, representing moral and social decay.
Moreover, her posture “like a young cadet” suggests her hardened, nearly mechanical adaptation to the morally corrupt environment around her, embodying the desolation and disillusionment indicative of the valley.
Finally, her apparent discontent and dissatisfaction reflect the inherent emptiness and lack of fulfillment in the relentless pursuit of wealth, a central idea exemplified by the Valley of Ashes.
Jordan Baker Quotes With Page Numbers
“About half-way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is the valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, (Nick Carraway as the narrator), Chapter 2, Page 19
“The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour. There is always a halt there of at least a minute, and it was because of this that I first met Tom Buchanan’s mistress.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, (Nick Carraway as the narrator), Chapter 2, Page 19
“I followed him over a low whitewashed railroad fence, and we walked back a hundred yards along the road under Doctor Eckleburg’s persistent stare. The only building in sight was a small block of yellow brick sitting on the edge of the waste land, a sort of compact Main Street ministering to it, and contiguous to absolutely nothing. One of the three shops it contained was for rent and another was an all-night restaurant, approached by a trail of ashes; the third was a garage — Repairs. GEORGE B. WILSON. Cars bought and sold.— and I followed Tom inside.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, (Nick Carraway as the narrator about Tom Buchanan), Chapter 2, Pages 19-20
“‘Oh, sure,’ agreed Wilson hurriedly and went toward the little office, mingling immediately with the cement color of the walls. A white ashen dust veiled his dark suit and his pale hair as it veiled everything in the vicinity – except his wife, who moved close to Tom.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, (Nick Carraway as the narrator about George Wilson), Chapter 2, Page 20
“Then the valley of ashes opened out on both sides of us, and I had a glimpse of Mrs. Wilson straining at the garage pump with panting vitality as we went by.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, (Nick Carraway as the narrator about Myrtle Wilson), Chapter 4, Page 44
“When I passed the ashheaps on the train that morning I had crossed deliberately to the other side of the car.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, (Nick Carraway as the narrator), Chapter 8, Page 96
“Wilson’s glazed eyes turned out to the ashheaps, where small gray clouds took on fantastic shapes and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, (Nick Carraway as the narrator about George Wilson), Chapter 8, Page 98
“He must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about…like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees.”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, (Nick Carraway as the narrator about Jay Gatsby), Chapter 8, Page 99