The Great Gatsby
Is Fitzgerald being literal or figurative here? What is he trying to say about the “valley of ashes” and the people who live there? Consider the way Fitzgerald has described the Eggs compared to the way he describes the valley they drive through to get to
“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 a 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.”
Asked by
Ritzy M #1151778
Last updated by
Aslan
