The valley of ashes valley of ashes desolation povertyUnlike the other settings in the book, the valley of ashes is the locus / space of absolute desolation and poverty. It lacks a glamorous surface and lies grey halfway between West Egg and New York. moral decay beneath the ornamentation same ugliness as in the valley.Symbolises the moral decay hidden by the beautiful facades and social masks of the Eggs, and seems to suggests that beneath the ornamentation of West Egg and the mannered charm of East Egg lies the same ugliness as in the valley. industrial dumping by-product of capitalismThe valley is created by industrial dumping and is therefore a by-product of capitalism. It is the home to the only poor characters in the novel.

The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby, beginning of Chapter 2 West Egg New York a certain desolate area of landa valley of ashesfantastic farm ashesgrotesque gardens, ashes dimly powdery air ash-grey men impenetrable cloudobscure operations from your sight “About halfway 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. Occasionally, a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight."

GROTESQUE GROTESQUE : A style of decorative art characterized by fanciful or fantastic human and animal forms often interwoven with foliage or similar figures that may distort the natural into absurdity, ugliness, or caricature.

GROTESQUE intertwined intertwined GROTESQUE adj. 1. Characterized by ludicrous or incongruous distortion, as of appearance or manner. 2. Outlandish or bizarre, as in character or appearance. 3. Of, relating to, or being the grotesque style in art or a work executed in this style. noun 1. One that is grotesque. 2. a. A style of painting, sculpture, and ornamentation in which natural forms and monstrous figures are intertwined in bizarre or fanciful combinations. b. A work of art executed in this style. Vocab: “intertwined” : entangled / interwoven.

The ultimate significance of the valley of ashes?

Symbolism – the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg What do the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg symbolize?

The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg The undefined significance of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg’s monstrous, bespectacled eyes gazing down from their billboard makes them troubling to the reader: in this chapter, Fitzgerald preserves their mystery, giving them no fixed symbolic value. Enigmatically, the eyes simply “brood on over the solemn dumping ground.” Perhaps the most persuasive reading of the eyes at this point in the novel is that they represent the eyes of God, staring down at the moral decay of the 1920s. The faded paint of the eyes can be seen as symbolizing the extent to which humanity has lost its connection to God.

George and Myrtle Wilson yet somewhat handsome man, coloured gray by the ashes in the airWilson is a lifeless yet somewhat handsome man, coloured gray by the ashes in the air. desperate vitalityIn contrast, Myrtle has a kind of desperate vitality; she strikes Nick as sensuous despite her stocky figure.