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Post by Mrs. Dickison on Feb 2, 2015 14:41:11 GMT -5
Talk about the role of ashes, dust, and smoke in this chapter. Where are they mentioned, and why? What might they symbolize?
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Post by Courtney Gonzalez on Feb 3, 2015 8:56:04 GMT -5
The role of ash, dust, and smoke in chapter 2 is talked mostly for the industrial land between West Egg and New York. This land is said to be covered in ash and smoke that is hard for the people that live there. The ash, dust, and smoke can symbolize the other darker side to life that Nick sees. He saw the grand life of the West Egg and East Egg and now he has seen he other side of life in New York which is not so grand.
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Post by Swagmaster Daphne on Feb 3, 2015 9:02:06 GMT -5
The role of ashes, dust, and smoke in this chapter represent the industrial aspect of not only place, but also of this age. It is a great contrast from the glamour of the West and East Eggs. Nick's quote, "This is a valley of ashes-a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with the transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air." The first part of this statement suggests that in the same way other places produce crops, this place manufactures grime and dust. It also seems like the ash and dust consume every aspect of their lives, replacing it all until there is only the smoke.
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Post by Lucas Hunt on Feb 3, 2015 9:11:54 GMT -5
the symbolism of the ashes can represent many categories. one category the ashes could represent is the despair and sin the citizens suffer through. The build board sponsoring Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, could represent the eyes of god watching over the land as everyone suffers. another category the ashes could represent is the great depression. this is so because during the great depression, middle class citizens would live in colonies of shacks outside new york called. these colonies were called Hoovervilles. The ashes in the book could represent the poverty of these colonies suffered through the great depression.
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Post by Shamsher on Feb 3, 2015 9:15:49 GMT -5
In the beginning of Chapter 2 it talks about how the West Egg is like. Nick describes it as a
“valley of ashes” because there is a lot of ashes, dust, smoke and it uses the color grey a lot referring on how the place is like he also says, “the grey land and the spams of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it.” I think this book uses a lot of grey because it symbolizes lifelessness, unemotional color, detached, neutral, impartial, and boring so this means that the West Egg is all about that compared to the East Egg. It’s kind of like a forgotten town not clean or healthy to live in, sad, poverty and hopelessness. When Tom comes and talks to George it shows how the rich people, the higher class look down on the poor. It represent the moral and social decay that hides by the West, and East Egg.
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