The Great Gatsby

by

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Valley of Ashes Symbol Icon
An area halfway between New York City and West Egg, the Valley of Ashes is an industrial wasteland covered in ash and soot. If New York City represents all the "mystery and beauty in the world," and West Egg represents the people who have gotten rich off the roaring economy of the Roaring Twenties, the Valley of Ashes stands for the dismal ruin of the people caught in between.

The Valley of Ashes Quotes in The Great Gatsby

The The Great Gatsby quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Valley of Ashes. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Roaring Twenties Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes
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 gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight.
Related Characters: Nick Carraway (speaker)
Related Symbols: The Valley of Ashes
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 23
Explanation and Analysis:
But above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.
Related Characters: Nick Carraway (speaker)
Related Symbols: The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, The Valley of Ashes
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 23
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Valley of Ashes Symbol Timeline in The Great Gatsby

The timeline below shows where the symbol The Valley of Ashes appears in The Great Gatsby. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
The Roaring Twenties Theme Icon
The American Dream Theme Icon
Class (Old Money, New Money, No Money) Theme Icon
Past and Future Theme Icon
...dumped. The ashes cover everything, including the men who live there. Above this bleak " Valley of Ashes " stare out two huge spectacled eyes from a billboard for an eye doctor's defunct... (full context)
Chapter 7
Class (Old Money, New Money, No Money) Theme Icon
...car is low on gas, though, and Tom pulls in to Wilson's Garage in the Valley of Ashes . (full context)