Symbolism in the Great Gatsby The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story filled with many symbols and several themes that are evident throughout the novel. These themes include different uses of certain colors, Doctor TJ Eckleburg's eyes, the Valley of Ashes, East Egg and West Egg, and the green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan's pier. The novel also reveals numerous themes, including those of the past, present, and future, the carelessness of the rich, and many others, with the central theme being the corruption of the American dream (Millett). The multiple symbols within The Great Gatsby help convey the various underlying themes throughout the entire novel. One of the main symbols exhibited in The Great Gatsby is the symbolic green light at the end of Daisy's pier. This green light has many different symbolic meanings, one of which is Gatsby's hopes and dreams. Gatsby has many different desires which are represented by the green light. This light signifies more than just the distance between Gatsby and his lost love, but also the distance between the past and present and the promise that the future holds. An additional desire of Gatsby that accompanies the green light is the desire for money, another green substance that controls his life throughout the novel. The color green itself is often used in the novel on numerous different occasions. Although Gatsby's car is described in the book as yellow, Michealis "told the first policeman that it was light green" (Fitzgerald 137). Nick also describes the New World as “a fresh and green bosom” (Fitzgerald 180). These examples of green as a symbol can be compared to the many different symbols involved in…the center of the card…in the past” (Fitzgerald 180). Due to the corruption of the American dream and the desperation of the present, Gatsby gave everything he had in an attempt to return to the joy of the past. Overall, the novel The Great Gatsby contains a copious amount of symbols, which help convey many of the novel's important themes. These symbols, including the Egg of the East and West, the eyes of Doctor TJ Eckleburg, the Valley of Ashes, and the green light along with the color green itself, help express various themes in the story. These themes include the past, present and future, the carelessness of the rich, and countless others. A central theme of the novel, the corruption of the American dream, is shown through the combination of several themes that convey a single message, that the American dream, although full of hope, is terribly damaged and corrupt (Hearne).