The Industrial Divide

 There has always been a gap between the wealthy and the poor. Such gaps in social class is also amplified trough subtle things such as living conditions. In The Great Gatsby, many symbols are shown to magnify the difference in social class but I will focus on the valley of ashes. This place, as referenced in the name, is very ironic, the term “valley” is conditioned into our minds as a calm, tranquil, and GREEN place, where the term “ashes” is associated with death, waste, and GREY. This contradiction in the name of this place symbolizes how the valley which used to be a nice place has been ravaged and destroyed by the negligence of the wealthy as they give little regard to people of lower societal class.

This is also a symbol of the increasing social gap where the wealthy are becoming more advanced while the poor are forced to live with the consequences of the actions of the wealthy. This is shown through the novel’s setting being the industrial revolution where was a boom in production through an increase in factories and increased efficiency by using fossil fuels and such. This use of fossil fuels created a massive amount of waste and in turn created need for a place to put the waste and due to the poor having no voice or power, they felt the consequences.

This gap in power is still seen today, especially in big cities where people litter the streets with their garbage without regard for others and unfortunately cause homeless people to have even worse of a living situation.