Paragraph 1- The Valley of Ashes and Eckleburg
In a time of seemingly bountiful wealth and extravagence, "The Gilded Age", the Valley of Ashes represents the dirt and grime under the exterior gold appearence, or the true state of an industrial, and poor America. The location of the Valley is the first indicator of the valley's role. It is located "about half way between West Egg and New York" (23) This surrounded by wealth and oppurtunity, the Valley is desolate and barren, a direct contrast to the American appearence. It is placed here in order to demonstrate the real work that powers the people who surround it.
TJ Eckleburg represnts a new version of God, which in this time is money. Fitzgerald uses Eckleburg to criticize the way people worshiped money like a god. T.J. oversees his workers, and the descriptions of him, a giant towering man with yellow eyes, are powerful, but not nessecarily ethereal. He appears corrupt, trying to sell his product every where to make money. He is worn and withered out by this to show that treating money as god leads to failure.
Paragraph 2- Daisy and Gatsby
Pg. 95, Last Paragraph
Gatsby cannot love Daisy because he built up the dream of having her, and loves the dream, not her. She "tumbled short of his dreams". These dreams had become Gatsby's life, his motivation for success, and his occupation of his time. They "had gone beyond her, beyond everything." The dreams consumed him, and without them he is not Gatsby, only Gatz, and thus cannot love Daisy.