Water Imagery in The Great Gatsby

Water Imagery in The Great Gatsby

Funeral Day

At Gatsby's funeral, it rained hard, and the rain symbolized the mood of Gatsby's death. He died being someone he was not, he died not having many people mourning his death, and he died with nothing but materialistic things.

"Well, suppose we take a plunge in the swimming pool? I haven’t made use of it all summer."

(Fitzgerald 87)

The Death of Gatsby

Stopped in a thick drizzle beside the gate.... they were all wet to the skin."

(Fitzgerald 182)

You know, old sport, I've never used that pool all summer?"

(Fitzgerald 160)

In this book, the water symbolized many different things, including distance, purification,

West Egg and East Egg

5 Years Later....

The Swimming Pool

"It's stopped raining." "Has it?"

Then he repeated the news to Daisy.

"What do you think of that? It's stopped raining."

"I'm glad, Jay." Her throat, full of aching, grieving, beauty, told only of her unexpected joy. (Fitzgerald 94)

Right before he died, Gatsby talked about how he hadn't gotten around to using his swimming pool yet that summer. Just like so many of the different things he has in his house. There are these huge parties, and the house is full of so many things, but it's all for show. Just like the swimming pool, I'm sure he doesn't get to use almost anything that he has.

When he died, Gatsby fell into the pool, and it couldn't help him. This symbolizes that all his money couldn't save him. Finally making use of his pool also shows that he's starting to change. Daisy is gone, and now he's starting to realize he has all of these things, that he originally got for Daisy. Then, he had to realize that the person he was hoping to share them with is gone, so he needs to start to use them.

After Gatsby got Jordan to talk to Nick about arranging a tea with Daisy, we could tell that Gatsby wanted everything to be perfect for his reunion with Daisy. When it comes time for the tea, we can tell he's extremely nervous by the way he's acting. Once Daisy finally gets there, Gatsby freaks out and runs outside, where it is pouring rain. When he comes back inside he is soaking wet, but after they talk it stops raining. This symbolizes the time they had apart being hard, and cloudy with their emotions, and now that they've finally gotten to talk after all this time, the sky has cleared up.

"There was a faint, barely perceptible movement of the water as the fresh flow from one end urged its way toward the drain at the other. With little ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves, the laden mattress moved irregularly down the pool"

(Fitzgerald 173)

In the End

The Water Between the Two Eggs

From the book, we learned that Gatsby only decided to live in that house because of Daisy. The bay symbolizes the emotional distance between Daisy and Gatsby as well. He reaches for the green light at the other side of the bay, but he can't truly reach it until he crosses the water, which symbolizes Daisy's life without Gatsby. Including Tom, and her daughter Pammy. Once Gatsby manages to cross the water, he will reach Daisy, but obviously walking on water is nearly impossible, and we start to realize Daisy ridding herself of Tom is also starting to seem impossible too.

Overall, in The Great Gatsby, the water never really held a very positive meaning. It symbolized the distance between Gatsby and Daisy, Gatsby beginning to change, his downfall, and the mood of his death. When he died, it became evident how many people truly cared for Gatsby as a person. All those people that came to the parties didn't mean anything anymore.

By: Neeki Tahssili