“I didn’t call to him, for he gave me a sudden intimidation that he was content to be alone – he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light. Minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock, When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the quiet darkness.” [20-21] ch. 1 One of the first symbols mentioned in the book in the first chapter. Here the green light is made to symbolize Gatsby’s dream and his hope for his future. His love for Daisy and his dreams are materialized in a light in which he reaches over and over again but cannot attain.

“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 ash-grey men, who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight. …The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour.” [23 & 24] ch. 2 The Valley of Ashes shows the people who are not able to accomplish the American Dream and they look and stare out at the people who pass by who are not in the valley wishing to be part of such a status. The people living here are like Gatsby, looking and reaching out, but cannot obtain anything.
““You’re a rotten driver,’ I protested ‘Either you ought to be more careful or you oughtn’t to drive at all.”” [58] ch. 3 In chapter three, cars symbolize the carelessness of the rich people from the Eggs. It can show how corrupt they are, having the thought that nothing bad can happen. In this quote Nick tells Daisy how careless she is driving. But she tells him he doesn’t have to worry because there’ll be someone more careless than her… And how it takes two to make an accident.
“”I’ve got a man in England who buys me clothes. He sends over a selection of things at the beginning of each season, spring and fall.’ He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and hick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray.” [92] ch. 5 Gatsby’s collection of shirts represents his wealth. He picked up a pile of shirts and just tossed them towards Nick and Daisy as to shower them in lavish clothing and mesmerize them and to lure back Daisy to love him with what he has now.
“To young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world.” [100] ch. 6 To Gatsby the yacht was everything. It was his dreams and it was his desired success. The yacht represented wealth and Dan Cody as well. Gatsby adapted a lifestyle to change himself because he wished to become like Dan Cody, it was one of his dreams to possess such wealth and success.
“It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that the lights in the house failed to go on one Saturday night.” [113] ch. 7 With light being the symbol of hope and dreams, these which are not true light are the illusion that the parties Gatsby hosts are. And when the lights failed to go on one Saturday night, it means that Daisy no longer needs the illusion to be drawn to Gatsby. And he can finally take that light from which he has been reaching for.
“The gardener, the last one of Gatsby’s former servants, came to the foot of the steps. ‘I’m going to drain the pool today, Mr. Gatsby. Leaves’ll start falling pretty soon, and then there’s always trouble with the pipes.’ ‘Don’t do it to-day. ‘Gatsby answered. He turned to me apologetically, ‘You know, old sport, I’ve never used that pool all summer?’” [153] ch. 8 With the seasons changing, from summer to autumn (or fall) it is representing the downfall of Gatsby. The leaves are falling like the expectations he had. He doesn’t want to drain the pool saying that he hadn’t used it all summer. He shows that he is still clinging on to summer, Daisy, and just basically all of the memories he wishes to relive from the past.
“Gatsby believed I the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded then, but that’s no matter-to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And one fine morning –
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” [180] ch. 9 Here, desire is labeled as an endless pursuit. And life is being compared to a river, a current that we all go against and end up getting nowhere. Gatsbys endless chase is to relive the past, but he is going against the natural flow of life, and trying to oppose it will lead to nothing more than something tragic.