Asprilla Aqmarina
Aug 31, 2018 · 8 min read

Naturalism Elements Found in Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

INTRODUCTION

Naturalism is pessimistic realism, with a philosophy that sets man in a mechanical world and conceives of him as victimized by that world (Parrington: 1927). In other words, naturalism is a wider value than realism in order to dramatize the events or characters in a story as the effect from nature’s law.

Characteristics of naturalism:

1. Characters are mostly ill-educated or lower-class characters whose lives are governed by the forces of heredity, instinct, and passion. (Charles Child Walcutt, American Literary Naturalism: A Divided Stream)

2. Describe the futile attempts of human beings to exercise free will, often ironically presented, in this universe that reveals free will as an illusion. (Charles Child Walcutt, American Literary Naturalism: A Divided Stream)

3. Contain two tensions or contradictions. (Donald Pizer, Realism and Naturalism in 19th Century American Fiction)

4. The world contains man associated with violence and passion which involve sexual adventure or bodily strength and culminate in desperate moment and violent death. (Donald Pizer, Realism and Naturalism in 19th Century American Fiction)

ABOUT THE BOOK

A. Author Background

F. Scott Fitzgerald is American author was born on Spetember 24 in 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He entered in Princeton University in 1917, but he was dropped out because he joined U.S. Army. He was positioned as second lieutenant in the infantry when World War I. After the war was ended, he was productively wrote many great literary works such as This Side of Paradise, Tender Is the Night, The Love of the Last Tycoon, and many others. In 1925, The Great Gatsby was published and it was considered as a great novel literary work because it gives critiques of materialism and brings issue about American Dream and also provides a description of American morals in 1920’s. On December 21st in 1940, he died because of a heart attack at the age of 44 in Hollywood, California.

B. Subject of The Story

The Great Gatsby novel is a tragic romantic story published in April 1925 by Charles Scribner’s Sons publisher. The story is about a romantic story between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Fay in outside, but in deeper analysis this story brings the issue of materialism in American dream during Jazz Age. American dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. (Adams: 1931). This novel provides realism and naturalism elements, but for this analysis the writer discuss naturalism elements only in a certain part which is in valley of ashes.

Valley of ashes is a small city where the poor live and work very hard. It is called ‘ashes’ because the place is covered by smoke which come out from industrial activities. It lies between West Egg and Manhattan which different kind of life is described. This is an ironic while in West Egg and Manhattan and other cities surrounding, people are settled and live in glorious way. By contrast, in valley of ashes even though the people have worked very hard, but still it is hard for them to achieve a better and proper condition of life.

Historically, this novel portrays American people in 1920’s. After the World War was ended, many people from many class of society struggling hard to achieve their American dreams. As the effect, there was an imbalance of society between the rich and the poor. The rich liked to spend money and held many parties. Woman began to smoke and drink, cut their hair, and wear short dresses. This novel provides behavior and manner of rich toward poor during that time. The rich were mostly decayed moral value and status while the poor were very pitiful to their fate. It tells the Bucanans as the rich treat the Wilsons and Gatsby as the poor.

C. Setting of Place

This novel sets in Long Island, New York. In East Egg, there the rich who come from old money lives (inherit wealth from ancestor). Meanwhile in West Egg and Manhattan, there new money lives (gain wealth by hard working). Valley of ashes lies between West Egg and Manhattan where the poor live. This place in real world is Flushing Meadow — the Corona ash dump.

D. Summary

The story begins with Nick Carraway moves to West Egg, Long Island in New York City in order to fulfill his American dream by working at Wall Street as a bond seller. He lives next door with Jay Gatsby who is a mysterious person because he never shows his existence. He has a cousin named Daisy Bucanan who is the wife of rich people named Tom Bucanan. One day, Nick gets an invitation of a party in Gatsby’s house. At there, he knows Gatsby and he is asked to have lunch at the following day.

On their way to Manhattan, they pass a little place called valley of ashes because the entire of the place is covered by dust from the industrial activity at there. It is also the result from waste disposal of cities surrounding. There is a family of Wilsons who open a garage to sell second-hand cars and gasoline. George Wilson has a wife named Mayrtle, who is actually a mistress of Tom Bucanan. They are poor even though Wilson has worked very hard to get much money. In the end, they cannot fulfill their American dream and died miserably.

DISCUSSION

In this part will be discussed and explained naturalism elements found in valley of including the characters and plot of the story.

1. Characters are mostly ill-educated or lower-class characters whose lives are governed by the forces of heredity, instinct, and passion.

Valley of ashes is a place where is entirely covered with dust as the effect of waste disposal and mining activity there. People in valley of ashes are mostly laborer who really struggle in gaining proper life. They work very hard but still it is impossible for them to change their fate.

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 house and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air . . . the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud. (Fitzgerald 23)

Those words of ‘a fantastic farm’ is an ironic description which it is not fantastic in literal meaning, but is emphasizes to show how mess where the place is. How pitiful the pople have to live there.

The Wilsons is a representative of the poor who appears to be an important character in this story. George Wilson and his wife, Mrtyle, make a living by opening a garage to sell second-hand cars and gasoline. They come from lower class society which can be seen from this excerpt below

The interior was unprosperous and bare; the only car visible was the dust-covered wreck of a Ford which crouched in a dim corner. It had occured to me that this shadow of a garage must be blind, . . . He was a blond, spiritless man, anaemic, and faintly handsome. When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes. (Fitzgerald 25)

It can be seen that the interior of their house is not proper covered by dust. The appereance of George also described as a pitiful man who is helpless with his fate of life. The Wilsons’ life and other ash-gray men are governed by heredity and determinism.

2. Describe the futile attempts of human beings to exercise free will, often ironically presented, in this universe that reveals free will as an illusion.

This characteristic is suit with Myrtle Wilson who is basically done with her poor condition. She is the only person who dress up nicely and properly among people at there. Basically it is a symbol of her desire to be the rich and get out of being poor.

The only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake (Fitzgerald 35)

She escapes by following Tom and leaving George. But, it is a futile attempts of her to exercise free will. It is ended ironically when she chases Tom, she is hit by car then dead miserably. It reveals that free will is just an illusion.

. . . Mrtyle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust. (Fitzgerald 138)

3. Contain two tensions or contradictions.

There is very big contradiction between valley of ashes and the cities surrounding. The cities are full of wealth and glorious life. Meanwhile in valley of ashes the people are all poor and have improper condition of life. The place is industrial wasteland of dust and ashes. The ashes come from industrial activity which the products are to liven the cities surrounding. Also the mining activity is to give the energy and natural resources to them. But the city ignore them and ignore their effort who have supplied their life.

The valley of ashes stands for the forgotten poor underclass who enable the lifestyle of the wealthy few. This is a place of hopelessness, of loss, and of giving up. It describes the moral of rich American people during 1920’s. They were mostly decayed moral value and status.

Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water. . . (Fitzgerald 5)

It shows the difference with East Egg is fashionable place but valley of ashes is a just place where covered by ash.

4. The world contains man associated with violence and passion which involve sexual adventure or bodily strength and culminate in desperate moment and violent death.

It is evidenced by George who takes revenge for his wife’s death. In the beginning, the Wilsons had plan to move West in order to get better life, but it is very shocking found that Myrtle dead hit by Gastby’s car. In the end, George shoots Gatsby then he commits suicide.

Wilson’s glazed eyes turned out to the ashheaps, where small gray clouds took on fantastic shapes and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind. (Fitzgerald 160)

Excerpt above shows gloomy feeling of George. The gray colour symbolizes mourn, misery, and sorrow. He is desperate with his fate. All the tragic happens with the poor. It is pessimistic for poor to achieve their American dreams even though they have struggled very hard.

CONCLUSION

The Great Gatsby story contains naturalism elements because it is suit with some elements of naturalism. Naturalism value is mostly found in valley of ashes. Valley of ashes is considered an unfortunate place where a little hope of life. The people are poor and pitiful. The place are covered with dust which symbolizes hopeless, loss, and forgotten. Naturalism elements exist in this novel are:

1. Characters are mostly ill-educated or lower-class characters whose lives are governed by the forces of heredity, instinct, and passion.

The people come from lower class society and ill-educated. Their live is governed by the forces of heredity.

2. Describe the futile attempts of human beings to exercise free will, often ironically presented, in this universe that reveals free will as an illusion.

This characteristic is represented by Myrtle who wants to escape from her poor life, but ironically she is hit by car. It shows that in naturalism presents pessimism toward poor who attemps free will.

3. Contain two tensions or contradictions.

It is shown by the different kind of life between the rich and the poor. The rich lives in glorious way meanwhile in valley of ashes people lives miserably.

4. The world contains man associated with violence and passion which involve sexual adventure or bodily strength and culminate in desperate moment and violent death.

It is shown by Wilson who is finally done with life after Myrtle’s death.

REFERENCES

Adams, James Trulow. The Epic of America. New York: Simon Publication, 1931. Print

Parrington, Vernon Louis. Main currents in American thought. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1954. Print.

Pizer, Donald. Realism and naturalism in nineteenth-century American literature. Carbondale: Southern Illinois U Press, 1984. Print.

Walcutt, Charles Child. American literary naturalism: a divided stream. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 1964. Print.

Wulick, Dr. Anna. “SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips.” Best Analysis: Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2017.

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