"Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world. 'Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge,' I thought; 'anything at all...' Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder."
When you read this passage you notice the colors and the beauty and the sugar coating. This passage is describing the American Dream as it is played out in this book. First of all the city they are entering is a major city in the U.S. The American Dream drives people there. The moving cars are a sign of money in this book. Gatsby has a huge car and he is rich, whereas Wilson only fixes cars and he lives in ash and dust. The rising of the city is a sign of power. All throughout history the powerful people and cities rise. The sunlight and the white heaps are signs of purity and goodness. In Literature light is a sign of good, especially natural light, and the color white is a sign of purity. The sugar lumps are a sign of being sweet, it sets New York up to be a place full of nice things, like the saying "sugar and spice and everything nice". Having it be built out of a wish is like saying it was made out of a dream, someone wished there would be a New York, so they made one. Having it be made out of non-olfactory money could mean that the money, or person lending/spending the money is impartial. Non-olfactory means not smelling, so the money would not smell bad or good, it would be in the middle, impartial. All of these things so far have just been telling us what the city is from the outside, it hasn't given us any sense of what it is really like. The next line lets us see a little beyond the surface. "The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and beauty in the world." When you see something for the first time you never know what it is really like. When you first meet someone you never know who they really are. This sentence is saying to not judge a book by its cover, don't judge the city if you have only seen it from the Queensboro Bridge. First is said twice in this sentence, to emphasize that what you see from the bridge is not what the city is like. The city seen from the bridge is a "wild promise", and by wild they mean outrageous, one that would be nearly impossible to keep. This passage has been describing New York, but New York has been a metaphor for the American Dream. The cars around New York are a sign of money. The American Dream is a dream about getting money. The rising city is a sign of power, which the American Dream offers. The sunlight and sugar are signs of purity and goodness. The American Dream sucks in pure and good people, who, according to Franklin, if they work hard will get far. That philosophy is pure and good. The sugar description again uses the work ethic, work hard and you will get rich. Also, in this pure form the American Dream is impartial. Doesn't matter who you are, if you work hard you will go far. But, just like New York, the first glance does not get let you understand the American Dream. The American Dream is a "wild promise" that when searched thoroughly is not as beautiful as it was at first. Everyone wants money, but not everyone can have money. Everyone wants power, but not everyone can have power. Not everyone can be as lucky as Franklin. There are plenty of people working hard, very very hard, and are not getting anywhere. The American Dream is biased. The rich and powerful get more, even if they don't work as hard. This book showed how corrupted the American Dream is, and that is a prime example of how Fizgerald used metaphors to show this.
When you read this passage you notice the colors and the beauty and the sugar coating. This passage is describing the American Dream as it is played out in this book. First of all the city they are entering is a major city in the U.S. The American Dream drives people there. The moving cars are a sign of money in this book. Gatsby has a huge car and he is rich, whereas Wilson only fixes cars and he lives in ash and dust. The rising of the city is a sign of power. All throughout history the powerful people and cities rise. The sunlight and the white heaps are signs of purity and goodness. In Literature light is a sign of good, especially natural light, and the color white is a sign of purity. The sugar lumps are a sign of being sweet, it sets New York up to be a place full of nice things, like the saying "sugar and spice and everything nice". Having it be built out of a wish is like saying it was made out of a dream, someone wished there would be a New York, so they made one. Having it be made out of non-olfactory money could mean that the money, or person lending/spending the money is impartial. Non-olfactory means not smelling, so the money would not smell bad or good, it would be in the middle, impartial. All of these things so far have just been telling us what the city is from the outside, it hasn't given us any sense of what it is really like. The next line lets us see a little beyond the surface. "The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and beauty in the world." When you see something for the first time you never know what it is really like. When you first meet someone you never know who they really are. This sentence is saying to not judge a book by its cover, don't judge the city if you have only seen it from the Queensboro Bridge. First is said twice in this sentence, to emphasize that what you see from the bridge is not what the city is like. The city seen from the bridge is a "wild promise", and by wild they mean outrageous, one that would be nearly impossible to keep. This passage has been describing New York, but New York has been a metaphor for the American Dream. The cars around New York are a sign of money. The American Dream is a dream about getting money. The rising city is a sign of power, which the American Dream offers. The sunlight and sugar are signs of purity and goodness. The American Dream sucks in pure and good people, who, according to Franklin, if they work hard will get far. That philosophy is pure and good. The sugar description again uses the work ethic, work hard and you will get rich. Also, in this pure form the American Dream is impartial. Doesn't matter who you are, if you work hard you will go far. But, just like New York, the first glance does not get let you understand the American Dream. The American Dream is a "wild promise" that when searched thoroughly is not as beautiful as it was at first. Everyone wants money, but not everyone can have money. Everyone wants power, but not everyone can have power. Not everyone can be as lucky as Franklin. There are plenty of people working hard, very very hard, and are not getting anywhere. The American Dream is biased. The rich and powerful get more, even if they don't work as hard. This book showed how corrupted the American Dream is, and that is a prime example of how Fizgerald used metaphors to show this.
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