Throughout history, seasons have been used to symbolize the cycle of life and death. Take the Ancient Greeks, who created an entire myth to explain why seasons change. Persephone, daughter of Demeter and the goddess of spring get kidnapped by Hades and taken to the Underworld (death). She has to spend half the year with Hades and the other half she gets to go back to the world with her mother. When she’s underground, the seasons change and things start to die. When she’s above ground, life blooms again. Nowadays, most people don’t believe that a goddess is controlling the seasons, but we still associate spring and summer with life and fall and winter with death. In “The Great Gatsby,” Fitzgerald uses this exact imagery and symbolism to reflect what is going on throughout the book. In the first chapter, Nick actually says, “I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer” (Fitzgerald). The events that follow almost have this golden cast to them, as if everything was happy and glowing. Even some of the characters, especially Daisy, sort of reflect that impression of a happy summer. But we know that summer always comes to an end. As summer draws to a close in “The Great Gatsby,” the end of summer is the finish line for Mrs. Watson and Gatsby. It’s quite a literal representation of the symbolism of seasons changing. This is just one layer of symbolism that Fitzgerald uses for “The Great Gatsby.” There are a lot more layers that when peeled back reveal that maybe summer isn’t so golden after all. But that’s a conversation for another time.


Bibliography
Fitzgerald, Scott F. “The Great Gatsby.” Project Gutenberg, 2021, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/64317/64317-h/64317-h.htm.