Comment on how Fitzgerald criticises the American Dream in The Great Gatsby through the use of symbolism.

One of the central aspects of this story that is very
worthy of closer analysis is the way in which Fitzgerald uses colour symbolically. For
the purposes of this question, the colour green is very important. Throughout the novel,
the colour green is used to symbolically represent the hopes and dreams of Gatsby and,
more generally, the American Dream.

The most obvious
reference to the colour green is the light at the end of the dock that is opposite
Gatsby's house that Nick sees Gatbsy so focussed upon at the end of the first chapter,
stretching his arms towards it:

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But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden
intimation 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 way, that might have been the end of the
dock.

It is only later that
Nick discovers this green light indicates the house of Daisy Buchanan, the focus of all
of Gatbsy's hopes and energies. It is particularly relevant then to see how at the end
of the tale Fitzgerald links in this green light with the "fresh, green breast of the
new world" that the original Dutch sailors saw as they arrived at what was to them a new
Garden of Eden. This "green breast" finds a pale comparison in the artificial green
light of Gatsby's imaginings, suggesting how the original American Dream has been
lessened or transformed into something very different from what it once was. We are told
that "Gatsby believed in the green light," but the novel clearly shows where believing
in the green light will take you. The American Dream only ended in tragedy for Gatsby,
and Nick's departure from the East back to the Mid-West suggests his recognition of the
dangers of pursuing such an "orgiastic future."