Question

what is fitzgerald most likely commenting on with the symbol of the valley of ashes in the great gatsby

Answer 1

The valley of ashes in The Great Gatsby symbolizes absolute poverty and hopelessness. The lower classes who inhibit this region all want to leave but cannot. This illustrates how the American Dream is impossible to achieve.

Answer 2

Answer:

Fitzgerald used the Valley of Ashes as a symbol of the moral decay associated with the uninhibited desire for wealth.

Explanation:

The Valley of Ashes, located between West Egg and New York City, represents the moral decay associated with the uninhibited desire for wealth. It symbolizes the decay of society and the plight of the poor, victims of greed and corruption.  The valley may also be linked to World War I battlefields, where there was no man's land - full of barbed wire, shrapnel, unexploded mines and dead bodies - between opposing trenches. World War I influenced the negativity of modernist writers in the United States, called cursed writers, so one can imagine that Fitzgerald was inspired by this environment to write about the Valley of Ashes.