Question

"As the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder." In this passage, "the fresh green breast of the new world..." represents/symbolizes what?

Answer 1

In this passage, Nick reflects on what the landscape must have looked like when the Dutch explorers arrived to the continent. He is looking at Gatsby's house, and at this point in the novel, we know that Nick believes that New York, as well as the people he has met, are vile, corrupt and greedy. He contrasts this view with that of the pristine continent on the arrival of the European settlers.

The phrase "fresh, green breast of the New World" presents a view that is "fresh." The land is new, but it is also fresh in the sense that it is not rotten. The land has not yet been "infected" with the corruption of modern times. Therefore, the phrase is intended to represent a time before America had become a land of greed and vice.

Answer 2

Answer:

"The fresh green breast of the new world" represents/symbolizes an uncontaminated fertile and productive land filled with hope and future dreams for the life to come.

Explanation:

Whenever "green" is used to describe something, it connotes life, growth and productivity.

"Fresh" symbolizes unadulterated, uncontaminated and unsoiled land

"New world" symbolizes a life to come when the old is gone.

Book Title: The Great Gatsby

This excerpt from the book reflects a new dawn in the Dutch sailor's eyes when the old has vanished.