Long Island Sound

Long Island Sound is the great wet barnyard of the Western hemisphere, the most domesticated body of salt water in that region, and the geographical heart of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. It is the twenty-mile-wide stretch of water that separates the twin eggs of East Egg and West Egg from the rest of Long Island, a liquid boundary that is both a physical reality and a profound symbol. The Sound is the stage upon which Gatsby's dream is enacted and the medium across which he reaches for an unattainable green light; it is the site of his lavish aquatic entertainments and, ultimately, the silent, indifferent backdrop to his death. Its presence permeates the novel, defining the landscape of wealth, the rituals of the leisure class, and the tragic distance between aspiration and fulfillment.

Geography and Setting

The Sound is introduced as the body of water that the two enormous eggs of East Egg and West Egg jut into, separated only by a courtesy bay. Nick Carraway's rented house at West Egg is situated at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, affording him a view of the water and a partial view of Gatsby's lawn. Across the courtesy bay, the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glitter along the water, establishing the Sound as the dividing line between the old-money aristocracy and the newly rich. The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river that feeds into the Sound, connecting the desolate industrial wasteland to the pristine waters of the wealthy. The Sound is also the route for the commuter trains that carry Nick and Tom Buchanan between West Egg and New York City, and its shores are dotted with the mansions of the super-rich, including Gatsby's colossal affair with its own private beach and dock.

Gatsby's Stage: Hydroplanes, Parties, and the Green Light

The Sound is the primary arena for Gatsby's displays of wealth and his pursuit of Daisy. He owns a hydroplane, which he invites Nick to ride in, and his two motor-boats slit the waters, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. His guests dive from the tower of his raft and take the sun on the hot sand of his beach. The Sound is also the location of the green light at the end of Daisy's dock, the object of Gatsby's nightly vigil. On the night Nick first sees Gatsby, he is standing on the lawn, stretching his arms out toward the dark water, toward that single green light, minute and far away. When Gatsby finally reunites with Daisy, he points across the Sound and says, "If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home across the bay. You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock." The Sound is the physical space that both connects and separates them, and the green light's significance is diminished once Gatsby has Daisy in his arms, as the great distance that had once made the light seem so near to her has now vanished.

The Scene of Tragedy and Loss

The Sound is also the silent witness to the novel's tragic climax. After the confrontation at the Plaza Hotel, Daisy drives Gatsby's car back toward West Egg, and it is on the road bordering the Sound that she strikes and kills Myrtle Wilson. The death car does not stop; it disappears around the next bend, leaving Myrtle's body in the dust. Later that night, Gatsby waits outside the Buchanan mansion, watching over Daisy, and then returns to his own house, where he is shot dead by George Wilson while floating on a pneumatic mattress in his swimming pool, which is fed by the waters of the Sound. The Sound, which had been the setting for so much gaiety and hope, becomes the backdrop for a senseless murder. In the aftermath, Nick Carraway wanders down to the beach and sprawls out on the sand, looking out at the Sound, where most of the big shore places are now closed and there are hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat. The Sound, once alive with the laughter and music of Gatsby's parties, is now empty and silent.

Symbolic and Thematic Significance

The Sound functions as a powerful symbol of the novel's central themes. It represents the barrier between social classes, the distance between the old money of East Egg and the new money of West Egg, and the gulf between Gatsby's idealized dream and the reality of Daisy Buchanan. The green light at the end of Daisy's dock, visible only across the water, embodies the elusive nature of the American Dream and the impossibility of recapturing the past. The Sound is also a symbol of the careless indifference of the wealthy. Tom and Daisy Buchanan, after causing the death of Myrtle Wilson and Gatsby, simply retreat back into their money and let other people clean up the mess they have made. The Sound, like the Buchanans, is vast, beautiful, and utterly unconcerned with the human tragedies that unfold on its shores. In the novel's final, haunting image, Nick imagines the old island that once flowered for Dutch sailors' eyes, a fresh, green breast of the new world, and he thinks of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. The Sound, then, is not just a setting but a symbol of the eternal human struggle to reach for something just beyond our grasp, a struggle that is both beautiful and doomed.