Question

Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight.Which statement best explains how symbolism is used in characterizing the valley of ashes?A. The railroad cars crawl along the track, which indicates an economic downturn.B. The men are covered in grey ash, highlighting their hopeless situation.C. The men work with leaden spades, working hard toward the American Dream.D. The railroad track is invisible, representing the guidance of a divine spirit.

Answer 1

B. The men are covered in grey ash, highlighting their hopeless situation.

Answer 2

The statement that best explains how symbolism is used in characterizing the valley of ashes is B) The men were covered in grey ashes, highlighting their hopeless situation. In the Great Gatsby the Valley of Ashes is an area of barren wasteland in which asked and the waste of the rich is dumped upon. In the book Fitzgerald describes this area as a rather gray and dull place. Thus the men being covered in ashes symbolizes the hopeless situation these men were in being there.