One of the main reasons The Great Gatsby is important is because of its cultural significance. The novel offers a vivid depiction of the Jazz Age, a time of economic prosperity and social change in America. Fitzgerald captures the excess and decadence of the era, revealing the superficiality and emptiness that often accompanied wealth. The differences that exist between Valley of Ashes and East Egg can obviously be used to compare the contrasting concepts of the internal and external lives of the characters in The Great Gatsby, in cases such as the intractable marital problems of Tom and Daisy Buchanan compared to the perfect family life they live in the audience, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby there are few, if any, characters showing faith. in God. Religious Language and Symbolism in The Great Gatsby's Valley of Ashes. Robert C. Hauhart Saint Martin s University ยท 204, Published online: 12. In which John discusses critical readings of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, including metaphors and symbols such as the color yellow, the green light.