The Valley of Ashes represents the failure of the American Dream for the lower class of society, it illustrates to us that working hard does not always promise a richer, fuller life for everyone. The American dream gives hope to these people, that if they work hard they can have a better life, a life alike those in East Egg. Nick talks about entering the Valley of Ashes and having “a glimpse of Mrs. Wilson straining at the garage pump with panting vitality”, through the use of the word ‘straining’ the image is created that Myrtle and the people of the Valley of Ashes are putting in great effort or working ridiculously hard to get somewhere and are ‘panting’ or getting very tired of doing so. Focusing on Myrtle’s life, Nick uses the word “vitality”to describe her, showing that she is putting a lot of life and energy into trying to fulfill the American Dream when the reality is that all of her “vitality”  is not worthwhile and she uses New York as an escape from the harsh truth of her life, which is that the American Dream will always fail her in the Valley of Ashes. Throughout the text the Dr T.J. Eckleburg’s billboard is constructed by the characters as a God like figure of which keeps the people of the Valley of Ashes working hard because there are big, intimidating eyes watching over them. At one point throughout the text Wilson states, while looking at the billboard “God sees everything,” this shows us that the eyes represent a sort of moral compass for the people of the Valley of Ashes and that those eyes are what push them to keep working and keep hoping for the fulfillment of the American dream. The problem with the billboard is the corruption behind it, we know the billboard has been put there by some big oculist company who are most likely very rich and a part of the upper class society, it appears as a ploy to keep the people working for something they can never have. The only religious and morally correct figure in the poverty-stricken society truly comes from a corrupt system that are trying to keep the people of the Vally of Ashes working like ants that they can watch over; this way society stays in balance, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer as the American Dream keeps failing them. Near the end of the book Myrtle tragically dies while trying to escape the confinements of The Valley of Ashes and become a part of the higher East Egg society, from this the sad truth becomes unquestionable, that it is never possible for the poor to get richer and that the dream will always fail the people of Ashes because they keep believing in it. Fitzgerald is trying to show us that the Dream will not only fail these people but that the American Dream is a myth, it is a myth to believe that by working hard any person can have a richer, fuller lifestyle like those in East Egg and even if a person does succeed in wealth they will never gain status.