The Valley of Ashes is a symbol in F. Scott Fitzgeralds novel, The Great Gatsby, representing the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure. It is a long stretch of desolate land created by the dumping of industrial ashes, representing the plight of the poor who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result. The valley also symbolizes the unattainability of achieving the classic American Dream, as the people who want to leave the valley are trapped within their unchanging fates. The valley of ashes is a depressing industrial area of Queens that is in between West Egg and Manhattan, and it is not actually made out of ashes, but seems that way because of how gray and smoke-choked it is. The valley of ashes symbolizes poverty, hopelessness, and the lost hopes and dreams of people who have failed to live up to the American Dream. The valley of ashes is also connected to the Biblical "the valley of the shadow of death" found in Psalm 23, which is made safe by the presence of God, but in the novel, the valley has no divine presence or higher moral authority.