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Color Imagery In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1925. The Great Gatsby is a classic American novel in which the author uses color imagery to identify certain characters with different meanings. Color plays a huge role in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald shows how character's emotions and actions align with different colors. Fitzgerald uses color imagery in the characters Gatsby, Tom, and Daisy show hope, violence, and purity. The color green represents hope in a sense that green means “go” as in go follow one’s dreams and desires. The character Gatsby shows hope for is Daisy, for example when they're on the pier; "Involuntarily I glanced seaward - and distinguished nothing except a single greenlight" (Fitzgerald 26). Gatsby longed for Daisy, ever since they first met five years before this incident. At that moment, Gatsby made up his mind that Daisy was his dream …show more content…

Red is used to show the blood and death of Myrtle. When Daisy was leaving the hotel, she crashed into Myrtle by accident and mistakenly killed her. Myrtle happens to be one of Tom’s mistresses, which makes it seem that Daisy would be angry at Myrtle but she was not. Myrtle speaking about Tom’s wife's death says, "God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me, but you can’t fool God" (Fitzgerald 159). The color red also represents the evilness of Tom. Tom cheats on Daisy, beats Myrtle, and feels no remorse after he does it. The following quote describes the pain and darkness of Tom punching Myrtle, "The bathroom floor and women's voice scolding...despairing figure on the couch, bleeding fluently and trying to spreads a copy of town tattle over the tapestry scenes of Versailles" (Fitzgerald 41-42). The image of Myrtle’s blood refers to the color red, which represents Tom’s hatred and rage. Altogether, Fitzgerald uses red with the deeper meaning of

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Her blonde hair closely resembles a golden color, signifying money and material success— and her desire and reliance for both. Fitzgerald describes Daisy with the line(s): “Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a passionate mouth,” describes her light, joyful personality that also masks her underlying sadness (Fitzgerald 9). Myrtle Wilson, on the other hand, is more of a bold and vivacious woman. When we have our first encounter with Tom Buchanan’s mistress, she is wearing a “spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine”, which is fitting considering the color of blue symbolizes dreams, aspirations/hopes, and the ultimate bliss (Fitzgerald 25). Myrtle dreams of a life with Tom, where she falsely hopes and believes they will both be able to live “happily ever after” together.

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Imagery Of Color In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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In the novel “The Great Gatsby”, F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses the imagery of color throughout the book. Social classes, emotional states,and racial slurs, all reflect back on the many different colors that are used throughout the book. The colors are used repeatedly as symbols, and shades to develop the mood and tone In different scenes of the novel. The color white is a symbol of being clean and fresh, on the contrary it could also be very tainted like the color black. Green is the ruling color in the book which represent confidence and hope.

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1279 Words | 6 Pages

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Color Imagery In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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What Does The Pale Gold Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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Color White In The Great Gatsby Essay

1032 Words | 5 Pages

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