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Color Symbolism In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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The Great Gatsby: Color Symbolization
The Great Gatsby, originally published on April 10th, 1925 and written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A literary device used thoroughly throughout the entire book were based on simple colors. These “colors” represented themes and symbols, they were not accidently placed, the author purposely used colors to enhance the book in our minds and create more of a visual. The most used colors were; green, gold/yellow, white, red, grey and blue. Green representing the future, vitality and exploration. Gold representing money while yellow represents corruptness, moral decay, falsehood, and death. White representing beauty, innocence, wealth, in other words; morally unblemished or honorable. Red is used to respectively depict …show more content…

It stands for an array of meanings throughout the reading. For starters Fitzgerald mainly used it in a “not faded” sort of way. For example: “a green old age”, or for faith. Another example includes; “I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light" (p.25) where Buchanan’s home is supposed to be is where this “green light” illuminates the sea from. No matter the culture, the color green is the color of spring, which symbolizes assurance, vitality and faith. In The Great Gatsby, the green color runs throughout the whole novel, and it is closely related to Gatsby’s short life. So it symbolizes Gatsby’s original dream and hope, his ceaseless pursuit of his dream and even the corruption of his dream and life. The green color is closely associated with the green light occurred in the novel, which is closely related to Gatsby and the whole theme. The green light burning all night occurs three times in the …show more content…

Throughout the novel it can be seen that the most common color used throughout Gatsby’s life is yellow. Yellow is the color of gold, which symbolizes money, materialism, and high social position. He uses the color yellow to dress himself and decorate his house with to show that he has been a member of high class all in order to win Daisy back. On the other hand yellow represents autumn leaves, symbolizing decay, death and destructive power. Before Gatsby was shot by Wilson it was depicted that he refused the chauffeur’s assistance and he disappeared among the yellowing trees in a moment, indicating his death. Also, Gatsby’s yellow car not only ended Mrs. Wilson’s life, it also led the the end of his too. Lastly, with Daisy’s help, this color also indicates the end of the hope for Gatsby’s “American Dream”. White. White occurs a couple hundred times or so throughout the book and it is closely related to Daisy’s character. White represents anything immaculate and full of beauty, it symbolizes nobleness and purity. Daisy wears a white dress the first time she met Jay and the first time she met Nick in the East Egg. At age eighteen she possessed a white car which made her look charming in the eyes of young officers. Lastly, white also implies that even though the upper class is quite wealthy and healthy in their material life, they are bad off and lost in their

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The Great Gatsby introduces many color symbols that have their own meaning and relevance to the story. Fitzgerald used a lot of colors to give an insight to the lives of the characters. The color green represents the future. The color yellow represents money and death. Lastly, the color white represents innocence.

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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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F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a novel, known as The Great Gatsby. The setting took place in the summer of 1922, in Long Island. In the novel, Fitzgerald uses motifs and symbols throughout the work. Some of the significant motifs are gold, time, pink suits and green light. All of the motifs seems to point toward ‘dreams and illusions versus reality’ and the ‘class statuses differences’ as a themes of the novel.

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In the book yellow means optimism and fake gold. In this book he is symbolized more for the fake gold because the way he gets his money. His money could go away as quick as he got it. That is why Daisy won't leave Tom is because she is a gold digger and his money could go away. The next color Gatsby is symbolized with is Green.

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Fitzgerald uses symbolism another time to show his position as well. In the fourth chapter of the book, after Gatsby’s party that Nick was invited to, Gatsby’s car was described as vibrant with a yellow-esque color. As noted by Nick, “ It was a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns” (Fitzgerald 64). In The Great Gatsby, the color yellow is a symbol that represents wealth and power. Gatsby can be associated with the color yellow because it relates to his quest to gain money and get close to Daisy again.

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The final example of white as a symbol of something more is when we find out about Daisy’s past life when nick states, “High in a white palace the king’s Daughter, the golden girl” (Fitzgerald 120). The white in daisy’s life is representative of her being

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The color yellow is typically associated with happiness or lightheartedness in mood. However, yellow can be seen to be a way to conceal darker topics and events in the novel. Gatsby’s car is a “nice yellow [car]” that is used as a way to show off his wealth and attract attention (ch 7 pg 122). But as seen earlier in the chapter, the car is involved in the death of Myrtle Wilson and its flashy appearance is ultimately the reason why Gatsby is killed. Had his car not been so bright and noticeable, it may have been able to pass as any other generic car and no one would have directly associated its color with Gatsby.

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The colors white, yellow, blue, and green shape the novel’s characters and plot, resulting in a vivid story of love and blind pursuance. As mentioned earlier, the color green is one of the most recognized colors symbolically. The color green symbolizes future, or the American dream, and is most associated with Gatsby himself. This is what Gatsby is pursuing throughout the novel until he tragically perishes, his dream never becoming a reality.

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The color white means freshness and innocence but in the article Symbolic Meanings of Colors in The Great Gatsby, it says something different. It states that the color, “white actually symbolizes empty, vacuity, superficiality, ruthlessness and selfish to a great extent in the novel” (Zhang 1). Daisy is a sweet and innocent on the outside but deep down she has a cold and selfish heart that does not care for love, only the money. She reveals her selfishness when Gatsby dies and she does not show any sadness and leaves to go and travel with her

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The color symbolism in The Great Gatsby is represented by the colors green, pink, and black. The color green is represented by the light at the end of the dock in The Great Gatsby. “possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of the green light…”(Fitzgerald 93). The green light means a lot to Jay Gatsby it represents what he wants and what he has.

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Fitzgerald uses colors such as blue, green, white, and gold to portray many different characteristics and feelings of the characters within the story. One main color used in this novel is green. The color green can symbolize hope in some situations and in other situations the color green can symbolize jealousy and in other situations green could also depict Gatsby’s need for money and wealth. In the novel, Jay Gatsby, the

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The symbolism of the color white appear several times in the book. But, there was one scene that stood out. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about the color of white in the scene where Nick is visiting Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald described what happens when Nick was going on a trip with Gatsby in his car, “-only half, for as we twisted among the pillars of the elevated I heard the familiar “jug-jug-spat!” of a motor cycle, and a frantic policeman rode alongside. “All right, old sport,” called Gatsby.

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1148 Words | 5 Pages

Gatsby’s life is filled with various colors which signify the messages Fitzgerald is trying to convey. Color symbolism plays an important role through the novel, The Great Gatsby. In the novel, the color green detonates Gatsby’s hopes and dreams, but in other characters it represents envy, jealously, and money. When Nick returns home from his cousins house, he spotted Gatsby outside on his dock: “—he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way…I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing but a green light, that might have been at the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald 21).

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He also uses this symbolism of the color white to indicate high-class people. Fitzgerald reveals how Daisy and Jordan “were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house”(8). When these characters were introduced to Nick Carraway, the narrator, they wore white dresses which symbolize virginal purity to Nick. These women come off as airy and innocent during their initial interaction with Nick, but later on, we find out that this is not the case. Jordan and Daisy’s white dresses also affirm their place as wealthy ladies in a high social class.

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Yellow surrounds Gatsby enormously; his car at the beginning of the novel is described as “a rich cream color”, but it is not white, which is a sign that it’s already impure (64). Later, after killing Myrtle, Gatsby’s car is described as “a big yellow car”, completing its corruption (139). The color of Gatsby’s car was also unusual for that time period, making the car stand out and helping the trail of death lead to Gatsby. The last time readers see yellow attached to Gatsby is at the near end of the novel, right before he dies when he “disappeared among the yellowing trees” representing his own coming death (161). An area surrounding loss of life is The Valley of Ashes; The Wilson home “was a small block of yellow brick sitting on the edge of a waste land” where the Wilsons have a terrible life (24).

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