Color Symbolism In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel set in the 1920s about the lives of wealthy New York citizens. Fitzgerald uses color symbolism to create a deeper understanding of the characters. Fitzgerald uses the color green symbolically to illustrate characters’ hope and how reality never lives up to their hopes. This hope is evident in Gatsby’s obsession with the light on Daisy’s dock at the beginning of the novel, while the unattainability of characters’ dreams is shown in the light on Daisy’s dock at the end of the novel, and the description in the final passages of the book. Throughout the novel, Gatsby sees the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, and this light represents James Gatz’s dream to become greater than a South

This is evident in the change in how Gatsby sees the green light on Daisy’s dock. When Daisy visits Gatsby’s house for the first time and Gatsby seemingly has achieved his dream of being with Daisy, Nick notices that the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock loses its significance. “Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one” (93). Gatsby associates Daisy with his lifelong dream, and as soon as he has her and has achieved that dream, he loses his obsession with the light. He realizes that although the dream has been reached, it is not as perfect as he had imagined it to be. He is with Daisy, but he does not feel that he has achieved his lifelong goal. Green therefore loses its importance in his life, and now the light is simply a light, it no longer represents his hopes for the future. Fitzgerald uses green to convey how Gatsby has unattainable dreams. In addition, at the end of the novel, Fitzgerald describes that although Gatsby has seemingly reached his dream, he doesn’t even

“...I gradually became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes-- a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams...face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder” (180). In this way Fitzgerald also uses green to represent the American dream. When people first came to America, they were greeted by a green earth, and this green symbolized the American Dream, and their hope for a better life in the New World. Fitzgerald uses green to represent the hope of the immigrants, and also in this passage describe how reality didn’t live up to that hope. When the immigrants saw green America, that was the only time anything lived up to the capacity of their dreams; Fitzgerald is implying that nothing else lives up to their imaginations and wildest hopes, green therefore is also connected with the inability of reality to match people’s hopes. Fitzgerald also uses green to describe all of the characters’ unattainable dreams. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter--to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...So we beat on, boats