The Great Gatsby: Color Symbolism
A tragic love story, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about two young lovers whose fate was to never meant to be. This is the story of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Fay. They both met at a party right before Gatsby went off to war. Gatsby asked Daisy to wait for him until he came back from the war but Daisy could never be with Gatsby because he was poor and could not afford the lifestyle that she lived in her entire life. In The Great Gatsby colors have symbolic meanings behind each character. The Great Gatsby is represented by the colors green, white, and yellow.
Green is a very symbolic color in The Great Gatsby. The first example of the symbolic meaning behind the color green, is the bright green light that flashes at the end of the dock. “He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far way. That may have been at the end of a dock.” (Fitzgerald 21). Here we able to see that the green light represents, his lifelong pursuit and dream, Daisy. As he reaches out to the green light, Gatsby
…show more content…
“The light grew brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher” (Fitzgerald 40). The color yellow symbolizes happiness; even though the yellow sunlight is gone the orchestra’s music continues to give happiness. Yellow is also seen as a color close to gold. There is a lot of focus on Gatsby’s yellow car. “it was a big yellow car, he said, “big yellow car. New” (Fitzgerald 139). His yellow car is his way to be part of the society he has always wanted to be in. He dreams to enter a society full of success all around him. His car allows him to show his success in the lifestyle he aimed to