Examples Of Color In The Great Gatsby

In literature, colors are often used to create a deeper meaning of a book. In

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the analysis of color can influence

the meaning of the story and help create a deeper understanding of the characters. One

color mentioned is the color yellow. One example of the color yellow is its portrayal

through two girls wearing yellow dresses at one of Jay Gatsby’s parties. The girls and

their yellow dresses are used to predict happiness, yet are also used to predict caution.

In today’s society, colors are often used to express ideas and emotions. One

connection that the color yellow often makes is to happiness. The color yellow is also

used to alert people. This is because it is the brightest and most noticeable color

Fitzgerald uses the girl dressed in yellow playing the piano to connect

the warning of the upcoming decline of the party to the actual decline of the party.

The girls dressed in yellow are not main characters in The Great Gatsby. The

girls appear few times in a short period of time in the novel. The scarcity of the girls

in the book creates a tough boundary between the reader and creating a connection to

the girls. The connection of the color yellow to the girls helps to break this barrier.

“She held my hand impersonally, as a promise that she’d take care of me in a

minute, and gave ear to two girls in twin yellow dresses, who stopped at the foot of

the steps,” (Fitzgerald 42). All that Fitzgerald uses to describe the girls is that they are

wearing yellow dresses. He does not give any other physical or emotional descriptions

of the girls.

The two meanings of the color yellow that Fitzgerald uses the girls’ yellow

dresses to represent are happiness and caution. Youth is often associated with