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Great Gatsby Symbols

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Symbolism transfers deeper and more vivid meaning in literature. Symbols show the underlying connections between ideas and qualities. As a novel depicting the 1920s era, The Great Gatsby includes many symbols that emphasizes the attitudes of the time. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, he uses different colors as symbols to strengthen imagery, emotion, and depth to descriptions. Visual enhancement of wealth and gloom are displayed through symbolic colors. The color gold depicts the wealth and success of Jay Gatsby. In Nick’s description of Gatsby’s parties, he noticed “On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors d’oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched …show more content…

Most evidently, the green light was the dominant symbol for hope. In a literary analysis, Uses of symbols and colors in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author gathered seventeen examples of green symbolism; nine of which are symbols for hope (Saakashvili). The green light was mentioned five times, and holds the theme of the book in place. At the end of the novel, Nick shares that “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (Fitzgerald 180). Gatsby held optimism and hope for his desire for Daisy, but was cut off by the reality of death. In relation, the concept of death holds power in the color yellow. Moments before the shooting of Jay Gatsby, Nick explains that Gatsby was asked “if he needed help, but he shook his head and in a moment disappeared among the yellowing trees” (Fitzgerald 161). The disappearance of chauffeur foreshadowed the death of Jay Gatsby, and symbolized the inevitability of death. Overall, the depth of hope and death were captured with the colors green and yellow. Colors in The Great Gatsby give the story a more symbolic and stronger purpose. Gold and gray sharpen the ideas of wealth and gloom. Emotions were strengthened by the symbolic colors of blue and red. Finally, the colors green and yellow represented a more deep meaning to the concepts of hope and death. In the novel, the symbolic colors are a key factor in adding meaning towards the

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, color symbolism is used to reveal important character traits and create a variety of moods throughout chapters 1-4. Fitzgerald incorporates the color white to demonstrate the virginal purity and initial innocence of some of the characters. He also uses this symbolism of the color white to differentiate between social classes. Fitzgerald then affiliates the colors gray and yellow with the dismal corruption that engulfs the novel. To tie everything together, he develops a pattern of the color green to portray how Gatsby’s world revolves around a greedy, yet romanticized dream, only attainable through money.

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This shows the deep desire to have a better life. In comparing the use of green in “The Great Gatsby” and the description of how green appears to most humans it’s obvious to see how Fitzgerald uses this color for envy and

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