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Grey Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

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Hello my name is Daniel and my analytical iop will be on the symbolism of colors in the great Gatsby. I will focus my analysis on want I think are the most important colors which are green, grey, white and yellow. The color green is the most important color in the great Gatsby because this is the color that Gatsby’s life is based around. To Gatsby the green light represents Daisy who is his dream. To attain her would complete his life and his American dream. The first time the green light is mentioned is when Gatsby and nick meet. Here Fitzgerald writes, “…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 …show more content…

So any one described as grey is going to be barren, lifeless or dull. In the novel the person described as grey is Wilson as seen in this quote “When any one spoke to him he invariably laughed in an agreeable, colorless way. He was his wife’s man and not his own.” P.146 Wilson's face is described as "ashen” and a "white ashen dust" covers his suit. And his eyes are described as "pale" and "glazed." This describes him as a lifeless man. Wilson can even be described by the metaphor that “he is like a rubber band: very flexible, until he snaps”. So It is not very surprising when he is the one who shows up at Gatsby’s house and kills him. Also the color grey is associated with the Valley of Ashes, which symbolizes the poverty and hopelessness of the lower class: “a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track,” and “ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades.” This also shows how big the difference is between the rich people of west egg and east egg and the poor people who live in the valley of

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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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In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Firzgerald, Nick Carraway represents the qualities of the green color. He is curious, calm and collected, intelligent, and describes others meticulously. Nick observes the other characters actions and judges them based off of those in precise ways. Nick also possesses qualities from the blue color because of how everyone confides in him. Nick is the first person that everyone goes to when they need to talk.

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Everything that has something to do with Wilson is grey. The color green represent the future. The narrator says, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastiv future that year by year recedes before us” (Fitzgerald, 189). Green, just like on a stop light, mean moving forward. When people think of the color green it makes them think of the future because it tells them to always keep moving

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813 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, deploys color symbolism in order to further develop characters and the plot. Fitzgerald’s use of color symbolism within The Great Gatsby not only defines the characters but adds depth to them. The most recognized color within the novel is “the single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (26). In addition to the green light, there are many other colors within the novel that embody characters, objects, and ideas. The most significant and memorable colors, other than green, are white and yellow, both of which are intertwined in Fitzgerald’s fictional world of materialism and scandal.

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1311 Words | 6 Pages

First off, Fitzgerald uses the color green to symbolize Gatsby’s money and love

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In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald exhausts numerous colors throughout the novel to demonstrate different aspects of the changing times. He associates colors like yellow, white, blue and gray with certain characters as well as specific topics in the novel. The color gray is associated with the character Jordan Baker as well as with the topics of moral and sexual ambiguity. Fitzgerald also demonstrates the use of color psychology in The Great Gatsby, thus causing the audience to acknowledge perceptions of those colors.

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854 Words | 4 Pages

The color of white symbolizes corruption as in the example of Gatsby showing the policeman a white card to not get in trouble. The color of yellow symbolizing wealth as represented with Gatsby’s luxurious car which shows how wealthy he is. And, the color green symbolizes the future as it symbolizes the future and dream because of Gatsby’s wanted dream/future he wanted with Daisy as the green light is at her house. So in conclusion, the symbolism of color in the book is a major part of the novel and there are many other colors in the novel that have symbolism like gray, silver or gold, but these colors stood out the most in The Great

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Item 2: Color Chart: In the book “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, colors have been used to represent the character’s unapparent and underlying thoughts, feelings, status and class. Through the motif of colors, Fitzgerald depicts the feelings of the character as he refers to a specific color while describing each one of them. The colors make a deep impact on the readers as they contain a profound meaning throughout the novel. There are around five main colors in the novel appearing frequently: white, yellow, green, blue and grey, which help the novel look more gaudy and idealistic.

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A symbol in a novel is a concrete object that represents an idea or a set of ideas. Choose 3 symbols in the book and explain what they mean and how they function together to support a central theme. The Great Gatsby novel has various numbers of symbols that are descried and each symbolise very different things. Three symbols that this essay is going to further investigate are the green light, Gatsby’s gold and silver suit and the Valley of Ashes.

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1268 Words | 6 Pages

Low class presented by grey is first witnessed by George Wilson as “a white ashen dust veiled his dark suit (Fitzgerald 26).” The wealthy within the novel are associated with a brilliant, bright color of gold. In contrast, the opposite class reveals a dull, uninspiring color of grey. The colors represent the social classes and how people view one another within the classes along with the hopelessness in his and the Buchanan’s marriage. Also, the grey Valley of Ashes between West and East Egg and New York City symbolizes “Daisy and Gatsby’s inner character.

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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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1029 Words | 5 Pages

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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1081 Words | 5 Pages

The color grey often symbolizes dull and lifeless characteristics or a state of depression. During the 1920s people in the working class were described as “grey” as they chased their goals they could never achieve. The Great Gatsby is a story of people who try to gain and reach success in a world where social classes vary significantly. In his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the color grey in both characters and settings to portray the disillusionment of the American Dream through his characters' corrupt ambitions and amoral behavior.

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507 Words | 3 Pages

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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437 Words | 2 Pages

Fitzgerald uses color to add mod and symbolize different things throughout the novel. The novel uses many different colors to provide imagery for the readers to understand and to live as if they are truly in the novel. The color blue represents Gatsby’s illusions his deeply romantic dreams of unreality. He’ had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.”

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