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Significance Of The Color White In The Great Gatsby

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In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the color white to represent innocence and purity. Nick, the narrator, describes his extravagant lifestyle living in West Egg next to his wealthy neighbor Gatsby. With Gatsby’s active lifestyle Nick gets himself into a very busy and problematic lifestyle. The Great Gatsby is a book where the characters believe that they are pure and innocent. Daisy talking to Nick about herself and Miss Baker, reminiscing about their innocent pasts. Jordan covering her tan skin with white powder. Gatsby using his white card to show the police officer that he is a careful and innocent driver. The color white represents innocence and purity. Daisy talks to Nick about herself and Miss Baker, reminiscing about their innocent pasts. While Daisy is telling Nick things about Jordan, she was reminded of her …show more content…

Our beautiful white-” (Pg.24). The color white is pure and flawless which describes most children or early teens during the time setting. Describing her early life, Daisy uses the color white to symbolize how innocent and pure she once was. Daisy remembers the past because she isn’t the pure and innocent little girl anymore. Jordan is wearing white powder to cover her tan skin tone. Jordan rests her hands on Nick’s and he realizes that Jordan is wearing something on her fingers and hands that make them look white. “Jordan’s fingers, powdered white over their tan, rested for a moment in mine” (Pg.122). Jordan tries to cover her tan skin tone with white powder. Jordan’s tan or yellow skin color could symbolize that she is a corrupted individual or it could also be a warning telling people how she acts. She tries to cover it with the white powder to become innocent and pure again. Jordan basically admits to being a careless human being when Nick critiques her driving. “‘It takes two to make an accident.’ ‘Suppose you met somebody just as careless as yourself.’ ‘I hope I never will,’ she

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The color white means freshness and innocence but in the article Symbolic Meanings of Colors in The Great Gatsby, it says something different. It states that the color, “white actually symbolizes empty, vacuity, superficiality, ruthlessness and selfish to a great extent in the novel” (Zhang 1). Daisy is a sweet and innocent on the outside but deep down she has a cold and selfish heart that does not care for love, only the money. She reveals her selfishness when Gatsby dies and she does not show any sadness and leaves to go and travel with her

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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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The symbolism of the color white appear several times in the book. But, there was one scene that stood out. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about the color of white in the scene where Nick is visiting Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald described what happens when Nick was going on a trip with Gatsby in his car, “-only half, for as we twisted among the pillars of the elevated I heard the familiar “jug-jug-spat!” of a motor cycle, and a frantic policeman rode alongside. “All right, old sport,” called Gatsby.

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He also uses this symbolism of the color white to indicate high-class people. Fitzgerald reveals how Daisy and Jordan “were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house”(8). When these characters were introduced to Nick Carraway, the narrator, they wore white dresses which symbolize virginal purity to Nick. These women come off as airy and innocent during their initial interaction with Nick, but later on, we find out that this is not the case. Jordan and Daisy’s white dresses also affirm their place as wealthy ladies in a high social class.

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One’s ability to not get caught up in the chaos of the 1920’s is evident in the novel, especially in Daisy. Daisy symbolizes innocence and purity, which is why she is described wearing white clothing and having white powder on her skin. Even though Daisy represents purity, she becomes corrupt throughout the novel. The color black resembles Daisy as a result of Daisy running over and killing Myrtle. Gatsby became worried that Tom would harm Daisy for her murder of Myrtle, so Gatsby travels to Daisy’s house to check on her when he stated, “I waited, and about four o’ clock she came to the window and stood there for a minute and then turned out the light” (Fitzgerald 147).

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