ipl-logo

The Color Green In The Great Gatsby Essay

558 Words3 Pages

In his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald includes many themes that go beyond the surface of the text itself. The themes allude to organized crime, color symbolism, relationships, weather symbolism, and a mysterious billboard of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. Each of these themes plays an essential role in understanding the personality of Jay Gatsby, his life choices throughout the novel, and his relationships with other characters in the novel. The element of color, specifically green, white, grey, and silver stands out as an extremely important factor in shaping and explaining parts of the novel. From the very beginning of the novel, Fitzgerald incorporates color into his novel which is narrated by Nick Carraway. The color green is important to Gatsby right from the beginning. Green is often used to symbolize hope, and for Gatsby, it means exactly that. In chapter one, Fitzgerald mentions,”a single green light, minute and far away” which Gatsby associates with his dreams and goals. The green light he sees is the light at the end of Daisy’s dock. Gatsby is infatuated with Daisy and hopes that they may one day be together forever. To conclude the novel, Nick Carraway makes several mentions of the green light again including the “green breast of the New World” and also when Gatsby first picked and believed in the green light of …show more content…

The use of green, white, grey, and silver create many different situations influenced by many different motives. For Gatsby himself, color symbolizes excitement when it is shown through a green light coming from Daisy’s dock at the beginning of the novel and despair when it symbolizes the dream Gatsby was never able to achieve. The Great Gatsby is a piece of literature that must be looked at through an open mind to understand the multiple uses of symbolism throughout its

Show More
Related

Imagery Of Color In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

618 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

Green In The Great Gatsby

282 Words | 2 Pages

Green is archetypally associated with wealth, envy, and life. One example of green being used in the novel is that it is the color used for furnishing Gatsby’s car. Although the outside of his car is yellow to certify that everyone is aware of his wealth, the area that he inhabits while driving is green to remind him of the wealth he had built himself. When Nick is in the car, he describes it as a, “green leather conservatory” (47). The use of the word conservatory reveals to the reader that Nick feels like it is something of a spectacle seeing how a conservatory holds things that should be looked at.

Read More

Green Color In The Great Gatsby

283 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

What Does The Color White Represent In The Great Gatsby

538 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald one may see the theme of disillusionment. Many people, when simply perusing the book, do not fully grasp all of its hidden meanings. The colors seen in The Great Gatsby add a new layer of depth to the theme of disillusionment. Some of these colors are white, green, and gold or silver.

Read More

What Does The Yellow Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

1311 Words | 6 Pages

In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, symbolism is very important all throughout it. Not only does he use objects to show symbolism, but he also uses color symbolism to prove the importance of the theme and development of the characteristics in the Great Gatsby. Color symbolism brings out the visual of the story, so readers can picture it in their mind as they are reading. Fitzgerald took the colors to an advanced level by using key colors to help further deepen the meaning of the book and its characters. Although there are many colors in the novel, Fitzgerald uses the colors green, white, and yellow to symbolize Gatsby’s emotions and riches.

Read More

Green Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

618 Words | 3 Pages

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the colour green as a symbol to show how modern America has strayed from the moral code of the country and in doing so, has become obsessed with wealth. He does this by comparing Gatsby to Dutch colonists. This is because for both Gatsby and the Dutch colonists in the 1610’s, green was a representation for what they want most in their lives. In the fifth chapter, Fitzgerald developes this symbolism when he writes, “‘You always have a green light that burns at the end of your dock.’ Daisy put her arm through his abruptly…

Read More

What Does The Color Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

1107 Words | 5 Pages

In everyday life and works of literature, color symbolizes a wide variety of emotions to political status. When someone is feeling upset one often says “I’m feeling blue” or when someone is mad their face turns red giving that color the association with anger. Political status even uses color to represent each party, one is usually either a blue democrat or red republican. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby” color plays a significant role throughout the story symbolizing emotions and social rankings. Colors such as green representing hope and money, grey portraying hopelessness and low class along with discontent, and yellow exemplifies destruction and desire.

Read More

The Color Gray In The Great Gatsby

497 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

White Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

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

Read More

The Great Gatsby Color Analysis

1850 Words | 8 Pages

The color green has its own significance in the novel, as it is mainly attached to Gatsby. The color green is usually attached with nature as in rebirth of spring, growth, wealth, hope and envy. Green embodies Gatsby’s dream and the perpetual pursuit of it. The green color is visited by the reader for the very first time through the element of the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock.

Read More

What Does The Green Light Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

725 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

Theme Of Grey In The Great Gatsby

1268 Words | 6 Pages

In everyday life and works of literature, color can symbolizes a wide variety of emotions from moods to political views. When someone is feeling upset one often says “I’m feeling blue” or when someone is mad their face turns red giving that color the association with anger. Political status even uses color to represent each party, one is usually either a blue Democrat or red Republican. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby color plays a significant role throughout the story symbolizing emotions and social rankings. Colors such as green representing hope and money, grey portraying hopelessness, discontent, and low social class, and yellow exemplifies destruction and desire.

Read More

The Great Gatsby Color White Analysis

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.

Read More

What Does The Water Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

809 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout many brilliant works of literature, a common item is placed amongst them: symbols. Symbols are often a key to further understanding a point the author is trying to convey to their readers. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby, he utilizes the literary tool of symbols to illustrate a larger picture for his themes and characters within the novel. For example, the color green plays a prominent role in The Great Gatsby throughout the duration of the novel. However, the color has can have various interpretations.

Read More

The Color Grey In The Great Gatsby

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.

Read More

More about The Color Green In The Great Gatsby Essay

Open Document