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Symbolism and colors great gatsby
The color green in the great gatsby
The color green in the great gatsby
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Symbolism and colors great gatsby
The color green in the great gatsby
The color green in the great gatsby
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The green light is the most important symbol of the book because it has a meaning for many things. It also was interpreting the American Dream and money. Gatsby lived a poor life when he was younger and being in his situation now made him want to impress business and famous people, even Daisy. The first technique is used in chapter 10: Is That A Symbol? called allegories.
The colors white, yellow, blue, and green shape the novel’s characters and plot, resulting in a vivid story of love and blind pursuance. As mentioned earlier, the color green is one of the most recognized colors symbolically. The color green symbolizes future, or the American dream, and is most associated with Gatsby himself. This is what Gatsby is pursuing throughout the novel until he tragically perishes, his dream never becoming a reality.
First off, Fitzgerald uses the color green to symbolize Gatsby’s money and love
Grayson Stallings Mrs. Tollett 11th-grade American Literature 4/27/23 Symbolism in The Great Gatsby In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story, The Great Gatsby, the symbols that are used convey deeper meanings and themes. Using symbols such as the green light, the clock, and the mansion, Fitzgerald describes the destructive power of obsessive love and the decay of the American Dream. One of the first symbols that a reader is introduced to in The Great Gatsby is the green light. The color green symbolizes growth, nature, and new beginnings.
Colors help express the character’s feelings more or even helps foreshadow events that may happen in the novel. Throughout the novel Fitzgerald uses the color green to symbolize wealth/money or hope. In the beginning of the novel green was used as a sign of hope, “Involuntarily I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far way, that might have been the end of a dock.” The green light symbolizes the hope that Gatsby has to find Daisy
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby," the green light serves as an important symbol that represents many of the novel's themes. The green light, located at the end of Daisy's dock, is a physical object that has a symbolic meaning that evolves throughout the novel. The light can be seen as a representation of the elusive American Dream, as well as a symbol of hope and possibility. The green light at the start of the book stands in for the American Dream, which Gatsby chases ceaselessly.
The green light is used to represent multiple things. The first thing it represents is Gatsby’s desire, his dream which is Daisy. To win Daisy would help Gatsby accomplish his American dream. The first time the green light is seen in the novel is when Nick sees Gatsby for the first time, Fitzgerald describes it as, "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.
Part of his American Dream is to have Daisy as his own, and the glimpse of what is a light at the end of the tunnel gives Gatsby “a hint to strive ahead in life, to do better and succeed” (Abuzahra and Badareen 49). On a much shallower level, green represents the immense amount of wealth surrounding the lives of the East and West Egg societies. Money is a driving force in the story, as it essentially dictates the lives of the characters. It is a source of stability, power, and status. Furthermore, Gatsby believes he can use this wealth to help fund his hopes and dreams of loving Daisy once more (Samkanashvili 31).
Resolution of the story The Great Gatsby starts at chapter 9, after the tragic incident has ended. The chapter opens where Nick has moved back to the west and is reflecting back to the day of the incident. It also unfolds Gatsby’s past through acquaintance with Gatsby’s father, Gatz. After Gatsby’s death, no one else wanted to arrange Gatsby’s funeral and as Nick was the only “real” friend, he decided to take care of the funeral. Many can be seen from chapter 9 that relates to the text such as the green light.
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).
Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald continuously references a green light that Gatsby keeps on reaching for. The green light was significant by representing the theme of greed, being a symbol of Gatsby’s desire for Daisy, and serves as a motif for the American Dream. The color green in itself already illustrates the idea of greed and money. Gatsby already has everything anyone could dream for counting a house in West Egg, fame, and fortune, but still he is chasing after this light or in other words, chasing after the love of his life, Daisy. The light is a literary metaphor for Daisy since during the novel, once Gatsby reunites with Daisy the light begins to fade and reframes from reaching out for it.
“The Great Gatsby” and “A Streetcar Named Desire” both focus on the common theme of pursuing goals and living the American Dream. As well as leaving behind the past and “turn a new leaf”. The main characters in each story, Blanche and Gatsby, both have dreams of wealth and great living.
This indicates that Gatsby was a man who believed in the “orgastic future” and a world that was superior to the one he found himself in. Furthermore, Gatsby 's attempt to pursue the American Dream is seen through his struggle to reach for the “green light” which symbolizes Gatsby 's dream of being with Daisy, This is demonstrated when: 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 away, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness (5).
John A. Pidgeon says that, “The theme of Gatsby is the withering of the American Dream”(Pidgeon 179). The prime example of this is Gatsby, who “believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther” (Fitzgerald 180). The green light symbolizes Gatsby’s dream to be upper class with Daisy, but he can never reach it. Furthermore, it is frustrating for him that when he does attain wealth, Daisy is still out of his reach.
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.”