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Color Symbolism In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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With the beginning of the 20th century, great changes arrived in all spheres of human activity due to the growing needs of the society. Like everything else, literature had to offer new literary frames that will meet the requirements of the readership. One of the pioneers that had the courage to try something different, unique and unusual was the American novelist Francis Scott Fitzgerald who became a cultural icon because of his success to embody the era he lived in inside of his works. Through the analysis of some key symbols in ‘The Great Gatsby’ we will see how for example colors do not always have positive connotations or how some elements, minor and irrelevant to the one group of characters, have great importance to the other. The symbolism …show more content…

The second color mentioned is yellow, as Yaffe describes it, the color of depravity (1). This symbolic color is seen only in the Valley of Ashes, more specifically, the glasses on the billboard of T.J. Eckleburg and George Wilson’s yellow brick home. Statement that yellow is the color of death is supported by Myrtle Wilson’s death. “Myrtle Wilson was killed by Gatsby's yellow Rolls Royce in front of her yellow brick house under the yellow glasses of T.J. Eckleburg.” (Yaffe 2) After these colors symbolizing negativity comes the “vibrant and mysterious color of green, seen mostly in the beginning and end of the novel” (Yaffe 2). This color is connected only with the character of Jay Gatsby who, as Nick described, “stretched out his arms towards 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 distinguishing nothing except a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald 20). The green light, the contemporary signal which peremptorily summons the traveler on his way, serves well as the symbol for man in hurried pursuit of a beckoning

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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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Everyone pretends to be something they’re not, but the true colors reveal who they are or what they want. As humans, we do this in order to keep life as simple as possible, but it is an undeniable fact that there is more to us than what meets the eye. “In the beginning, some people try to appear that everything about them is "in black and white," until later their true colors come out.” This is a wise quote by a man of the name Anthony Liccione. He is an American writer who produces books, but people know him for his sophisticated yet simple quotes.

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Color is an essential part of everyday life and the world around us. Colors convey meaning when words cannot. In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald uses color as a literary device to progress the story, create setting, mood, and develop and develop characters. Fitzgerald’s use of color shows the differences in class by describing the character, their surroundings, and their possessions with color.

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In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author uses many differnt retorical devices to add a personal flare to his work. He uses diction, symbolism, and irony to adress many different themes. These themes include Materialism, The American Dream, and includes a sharp and biting ridicule on American society in the 1920’s. The main point of Fitzgerald, arguement is one where he sharply criticizes the Society of the time.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the greatest American authors during the Jazz Age. In 1925, he wrote a novel depicting the betrayal of values that occurred during the 1920s, titled T​he Great Gatsby. F​itzgerald uses a variety of symbolism, “...the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense,” (“Symbolism”). He employs it throughout the story in order to portray the demoralization that occurred in America during the roaring twenties . The various symbols used by the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, guides the reader into understanding the betrayal that occurs between first loves and other characters who were once good friends.

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is drenched in symbolism. It’s there in colors and objects, sometimes bluntly stated, and other times more hidden. One example of color symbolism is on the final page of the book. In the last several paragraphs, Fitzgerald makes the point that everyone falls into the blue despair of the past, and everyone hangs on to the eventually futile green hope of tomorrow.

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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.

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The colors green, gold, and yellow are frequently mentioned throughout. Green is arguably the most prominent color used as a symbol in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby is often seen standing in his lawn, staring at the green light emanating from the end of Daisy's dock. Nick notes that at one point, Gatsby ''stretched out his arms toward the dark water'' to reach the light that he cannot obtain (Fitzgerald 21). In this context, the green symbolizes Gatsby's desire to attain Daisy’s love once more.

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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 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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In his book, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald includes the symbolism of the green light to showcase the character of Gatsby’s dreams and ambitions and his personal love of Daisy in order to convey that power and money cannot necessarily achieve everything a person wants in life. The first time that Fitzgerald mentions the green light in the book is in chapter one, when Gatsby “stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way, and, as far as [Nick] was from him, [he] could have sworn he was trembling,” (Fitzgerald 20 and 21). Nick looks towards what Gatsby is reaching for to see a green light, which he presumes to be on the edge of a dock. He later finds out that this dock belongs to the Buchanans, and that Gatsby has secretly

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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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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.

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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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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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