Use Of Color In The Great Gatsby

If you could describe your life using only colors, which colors would you choose? F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby uses colors to accentuate and describe details in his book. Additionally, he contrasts these colors to further highlight the brightness of life and hope and the painful reality of despair and loss. Although The Great Gatsby contains the endless hopeful possibilities of life with the colors yellow and green, the book ultimately sends the message of being cautious of your dreams and ends with a feeling of hopelessness as the dreams we once had fade away into black. At the beginning of the book, the Buchanan’s house is described as red and white. On one hand, red represents strength, determination, and love.

No matter how hard Gatsby tried to be worthy of Daisy, there were always lies and “foul dust float[ing] in the wake of his dreams” that kept them apart. Ultimately, this same dust killed him in the form of George Wilson who was living in the ash. At the conclusion of the book, Nick reflects on Gatsby’s continued hopeful attitude up to the very end of his life. However, as Nick writes, the different punctuation suggests he is slowly realizing what his experiences with Gatsby really mean. The incomplete thought of “And one fine morning--” is when Nick finally understands that no matter how fast we run or how far we stretch out our arms, everyone’s green light will continue to diminish (Fitzgerald 189). Everyone’s focus will still be in trying to recover that light and repeat the past, but there’s ultimately no point. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s use of multiple contrasting colors helps readers more deeply understand the patterns of life. Although there are many bright green, white and yellow chances to look forward to throughout our life, we often are repeatedly thrown into the dark gray and black and must somehow climb out of the rubble and press on through the inevitable