ipl-logo

What Does The Color Gold Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

648 Words3 Pages

Color Symbolism in The Great Gatsby
The ‘roaring twenties’ were a period of great social change. This time period was an easy time for the upper class, characterized by mass spending, boisterous parties, and carefree actions. The affluent lived seemingly perfect lives, however, much of this was just a façade. In reality, the lives of the rich were ‘gilded’, alluring on the outside, but tarnished on the inside. The outer appearance of the sought after lives that the rich lived are exemplified by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby. A variety of tools are used by Fitzgerald in his novel to portray the wild emotions and feelings of the upper class throughout the book, with one of the main literary elements used being color. Fitzgerald’s usage of the color gold portrays traditional wealth and success, which contrasts with the usage of the color yellow, a fake gold, to symbolize desperation and corruption. …show more content…

Tom and Daisy, whom reside in East Egg, are a clear example of the old wealth class because when Nick first catches sight of their house, he describes it as, “Glowing with reflected gold” (Fitzgerald 9). The old money status of the Buchanans is practically visible simply by looking upon their home. When Gatsby visits Daisy in her home for the first time, he takes care to impress her. Nick describes the scene as, “The front door opened nervously, and Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in” (90). Gatsby’s attire and choice of tie has symbolic meaning behind this tiny detail, meaning to show off his wealth and status. This is a main reason for his lust and desire for Daisy, the “golden girl" (128). She serves an idealistic purpose, for Gatsby attaining her means he is one step more more included in high

Show More
Related
1493 Words | 6 Pages

Great Gatsby Final essay “To young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamor in the world”(100). During and shortly after the great depression, people's focus now fell on wealth and success in the economic world. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbols, colors, and specific imagery to convey the theme of wealth, showing the correlation between class and wealth and how it differs from what most believe to be true. Fitzgerald uses symbols such as west egg vs. east egg, the green light, different sports, and their cars to show the theme of wealth in The Great Gatsby.

Read More
485 Words | 2 Pages

The colors show values of the characters. The color gold is used to define the wealth of the character. The color gold in the novel means richness, successful, valuable, & more. “At Gatsby's parties even the turkeys turn to gold. Turkeys bewitched to a dark gold" (Fitzgerald p. 41).

Read More
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
695 Words | 3 Pages

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald displays some of the characters in the book being prosperous through the color gold. The color gold symbolizes prosperous, because in The Great Gatsby the color gold serves as wealth and as success. Fitzgerald depicts the color gold as wealth through what the characters in The Great Gatsby have bought, mainly the rich characters in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald writes of Nick describing Gatsby’s food at Gatsby’s party in

Read More
666 Words | 3 Pages

Jacqueline Le McLoskey IB English HL 1 14 November 2017 Symbolism in the Great Gatsby: In-class Essay What is a symbol? A symbol is an object or figure that represents a broader concept, like how the color red symbolizes anger or love. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald writes about Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire, from the limited perspective of Nick Carraway.

Read More
813 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, deploys color symbolism in order to further develop characters and the plot. Fitzgerald’s use of color symbolism within The Great Gatsby not only defines the characters but adds depth to them. The most recognized color within the novel is “the single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (26). In addition to the green light, there are many other colors within the novel that embody characters, objects, and ideas. The most significant and memorable colors, other than green, are white and yellow, both of which are intertwined in Fitzgerald’s fictional world of materialism and scandal.

Read More
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
903 Words | 4 Pages

For Gatsby, we see the color white again. But, we see silver and gold as well. To reiterate, white means innocence and pureness. Silver and gold represent wealth. We see Gatsby wearing these colors when he meets Daisy.

Read More
747 Words | 3 Pages

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby describes the life of Jay Gatsby in the 1920’s. The novel shares his love story and his loneliness. A major question the author raises is how does wealth impact class structure and society? Fitzgerald answers this question through the distinction between “New rich” and “Old rich” and the significance of East and West Egg.

Read More
1850 Words | 8 Pages

Item 2: Color Chart: In the book “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, colors have been used to represent the character’s unapparent and underlying thoughts, feelings, status and class. Through the motif of colors, Fitzgerald depicts the feelings of the character as he refers to a specific color while describing each one of them. The colors make a deep impact on the readers as they contain a profound meaning throughout the novel. There are around five main colors in the novel appearing frequently: white, yellow, green, blue and grey, which help the novel look more gaudy and idealistic.

Read More
751 Words | 4 Pages

The author characterizes the wealthy by juxtaposing Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, the two affluent characters in the novel. Fitzgerald juxtaposes them by first revealing both as wealthy, introducing them closely, and highlighting their different natures through how they earned their wealth and through the plot to show how the wealthy class with old money is soulless. Although both Tom and Gatsby are prosperous, only Tom is depicted as heartless since he has old money and was in the wealthy class his entire life. Gatsby, however, has new money and since he earned it, he is not described as soulless because he wasn’t always in the wealthy class to where he is adapted their heartless nature. These differences correlate with their personality and with how Fitzgerald condemns the wealthy with old money as callous.

Read More
1502 Words | 7 Pages

Mark Sun Deborah Cox ENG4U1 8, January 2023 An Exploration of the Usage of the Word “Obey” in Hamlet In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Hamlet are subservient to Claudius and Polonius. Polonius and Ophelia’s conversation, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ’s service for Claudius, Hamlet’s pursuit of revenge, and these characters’ usage of the word “obey'', demonstrates the characters’ understanding of their expected obedience towards Claudius and Polonius. The characters’ behavior that then arises from their understanding of obedience is illustrative of how authority figures such as Claudius and Polonius enforce compliance when the people disagree with their decisions.

Read More
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
780 Words | 4 Pages

In an attempt to win Daisy back from her lifestyle of “Old Money”, Gatsby becomes excessively greedy with his money. While he himself may not care about wealth, he knows Daisy does. Therefore, when Daisy comes to his mansion, he flaunts his expensive shirts. “‘They’re such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. ‘It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.’”

Read More
704 Words | 3 Pages

A comparative analysis of selected examples of public persuasion in the U.K. & U.S. Everyone sees what advertising is because it plays a huge role in each of our lives every day. Mass media advertisement has an influential effect on everyone, both inactively as well as actively. It is one of the largest industries in the world. Different companies will continuously try various ways to display their services and products.

Read More

More about What Does The Color Gold Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

Related Topics

Open Document