Symbolism in the Great Gatsby
Symbolism is “the practice or use of objects, figures, or colors to supply things with a representative meaning or to represent something abstract by an existing object” (Merriam-Webster). In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald symbolism is portrayed through the colors green and white. The color green in the novel symbolizes the different choices Jay Gatsby has made in his lifetime, while the color white symbolizes purity and innocence.
The color green is used as a symbol a lot in the novel, Gatsby perfect green lawn, Michaelis describes Gatsby’s car as “light green,” the green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s dock, and “the powerful lure of that other green stuff [Gatsby] craves—money” (Litcharts). The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock I
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White symbolizes purity and innocence but later in the novel it turns into false purity and innocence. Fitzgerald used “white” often when Nick arrived at Tom and Daisy's house for the first time, “The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house”(Fitzgerald 8), this sentence also connects the color green with daisy by saying the grass seemed to grow a way into the house. In chapter 1, Fitzgerald describes Daisy in an innocent way, “Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget … hour” (Fitzgerald 9). The thought of white being pure eventually turned into false purity, the characters were not actually pure and innocent. For example, when Gatsby wanted to meet Daisy for the first time in five years, “he wore a white suit as if to show that he was good and pure, when in reality he was not” (Wallace). The color white is often used in the novel even though it might not have a good