What Does The Color Red Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

Color can show the hidden meaning behind any event and character. Most of the time there will be a deeper meaning revealed by the colors in the event or associated with the characters. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, each color symbolizes different deeper meaning. In this novel there are characters that are of higher money like young and new money Jay Gatsby. The old money characters are Tom Buchanan and his wife Daisy. The opposite kind of people, who lived in the Valley of Ashes are George and Myrtle Wilson. The Valley of Ashes is a poor dirty town. While there are many complicated relationships going on, the colors of the novel represent it all. Color symbolism plays an essential role in the novel.

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In the novel, the color red is affiliated with the desolation of many of the characters. Other occurrences of the color red are shown with devastation, anger, and violence. Analyzed in an article written by Zhang Haibing, he thoroughly describes that, “ Red is usually related to blood and is escusely associated with Tom in the novel.” (Haibing). Here, this quote describes one of the main characters, Tom Buchanan, and his relation to the color red. In the novel, Tom is the character who causes many of the problems. Anything associated with Tom Buchanan most of the time leads to a downfall. When the color red is talked about it is a hint to the reader something horrible will come with it. Towards the beginning of the novel Nick points out the books he owns and how, “.. they stood on [his] shelf in red and gold like new money from the mint.” (Fitzgerald 6). In Nick Carraway’s house, items of his house were described as red and gold which refer to money and devastation. With acquiring large amounts of money, it frequently leads to downfall. The Gas pumps in West Eggs are described, “ Already it was deep summer on roadhouse roofs and in front of wayside garages, where new red gas-pumps sat out in pools of light, and when I reached my estate at West Egg…” (Fitzgerald 24). This displays the demolition associated with West Egg. As characters enter West Egg and see the red gas pumps they also enter and see the horrible outcomes that it comes with. The two colors, red and gold, together at the beginning of the novel indicate that an event is to later come with much