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What Does The Color Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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Many different colors are found throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”. These colors each have a symbolic meaning of their own: yellow is corruption, green is hope, blue is illusion, gray is lack of life/spirit, and white is false purity. These colors affect the overall mood of the book, and the ironic demise of Jay Gatsby himself. The colors presented in this article, however, are only the blue, the green, and the white. The color blue plays a major part in the affairs and life of Gatsby. Daisy, his love interest, started Gatsby’s illusion of them being in love when he left for the war. He was convinced she would be waiting for him, and that they would finally be together when he returned. Gatsby, having completely …show more content…

“ . . . i could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away . . . .“ Gatsby even talks to Daisy about this tantalizing, green light, “‘If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay,’ said Gatsby, ‘You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock’.” The Great Gatsby shows many examples of the extravagant and wonderful life of Gatsby, but also shows a lot of signs of false purity, represented by the color white. His demeanor and way of life constantly mesmerizes Nick, who quickly catches on to Gatsby’s cunning actions, “The tone is unmistakable-a wild combination of moral censure, self-protectiveness, and final saving sympathy that marks Nick as an outsider who is nonetheless drawn to the life he is afraid to enter.” The city of New York itself is shown as an example of false purity. The lively city that never sleeps clearly has it’s secrets and it’s downfalls. Nick, towards the end of the conflict between Gatsby and Tom, becomes sick about just the thought of going into the city, and never feels the same there after the death of

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