Fitzgerald’s Use of Color Symbolism Throughout The Great Gatsby
Color symbolism has existed in human civilization since the dawn of time through religion, the arts, and science. F. Scott Fitzgerald is no exception to this as his novel The Great Gatsby makes laudable use of color symbolism to add to his characters and their corrupt ways. The Great Gatsby takes place in New York City where great malice is held by the population of those who have generational wealth, and occupy East Egg against the nouveau riche who reside in West Egg. The narrator, Nick Carraway, learns about a man named Jay Gatsby who is in love with Nick’s cousin, Daisy Buchanan. Daisy’s husband Tom, a rich affluent man, has an affair with a woman named Myrtle Wilson, a woman
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Nick is describing the valley of ashes: “But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg” (20). Through Nick’s description of the land, the reader can feel a dreary mood because throughout the novel gray often portrays a lifeless color. Along with this the bleak dust incessantly drifting can contribute to the reader's mood of devoidness. Doctor T.J. Eckleburg looks at the valley of ashes ravenously which allows the reader to feel his greed to fill his pockets. At the end of the novel Nick concludes with: “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… . And one fine morning —” (138). Gatsby’s belief in the green light can create a sense of hopelessness for the reader. Gatsby keeps on chasing Daisy with the belief that she is in his grasp, but to no avail. His green light helps symbolize the American dream he has which will never be fulfilled. Fitzgerald appeals to the reader’s mood with his use of color