A word that comes to mind when I think of The Great Gatsby is vibrant. Fitzgerald paints almost every scene in hues of golds, greens, and whites, which is an odd choice for such a dark novel. Fitzgerald uses this to meld his themes of irony and conflicting ideals seamlessly. Through the depiction of unconventionally symbolized colors like white, yellow, and green, Fitzgerald creates a world as convoluted and misleading as the world he fears he lived in.
Gold is a perfect example of the unique color usage in The Great Gatsby. In the novel, the Buchanan’s house is described as “reflecting gold” (p.35). Similarly, Jordan’s arm and shoulders are both described as gold (p. 47, 79). This is because gold is often representative of wealth in its purest
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So, it makes sense why Gatsby’s car seats are green, as is the grass in front of Nick Caraway’s lawn that Gatsby has mowed in an attempt to impress Daisy (p.91). This is Fitzgerald once again depicting Gatsby’s need to prove his wealth. However, green isn’t just symbolic of money, but also life and prosperity (think trees and plants). Fitzgerald incorporates this idea into one of the novels most famous symbols: the green light. The Buchanan’s deck has a green light which Gatsby can dimly see from his house. Nick Caraway even catches Gatsby reaching towards the light in one of Gatsby’s first scenes (p. 25). In this scene, Fitzgerald is constructing an image of Gatsby reaching towards, pining for, a fulfilled life. However, if we tie the other two green symbols back in we realize that Gatsby can’t be fulfilled with the things he throws money at because eventually the car kills someone and Daisy stays with …show more content…
White is basically universally known to represent purity or innocence. This is true when Pammy, Daisy’s daughter, is first introduced wearing a white dress, since Pammy is arguably the only innocent character in the novel. Oddly, this is the only time that Fitzgerald uses white to represent innocence. In fact, he completely flips the idea a=of white on its head by using it to symbolize corruption. For instance, there is a scene where Gatsby is pulled over for speeding. Gatsby simply produces a white card and the, evidently corrupt, police officer lets them go with no further hassle (p.70-71). Then later, when Gatsby finally meets Daisy, he dresses in a white suit. Gatsby, himself, as a career criminal, is enough of a reason to be clothed in symbolic corruption, however at the time of donning the suit, he was on his way to pursue a married woman. Speaking of Daisy, she, herself is the largest piece of white symbolism in the novel. In addition to wearing a white dress on multiple occasions throughout the novel, the flower that is her namesake is known for being pure white. Accordingly, she embarks in a relationship with a man who isn’t her husband, is frequently inaccessible to her daughter, and eventually ends up, possible even purposely, killing her husband’s lover. The convoluted use of white is Fitzgerald’s way of expressing his belief that the things that he and society had once valued as
In Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, many colors are used to represent various meanings. One color in particular that signifies a deeper meaning in the novel is the color, white. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the color white is used to symbolize both fake innocence and fake purity as well as to develop the character perception.
In like manner, green is also used to symbolize money. In the story, money controls the life of the people in the story. Gatsby feels that he needs green money to live and to impress Daisy. Symbols of Gatsby’s money included his large green lawn and the green ivy growing up his house. Also, in his car, it depicts the passengers sitting “in a sort of green leather conservatory.” All of these symbols depict Gatsby’s money.
“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us”(Fitzgerald 171). Whenever Gatsby looks at Daisy’s green light, he thinks of a bright future with his love of his life. The color green symbolizes Gatsby’s desire for a future with Daisy. Green also symbolizes Gatsby’s desire for great wealth. Nick describes Gatsby’s car as a “green leather conservatory” because the interior is green (Fitzgerald 64).
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Colors in The Great Gatsby." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 10 May 2014. .
Upon first impression, one might believe Jay Gatsby is nothing more than a self-satisfied, well-to-do bachelor living in luxury in West Egg. However, as his story unfolds, the reader finds out that he is an industrious man and a hopeless dreamer. The quintessential colors of yellow, green, and blue are used by F. Scott Fitzgerald to describe Gatsby’s characteristics in his magnum opus, The Great Gatsby. Yellow, an incandescent color, stands for his vivacious outward disposition, the shallow people around him, and his seemingly self-indulgent spending habits, for which he has an ulterior motive. Green represents the extreme lifestyle changes Gatsby has made in adulthood and his staunch hopefulness in finding love. Blue is a symbol of the
Scott Fitzgerald used colors in the The Great Gatsby to portray more than just imagery. Fitzgerald used colors to convey emotions, the setting, and underlying tones for motives. The character Daisy can be interpreted as a metaphor. One can connect the colors used to describe Daisy in the book to interpret her motives and emotions through the dichotomy of a daisy flower. One way to interpret Daisy is the green of the stem describes the structure of her character, the white of the flower describes what others see of her, and the yellow inner of the flower describes what is really on the inside of her
People all around the world, in literature and even in everyday life see white as these meanings. In The Great Gatsby, it represents innocence, a new beginning, and purity. When Nick Carraway first enters Daisy and Tom’s house, he’s seeing them for the first time. All of their affairs are yet to come and Nick still sees them as regular, innocent people. Everything is described as white. He noticed that, “The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside” (Fitzgerald 8). To Nick, everyone is innocent. The white composition of everything symbolizes their façade of innocence. He is unaware of all of their scandals. Everything is new and pure. Even Gatsby was portrayed in white. “In literature, the color white typically symbolizes innocence and purity” (Brozak). He’s starting over so everything is still white, fresh, and pure. White shows more than just innocence and a new start, “White is also vital to the novel as it has been used for portraying beauty, cleanliness, wealth, innocence, and virginity” (Olson). Because Fitzgerald uses white to describe Daisy and Jordan, it can be inferred that they possess these qualities. They are new people in Nick’s life who hide their private life from the public very well. Fitzgerald wrote that, “sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once… that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses” (Fitzgerald 12). Again, by referring to their
In the book The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a vast amount of colors to represent characters in the book. For instance, Gatsby is one of, if not, the main character in the book. Every single color in the book has to do with Gatsby. The three main colors in this book or most used colors are red, yellow, and black. These three colors seem to have the most meaning. When it comes to Gatsby, these colors represent him in many ways.
Fitzgerald also refers to the steps to Gatsby’s house as being white. Even the windows at Daisy’s house are white. “The windows were ajar and gleaming white.” (Pg.13) this tells us that Daisy and Gatsby look innocent from the outside but not from the inside, instead they are corrupted people. This thought is also expressed when Gatsby takes Nick for a ride in his car. When he is stopped by a policeman, Gatsby shows the officer a white card, which symbolizes corruption. When the commissioner sees this, he lets Gatsby go. Nick thought it was a Christmas card sent to him by the officer, but later on we learn that Gatsby had bribed the police officer.
Color Symbolism in The Great Gatsby & nbsp; Colors can symbolize many different things. Artists use colors in their paintings when they want you to see what they are trying to express. Like if an artist is trying to express sorrow or death. he often uses blacks, blues, and. grays. Basically he uses dreary colors. You automatically feel what the artist is trying to express. When the artist uses bright colors you feel warm and you feel happiness. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald is like an artist. He uses colors to symbolize the many different intangible ideas in the book. He uses the color yellow to symbolize moral decay, decadence, and death. Then he uses the color white to symbolize innocence. He also uses the color green to express hope. Fitzgerald's use of the color green the strongest.
The Great Gatsby is full of symbolism. Colours, for example, are used to represent many different things; some even represent a theme of the novel. White, yellow, grey, green are just some of the colours which Fitzgerald uses in a special way, because each of these colours has a special meaning, different from the ones we regularly know or use.
One possible meaning of the color green is envy. Gatsby can be seen as an envious, jealous character. He once had the love of his life, Daisy, but now she is married to another man. He spends all of his time and effort into getting back with Daisy. He is also envious of many of the wealthy around his home. He throws these huge parties and extravagant get-togethers so he can relate with the wealthy. This leads one to believe that Gatsby is indeed "green with envy."
F. Scott Fitzgerald uses many colors as symbols in his book, The Great Gatsby. Among them: silver, gold, and green are all colors that represent Gatsby. Not only that, but they also connect Gatsby to a major theme of the novel, The American Dream. Silver symbolizes and relates to Gatsby through his glamour, his mysteriousness, and his distinguished nature. Gold signifies Gatsby through his enormous amount of wealth, and how extravagantly he shows it off. Green has to do with Gatsby by illustrating his desires. The Great Gatsby is a great book that has endured for almost a century, and is a classic about the Jazz Age. It is filled with symbols and themes, describing what were the great times and hardships of the 1920s.
For most people, a certain colour may represent something meaningful to them. While in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many of the colours used in the novel are meant to represent something. The novel’s setting is in East and West Egg, two places in New York. Our narrator, Nick Carraway, lives in the West Egg. Along with living in West Egg is a friend of Nick’s, Jay Gatsby; a character that is in love with Daisy Buchanan. Unfortunately, Daisy is married to Tom. As the plot unravels, the reader notices the connection between certain colours and their importance to the novel. The use of colours within The Great Gatsby symbolizes actual themes, as grey symbolizes corruption, blue symbolizes reality, and green symbolizes jealousy and envy.
Fitzgerald used green most frequently to symbolize Gatsby's love for Daisy Buchanan. Daisy rejected Gatsby because "rich girls don't marry poor boys", so her philosophy compelled him to become wealthy. Gatsby described Daisy's voice as "full of money" and he acquired millions of green dollars in the hope that Daisy would love him again. Also, Gatsby moved into his mansion so that he could live near the Buchanans, and at night the millionaire watches "a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been at the end of a dock.