What Does The Color White Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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Red, yellow, blue, green, white; for as long as mankind has existed, the complexity of color has been discussed, debated, and heavily used to portray important distinctions. From color’s importance in history, to it’s symbolism in artwork and literature, one always stops to examine a deeper meaning. In one such novel, The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald plays around with the use of concrete colors to deliver crucial meaning about the lives of his characters. Set in New York during the roaring 1920s, Nick Carraway, the protagonist, finds himself admiring, and occasionally disapproving of, his wealthy neighbor Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby lives through a series of untold truths and the desire to feel love once again from Daisy Buchanan, a …show more content…

Fitzgerald uses white to identify these divisions, white being closely associated with the Buchanans, and other colors such as pink and green are associated with Gatsby. Through the color white, moral differences can be noticed, “‘Her [Daisy’s] voice is full of money,’ he [Gatsby] said suddenly... that was the inexhaustible charm... High in a white palace of the king’s daughter.” (Fitzgerald 120) Having a voice of money can be described as shallow, only seeming to care about something materialistic. Daisy married to Tom because of money and she is constantly described with owning white items, such as her clothing and cars. Daisy’s love of white is first associated with material items, and secondly associated with things that have a negative connotation, lack of intelligence and real values. Gatsby, on the other hand, is known for having dreams of Daisy’s love, and only wants money so he can be on same level as Daisy is. Daisy’s whiteness correlates to her money and empty mind, but Gatsby differs from her in a way the shows he only wants riches to feel love. Although they remain in the same class, the color white, or lack of white in Gatsby’s case, can represent the differences in their morals and

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