What Does The Color Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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According to anonymous, ¨Colors speak louder than words.¨ Colors can allude to things without using any other words. Every color express emotions and states of mind. Having one color in a piece of work can have a multitude of meanings. They are truly the ultimate form of symbolism. Each color portrays different meanings and emotions. F. Scott Fitzgerald carefully choose colors to represent an emotion or idea, indicate social class, and expressed the multiple meanings behind colors. Colors have meanings in both the book and in different cultures. Each color symbolizes a feeling or an idea. For example when most think of the color blue ideas of sadness and cold weather come to mind. In the Great Gatsby blue also alludes to colder weather. For example when Fitzgerald wrote in the book, ¨So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air. . .¨ (Fitzgerald 176) the blue symbolizes the cold weather coming. The blue in the book also represents the inner sadness of multiple characters. George Wilson had light blue eyes, Myrtle wore a dark blue dress, and the eyes of T. J. Eckleburg were blue. Each of these people experienced sadness. …show more content…

Gray was associated with the lower class and especially the Valley of Ashes. Everything in the Valley of Ashes is gray. According to the text, ¨Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track. . . and immediately the ash-gray men swarm. . .¨ (Fitzgerald 23). Oftentimes, when thinking of the color gray one thinks of something dirty or old. This is the perfect description of how Fitzgerald wants to portray the lower class in the Great Gatsby. The Valley of the ashes is the wasteland of America and constantly dirty and old and forgotten. It is the epitome of the how the lower class is perceived in this world. All of these colors have these meanings and different things they symbolize but they do not just mean or symbolize one

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