Colors as Symbols in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Colors are everywhere. They make up everything we see. Lots of times they are associated with feelings, emotions, characteristics, etc. In his book, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes many colors as symbols to represent many feelings, passions, and descriptions. Each color has its own symbol, some have obvious ones like grey embodying lifelessness; however, some have more hidden meanings as black exemplifies the destruction of negativity (people usually think of black as more of a negative color in general). A color that represents Gatsby, and the Jazz Age as a whole very well, is the color silver, and it means glamorous and mysterious; distinguished, which is an excellent description of the 20s and Mr. Gatsby, himself. The color Green also represents Gatsby well because green in the novel means something of desire that has a possibility of being unattainable. Gold is a third color that personifies Gatsby, as it represents riches and extravagance in the novel, which is what Gatsby is known for. All these colors and symbols all connect to one of the themes of the book, which is the (idea) of The American Dream.

The color silver is a symbol that represents Gatsby very well because he is glamorous with his edifice, his parties, his clothes, etc; mysterious with how little everyone knows about him; distinguished with how everyone knows who he is. “An hour later the front door opened nervously, and Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in (Chapter 5 p84).” In this scene, Gatsby walks into Nick’s house before Daisy comes over for tea, wearing an extravagant suit. The suit shows how glamorous he his, shows off his all the money he has, and how he is distinguished from anyone else with h...

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...he took his life into his own hands, and through some (implied but not stated in the novel) illegal, yet ingenuitive means he came into lots of money.

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.