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Literary elements of the great gatsby
Literary elements of the great gatsby
Literary elements of the great gatsby
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Yellow is the color of gold, which symbolizes money, materialism and high social position relates to Gatsby, Daisy and Tom and it reveals something common among them which is money. The gold, which the most valuable metal in the world, are the metal of the old money before the paper money has been created and turn out to be green as the dollar nowadays. So, the golden color is symbol of upper-classed people who have money and wealth all along of their life, who doesn’t taste the bitterness of poorness. Daisy and Tom correspond with those high-classed people in their century. They live a luxuriant life, enjoying their wealth and money. This life makes common bad manners and features between Tom and Daisy as selfishness and superiority. Throughout …show more content…
In addition, Gatsby, who tries to be a member of upper-classed people, wears and buys things with golden color to show himself as a wealth man. Briefly, he creates a golden world and lives in it and all this to have a chance to reunion with Daisy as Gholipour and Sanahmadi quote in their article that Alfred Adler talks about the term "feeling(s) of inferiority" which refers to “a group of representations and affects that reflect an individual's self-devaluation in relation to others …This feeling stimulates Gatsby’s motivation to create a situation to obtain wealth and use it as a power to reach Daisy as she was his first and only love” (52). His toilet set made of “pure dull gold” (Fitzgerald 59), his parties full of yellow and gold as the “yellow cocktail music” (Fitzgerald 27), the meals of food “bewitched to a dark gold” (Fitzgerald 26) and his car is yellow. At the same time yellow, which Gatsby struggles to make, appears a symbol of
Initially, Gatsby stirs up sympathetic feelings because of his obsession with wealth. Ever since meeting Dan Cody, his fascination for wealth has increased dramatically. He even uses illegal unmoral methods to obtain hefty amounts of wealth to spend on buying a house with “ Marie Antoinette music-rooms, Restoration Salons, dressing rooms and poolrooms, and bath rooms with sunken baths.” (88) His wardrobe is just as sensational with “ shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine fennel.” (89) Gatsby buys such posh items to impress Daisy but to him, Daisy herself is a symbol of wealth. Jay remarks, “[Daisy’s] voice is full of money.” (115). For him, Daisy is the one who is “ High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden gir...
In contrast to green, yellow and gold are used to be an example of old money, unlike green that is used to depict the new money of gold. Tom could be seen as a gold person for he has old money. As green and gold contrast, so do Gatsby and Tom. A quotation of new money gold is “… Jordan’s slender golden arm resting on mine…” Gatsby desperately buys “….. a yellow car,” in which he will attempt to be of old money, even though everyone knows that Gatsby is not of old money. Gold and green are as much a contrast of new and old, but they do have a distant connection just as a new and an old car have the same connection. They may look different, but deep down, the two can be seen as the same item. Fitzgerald describes the Valley of Ashes as
The color yellow describes Daisy’s inner self and Gatsby’s strive for wealth and prosperity. Daisy always
Gatsby's bright yellow car could be spotted from a mile away showing is great wealth. Nick states in the beginning of the book that “On weekends his rolls- royce became an omnibus bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug meet all trains” (Fitzgerald 39). Cars in The Great Gatsby are status symbols for various characters, but also function as symbols of American society in general. car crashes symbolize ominous signs of socio-economic and moral collapse. The extravagance of Gatsby's yellow car represents his enormous wealth. However, it suggests not the muted elegance of "old money," but instead the lavish, gaudy excess of "new money." Gatsby's car symbolizes his place in society; he has money, but he will never be accepted in Daisy's world of old family names and inherited wealth. The color yellow also is sought out in other things in the story but gatsby's yellow car is truly significance of
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
Gatsby, however, does not embody this color and constantly strives to be such as Tom in a way. Red expresses the true elite society, and Gatsby wishes he could embody the color like Tom in order to have a likeness of “old money”. This is seen through the imagery in the story when “Gatsby stood in the center of the crimson carpet and gazed around with fascinated eyes while Daisy watched him and laughed” (123). Since Gatsby does not have this ora of red, he stands out against its vivid vibes whenever he encounters or is around the people that do possess these. This society gives off a dreamy “rose” color, giving hope to those less fortunate that they can achieve the american dream, although, this is false. Gatsby refers to himself as a collector of jewels, "chiefly rubies" (71), in order to forget his past and obtain what he believes will give him this red energy. He is noted as the main character that has achieved this American dream, and has compromised much to do so, but is still not accepted as part of the higher society. Nick says that he “saw him opening a chest of rubies, with their crimson-lighted depths, the gnawings of his broken heart,” (72) in order to reveal the truth that with all the hard work and commitment Gatsby has gone through to acquire a position in the aristocracy, he has still failed in his attempt. In the
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.
The characters of “The Great Gatsby” were blinded by the materialistic wealth in the flashiness of the 1920’s. Daisy is amazed at how beautiful Gatsby’s shirts are and how many he has. she is so astounded that she starts to crying. “They’re such beautiful shirts,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such — such beautiful shirts before.”(Fitzgerald 92). Another way the characters were materialistic is Gatsby’s proclamation that Daisy never loved Tom and the only reason she married Tom was because Gatsby was poor. “She never loved you, do you hear?” he cried. “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!” (Fitzgerald 130). This shows that Gatsby knows that Daisy is materialistic but he still wants her and having Daisy in his life will complete his picturesque lifestyle of wealth. It also shows how they only perceive themselves as wealthy or poor but not with depth. While materialism is one of the important themes in “The Great Gatsby” Fitzgerald’s use of colors ,such as green,blue and yellow, g...
Conclude ideas that are related between the great Gatsby & modern society and say how things have changed over time
Yellow stands out as a symbol of corruption and decay. Materialism has corrupted the citizens of East and West Egg because they center everything on money. When Gatsby entertains this wealthy class, the orchestra plays "yellow cocktail music". Even Gatsby believes that he can win Daisy back with his money - thus he is described as wearing a "caramel-colored suit" when he lies about his past to Nick. The most important symbol, however, is Gatsby's car. The car becomes the main topic of conversation among the townspeople after it kills Myrtle and a witness specified this "death car" to be yellow.
Colors, are something to be determine, not just colors, they mean many things depending on the way people analyze them. Colors are important in life, not only in life but also in books. One book that really describes that is The Great Gatsby. In The Great Gatsby, colors represent many different things. One of the major colors are yellow and gold. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald describes these colors and associates them with different things. For example, gold represents real wealth and yellow represents fake gold. Fitzgerald associates colors with different things by really describing them in depth. For example, the green light at Daisy’s is just a green light, but Fitzgerald made it so that it would represent much more than that and that is what made The Great Gatsby such a great novel. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald associates yellow and gold in depth with different things. In life people sometimes make bad decisions and do bad things to gain money. Very similar to the novel, where Jay Gatsby gains money from bad ways, while he could have gained it from good ways.
Daisy, for example, lives a miserable life, even though she appears otherwise. On the outside, she seems to have everything—a happy marriage, wealth, and beauty— which also connects to the American dream. Her relationship with Tom may appear to be perfect, however their marriage is marked by adultery, deception, and dissatisfaction. She married him only because she had to for his wealth and reputation. Daisy finds out that Tom has an affair with another woman in New York, but she does not leave him when Gatsby gives her the chance to.
F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes the color yellow to symbolize moral deterioration and depravity. F. Scott Fitzgerald writes, “The lamp-light, bright on his boots and dull on the autumn-leaf yellow of her hair (18).” F. Scott Fitzgerald is referring to Tom and Daisy Buchannan and he is signifying that Tom is slowly progressing towards moral decay. In the novel, there are several incidents that prove Tom is in fact, progressing towards moral decay. First, Tom is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson. Second, Tom does not like Jay Gatsby, and several times he attempts to prove that Gatsby is not who he claims he is. Tom even goes as far as to hire a detective in his attempts to prove that Gatsby is not who he claims he is.
People say money makes our world go round. This famous saying applies to Fitzgerald's piece of literature in many aspects. It seems that there were many colors that represented this desire and need for the characters. When Gatsby shows up at Nick Carraway's house to reunite with Daisy, he comes in wearing "white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold tie." (Fitzgerald 89). The colors gold and silver both represent money. Gatsby intentially wears colors that show he has gained and earned enough money to impress Daisy. As Daisy and Gatsby get closer, he takes her upstairs to his closet where there he shows her his collection of real English shirts. Daisy is floored but such a sight that "It makes me sad because I've never seen such-beautiful shirts " (Fitzgerald 98). When Daisy cried at the sight of the shirts, it symbolized her superficial- ness, as well as her materialistic life. Gatsby's shirts were real and authentic and Daisy was amazed and speechless at the thought of how much they must be worth. This need of Gatsby's to impress became a "sickness that drives young men to think that riches can obliterate the past and capture the hearts of the girls of their dreams" (Dictionary of Literary Biography 7). Throughout the entire novel Daisy is continuously seeking money and wealth.
Gatsby has some real gold belongings that do symbolize wealth; his gold ties and gold toilet show his wealth (Fitzgerald 85, 93). Gatsby uses his yellow music and his yellow car to distract people into thinking that they are something that they are not. The yellow cocktail music makes laughter easier and easier at Gatsby’s parties (Fitzgerald 44). The way the music makes that happen shows that it is a distraction tactic used by Gatsby and is used to make the party seem more appealing. When the twins in yellow dresses did a baby act, Gatsby brought out more champagne (Fitzgerald 51).