Grey In The Great Gatsby Essay

Symbolism is significant in many novels to allow readers to go beyond what the words are saying and find a new meaning to the story being told. In his book The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses symbolism to add depth and allow the readers to view and analyze the story from different angles. Fitzgerald uses the colour white to symbolize the wealth and higher class of various characters in the novel. He also uses the colour grey to symbolize moral decay and dullness, specifically in the Valley of Ashes. Lastly, Fitzgerald uses green throughout the entire novel to symbolize the hopes and dreams of Gatsby. All of these symbols show significance in The Great Gatsby, the use of colors is a great example of how symbols allow readers to view a novel from

a different perspective.
The colour white is shown throughout The Great Gatsby and symbolizes the higher class. Those who wore white were seemingly of a high class full of wealth and status. Fitzgerald uses white to describe the luxury of Daisy and Jordan as Nick first sees them when he states, “Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans” (Fitzgerald, 115). Fitzgerald uses the colour white to symbolize wealth and power over authority when Gatsby is able to show a white card signifying his wealth to a police officer attempting to pull him over. In doing this, the officer simply nods his head and lets Gatsby carry on. Fitzgerald writes, “We slowed down. Taking a white card from his wallet, he waved it before the man’s eyes. ‘Right you are,’ agreed the policeman, tipping his cap” (Fitzgerald, 68). When Myrtle is talking about the first time she had met Tom, she describes him in a white shirt, this is symbolizing the division between the lower and upper class. Myrtle knew he was of a higher class than she simply by what he was wearing. Fitzgerald shows this by writing, “When he came into the station he was next to me, and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm, and so I told him I’d have to call a policeman, but he knew I lied” (Fitzgerald, 36). Alike the colour white, the colour grey is a symbol in the novel.
The colour grey is known to have a negative connotation.

Fitzgerald uses grey to symbolize dullness, moral decay and lifelessness. Grey is used mostly to describe the Valley of Ashes, a location in between the East and West egg in The Great Gatsby, and those who live there. The Valley of Ashes is where the poor reside, those who do not come from money. Fitzgerald demonstrates how the poor are covered in grey and dust however; even being around the rich can make them shine again. Fitzgerald writes, “A white ashen dust veiled his dark suit and his pale hair as it veiled everything in the vicinity – except his wife, who moved close to Tom” (Fitzgerald, 26). In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the colour grey to describe the valley of ashes, a place no one wants to be, a place that symbolizes lifelessness and moral decay. Fitzgerald explains, “This is a valley of ashes – a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men, who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (Fitzgerald, 23). Fitzgerald also uses the colour grey to symbolize dullness. In a conversation between Gatsby and Nick, Fitzgerald writes, “We talked for a moment about some wet, grey villages in France” (Fitzgerald, 47). Alike grey, Fitzgerald uses green as a symbol in The Great

Gatsby.
Green is one of the most mentioned and important colours in the novel.

Fitzgerald uses the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock to symbolize Gatsby’s hopes and dreams with Daisy that were so close yet so far away, as well as Gatsby being stuck in the past and never really moving forward with his life. Fitzgerald writes, “I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of the dock” (Fitzgerald, 22). Fitzgerald uses the green light as a way of showing his readers that Gatsby was stuck in the past, stuck on Daisy, stuck on the green light. He was not moving forward, only staying still. This green light represents his dream with Daisy but also his inability to move forward. Fitzgerald writes, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further… and one fine morning – So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald, 184). The colour green is of great significance in the novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald used these colours as important symbols throughout the

novel.
An author will use symbolism to allow a reader to go above and beyond the words and think deeply about the meaning of the novel. Fitzgerald adds depth to his novel The Great Gatsby by using symbols, allowing readers to use their imaginations and read the novel at a deeper level and find more meaning. The colour white is used by Fitzgerald to symbolize the wealth and characters of higher classes of the novel including: Gatsby, Tom, Jordan and Daisy. Fitzgerald also uses grey as a symbol of dullness, moral decay and the lifelessness of those living in the Valley of Ashes. Lastly, Fitzgerald uses the colour green to symbolize the hopes, dreams and future of Gatsby by adding the green light to the novel. Fitzgerald used colours as symbols in his novel to allow his readers to read beyond the story and find meaning in these colours, making the novel personal and exciting.