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Color theory in literature essay
Significance of symbolism in literature
Significance of symbolism in literature
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“Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities […]” (Literary Devices). In literature, authors, such as Fitzgerald, use a broad collection of objects to symbolize ideas, character traits, emotions, and more. Animals, colors, plants, weather, and other items are just a few of those objects. Daniel J. Schneider writes, “The vitality and beauty of F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing are perhaps nowhere more strikingly exhibited than in his handling of the color-symbols in The Great Gatsby”(Schneider). F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a wide variety of symbols throughout The Great Gatsby, but his use color symbolism is the most apparent.
F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a vast assortment of hues in this novel. One color used many times throughout the book is green. Green “is the color of hope” (Einem and Barske). The biggest use of green is displayed as “a single green light […] that might have been at the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald 21). The light is Jay Gatsby’s hope to one day reunite with his one and only love Daisy Fay. Another example of the symbolism of green is
[…] I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished
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trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic Via 2 contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder. (Fitzgerald 180) This passage is speaking of the New World and of an island off of New York. The fresh breast is a symbol of hope for the Dutch sailors who came to settle the vast land. The desire and hope they have is what makes the breast green. Yellow also plays a major part in use of color symbolism in The Great Gatsby. Schneider’s article expresses yellow as the symbol of money. Nick says, “’[…T]hey stood on my shelf in red and gold like new money from the mint’” (Fitzgerald 4). In this passage, Nick Carraway is referring to the books he bought on banking, credit, and investment securities. All of these things are directly related to money. Yellow is displayed as money when Fitzgerald writes, “The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic [… and] look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existence nose” (23). Fitzgerald made the spectacles yellow because “[…] an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens […]” (Fitzgerald 24). The oculists desire to fatten his practice is his want to be wealthier and have a profitable business. Wealth and profit has everything to do with money. Another color of significance in The Great Gatsby is white. In most instances, the color white is used to show purity; however, in The Great Gatsby, white represents “airiness, buoyancy, [and] levitation” (Schneider). It also represents “innocence lost” (Brozak). Nick says, “’ […T]wo young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. They were both Via 3 in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering […]’” (Fitzgerald 8). Nick is referring to Daisy Fay and Jordan Baker in this passage. Daisy and Jordan’s white attire represents their lost innocence. Daisy isn’t the perfect paragon of everything a girl should be as many believe she is. As the reader gets to know her character, he/she realizes something just isn’t right with her. She also ends up having an affair later in the novel. Jordan is an example of lost innocence as well because she is rumored to have cheated in her golf tournament, and she is known to be dishonest. The color red is of significance in The Great Gatsby. Red comes across as “[…] enchantment [… and in other instances] violence” (Schneider). The Buchanans’ house is a prime example of red’s role in the symbolism of this novel. Fitzgerald writes, “Their house was […] a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion” (6). For those who do not know the Buchanans as well as others, the home is breathtaking. People only dream of living in a home like the Buchanans’ home and having the wealth the Buchanans have. However, for those who do know Tom and Daisy well, understand the brutality of it all between the affairs and the lack of affection between the two of them. Another example is shown when Fitzgerald writes, “[…The] driver hurried back to where Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust” (137). This passage is pulled from the chapter of Myrtle Wilson’s death. She was hit by a car. Red is used here to symbolize violence as shown with the representation of blood. Silver symbolizes the relationship between “the dream and the reality” (Schneider) in The Great Gatsby. An example of silver’s role in the novel is when Nick notices Daisy and Jordan and he says, “[They] lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighing down their own Via 4 white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans” (Fitzgerald 115).
When people look at Daisy and Jordan, they have a vision of who they think the two girls are. However, Daisy and Jordan are very different in reality. Silver is used again to display Gatsby’s dream of Daisy versus how Daisy is in real life. Nick says, “’[…] Gatsby became strikingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, […]and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor’” (Fitzgerald 150). Jay Gatsby fell in love with the Daisy shown in this passage. He hasn’t seen her for five years, so he has a vision of the girl he knew long ago. However, in reality, Daisy has changed, and she is not the same girl he dreamed and once knew her to
be. Lastly, blue is another color used in The Great Gatsby. It doesn’t make as big of an appearance as the other colors, but it does play an important role. Fitzgerald writes, “But above the gray land […], you perceive, the [blue] eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg” (23). Towards the end of the novel, Wilson sees the doctor’s eyes, and he thinks of them as God, who sees everything. In The Great Gatsby, blue is assumed to symbolize the corruption of the spirit: specifically the religious spirit or God. F. Scott Fitzgerald writes his novels using many symbols including color. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald makes his use of color as a symbol very clear to the readers. He implements a broad spectrum of color into this novel to give his characters and their actions depth. . Without F. Scott Fitzgerald’s immense symbolism, The Great Gatsby wouldn’t be the beloved, award-winning novel it is today.
The Great Gatsby is full of symbolism. Colours, for example, are used to represent many different things; some even represent a theme of the novel. White, yellow, grey, green are just some of the colours which Fitzgerald uses in a special way, because each of these colours has a special meaning, different from the ones we regularly know or use.
Apparently, green is the most prominently used color in the novel. The reason for this may be that green is the color used to describe the main character of the novel, Jay Gatsby. One of the possible meanings of green in this story is envy. Gatsby can be seen as an envious man for a few reasons. For one, he is extremely envious of Tom Buchanan because of the fact that he has the one thing he can’t buy, Daisy. Also, Gatsby is extremely envious of the people that he invites to his house. He knows that he is not old money like the people he invites to his parties. This makes him a man of who, is “Green with envy.”
“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us”(Fitzgerald 171). Whenever Gatsby looks at Daisy’s green light, he thinks of a bright future with his love of his life. The color green symbolizes Gatsby’s desire for a future with Daisy. Green also symbolizes Gatsby’s desire for great wealth. Nick describes Gatsby’s car as a “green leather conservatory” because the interior is green (Fitzgerald 64).
Symbolism is immensely spread through this novel, as well as an immerse amount of color. For example, the green light gatsby strives for. Gatsby states that the "single green light" on Daisy's dock that Gatsby gazes wistfully at from his own house across the water represents the "unattainable dream," the "dream [that] must
Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism and colors in The Great Gatsby is prominent in every chapter of his novel. To fully understand the meaning of his color use, a reader must recognize the situations in which these colors are used. Throughout the novel Fitzgerald uses the color green. Green has many possible interpretations, and its’ use to reveal insight into Gatsby’s character is probably the most meaningful.
... middle of paper ... ... Hence, the colour green is used throughout the novel to represent all of the jealousy and envy. In conclusion, Fitzgerald uses colours to express the different themes in the novel.
Scott Fitzgerald used colors in the The Great Gatsby to portray more than just imagery. Fitzgerald used colors to convey emotions, the setting, and underlying tones for motives. The character Daisy can be interpreted as a metaphor. One can connect the colors used to describe Daisy in the book to interpret her motives and emotions through the dichotomy of a daisy flower. One way to interpret Daisy is the green of the stem describes the structure of her character, the white of the flower describes what others see of her, and the yellow inner of the flower describes what is really on the inside of her
Symbolism is a very important device in Fitzgerald's 1926 masterpiece, The Great Gatsby. Different objects, words or actions symbolize different character traits for each person depicted in his novel. Through symbolism, Fitzgerald manages to describe three completely different aspects of the human life. He conveys the glittery, magnificent life of the rich, the gray, ugly and desperate life of the poor, and the mundane struggles of those in between.
Symbolism can mean and represent a wide variety of ideas, moments and memories in everyone's lives. In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, colors, names and objects symbolize different personalities, and ideas of the characters. Some of the symbols are more obvious and easier to pick up on than others.
The Great Gatsby is full of symbolism, colors, for example. Throughout the book the author uses them to represent different themes of the novel. Some of these colors are white, yellow, grey, green, pink, red and blue. However, I picked white and green for my commentary because I think these colors have a special meaning different from the others. White is mainly used to describe the character’s innocence, fakeness, and corruption. While green represents Gatsby’s hopes, ambitions, and dreams. In addition, sometimes green symbolizes the jealousy of certain characters.
The color green can signify many things in the every day life, people may think of it as “go” or as something positive. F. Scott Fitzgerald is an author known to use a lot of symbolism in his writings. In his famous novel, “the Great Gatsby”, Fitzgerald uses the color green to represent various things. His use of the color green represents mostly what Gatsby desires most in life, but he also includes it to represent little things that need thinking to figure out.
In this novel, green is the main colour used to symbolize different things. Placed at the end of Daisy and Tom’s dock and barely visible from Gatsby's lawn, the green light represents Gatsby's hopes, prosperity and dreams for the future. Gatsby associates it with Daisy, and in Chapter 1 he reaches toward it in the darkness as a guiding light to lead him to his goal. This is the very first time Gatsby is seen. Every member in the novel wants to achieve an American dream and the green light is symbolic to Gatsby’s. To attain Daisy would be completing his American Dream. The first time the green light is seen in the novel is also the first time Nick sees Gatsby. Fitzgerald writes, “…he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single
The most notable and significant color in the novel is the color green. To Gatsby green represents his dreams, his aspiration which is to attain Daisy for himself. As said by Nick Carraway “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that
The Great Gatsby, a renowned novel authored by Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of a man that is surrounded by mystery. Throughout the novel, the author uses numerous symbols in order to further develop the plot and give the readers a closer look at the makings of the characters. The novel is centered around Gatsby, a seemingly rich elitist who has captured the attention of many through his elaborate parties. In order to give the readers a more in depth look at the makings of the novel the authors uses symbols such as the green light, Gatsby’s large collection of books, and the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg.
The above excerpt is from the final paragraph in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Jay Gatsby, the titular character, is a fabulously wealthy yet deeply flawed man. Despite Gatsby's flaws, his extraordinary optimism and dedication towards his dreams make him “great” in the eyes of Nick, the protagonist. Upon Gatsby's death, a devastated Nick ventures out upon Gatsby's beach and looks up at the stars with reflective melancholy. Nick muses that our struggle towards our dreams is universal and envisions people as “boats moving against the current”. Thus, The Great Gatsby is established as a universal tale of human aspiration and it's folly.