What Does The Color Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

Colors have been used as symbolism for many years. It is easy to remember what each one symbolizes and has a lasting impression on people. These colors and feelings are then remembered throughout daily life, with the color yellow is often connected to happiness and wealth. In the fiction novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses colors to help convey the depth of each character and the truth behind each character. The colors run through the entire novel and often have double or hidden meanings than what it seems. When we are told the meaning to associate with a different color it is sometimes hard to disassociate the exact meaning we already gave it. The colors in the novel don't go against the ideas we have but enhance the background

of the character they are describing. In the novel we follow Nick Carraway when he moves to New York and meets new people.

As he learns about Jay Gatsby and his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, he learns a lot more that he thought he would and takes on responsibilities he never saw coming. With the background and truths of each color, the symbolism plays an essential role throughout the novel.

The color green is usually thought to embody envy or money. However, in this novel it does not symbolize either of these things. Many people have picked up on this and found that Fitzgerald uses it for something quite different, “Fitzgerald rarely uses the color as a description of jealousy. Rather, he uses green as a symbol of Gatsby's hope” (Brozak). He uses green to show the hope for the American Dream. Green is also always closely connected to Jay Gatsby. When Nick first got to his new home in New York he saw Gatsby looking out to a green light. He recalls, “Distinguishing nothing except a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald, 21). This light just so happens to be on the end of Daisy’s dock. Gatsby and Daisy are in love with each other but were separated when he had to go off to war. The light is always in sight and Gatsby is always looking at it. It symbolizes his fantasy of the two of them being together and

everything being perfect, just how it was before he went overseas. It is always so close but also just out of reach. The light also shows the never ending battle Gatsby goes through to achieve his dreams, “The green light also represents new hope and the ceaseless struggle towards our dream” (Haibing). Gatsby has spent years and mass amounts of money to build up his mansion to the major party place it is now. He put in the work and effort to make his house irresistible and known by everyone in hopes of impressing Daisy and bringing her back to him. He even left Oxford, a very prestigious college in England, to come back and try to find the love of his life. The green shows his constant working towards it and his constant looking out to the light shows that he wants it really bad but is not sure if he is capable of reaching his goal. It also exhibits his longing for the american dream. The american dream is to do a little work and get rich so you can live out a happy, comfortable life. Gatsby started out as a poor boy in North Dakota and dreamed of getting out of the small town his parents lived in and have a glorious life.
Another common color used to show money and wealth is yellow or gold. Fitzgerald used these colors interchangeably throughout the novel. “Yellow is the color of gold, which symbolizes money, materialism and high social position” (Haibing). It mentions that Gatsby has a bright yellow car, which he got to show off his wealth. This car drives through the town to pick up people to go to the extravagant parties that are always held at Gatsby’s house. Everyone who sees it instantly knows whose car it is and were it is going. When Gatsby first reunites with Daisy after a planned day of tea at Nick's house Gatsby dresses up in, “a white flannel suit, silver shirt and gold-colored tie” (Fitzgerald 84). The gold tie against all white outfit
Shows the simplicity and he doesn't want to over power her with how rich he is, but still wants it to be noticable.

Yellow also symbolizes the opposite in a way. Yellow’s other meaning is described as, “the color of the autumn leaves, which symbolizes decay, death, and destructive power” (Haibing). The yellow color was present and used around most deceased beings in the book. It was used to describe the leaves that were dying on the autumn trees. When Daisy is driving home after a group went out to New York for an evening she accidentally hits her husband’s mistress with Gatsby’s car on her way home. The largest yellow object that most clearly sticks out is the one that caused a major death in the story. Many witnesses of the accident only remember one thing about the accident, that there, “‘was a yellow car,’ he said, ‘big yellow car. New’” (Fitzgerald 139). The car was then associated with death by all the characters in the story and had to be hidden so no one could easily assume who was driving the car at the time. It was also the major piece of evidence that was connected with the case and was not

forgotten.
While many color occurrences deal with wealth and social class they are not the only ideas conveyed through symbolism. Innocence and purity are both conveyed through the color white. It is also mentioned most often throughout the novel. “The color white typically symbolizes innocence and purity, as in Nick’s struggle to remain innocent and detached from the self-indulgent and destructive lifestyles of his cohorts” (Brozak). Nick had described himself, and took pride in saving his reservations. He did not have bias because of other people's opinions. He knew everything that was going on between everyone and their history but did not act a certain way with this knowledge. Even when first meeting his neighbor, Nick wore clothing that showed his inexperience, “I believe that the first time I went to Gatsby’s house… dressed up in white flannels I went over to his lawn” (Fitzgerald 41). He showed his innocence and inexperience of the parties by being the only one wearing all white and being very formal at the party. He did not go to the parties for the drinking and fun that they always promised, but instead because he was curious and one of the only people to have a formal invitation. Later on when Gatsby and Daisy went over Nick’s house he tried to recreate the original outfit Nick wore, showing up, “in a white flannel suit, silver shirt” (Fitzgerald, 84). He was pure in not dating anyone while he and Daisy was seperated. He knew that she was the love of his life and did not want to be with anyone else.
Gray also plays an important part in the novel. Gray shows the truth of people’s lives in the story, it “Symbolizes decadence, bleakness, corruption, and disillusionment and represents moral decay, spiritual emptiness and death” ( Haibing). Everyone tries to hide their true feelings and seem like this fun, crazy person but in reality they are nothing like that. Instead many of them are bleak and boring. In the Valley of Ashes, which is the place where the poor people live, everything is described as gray, showing that they are all sad and poor. The gray personalities everyone has matches their gray background so it all blends together and is not important at a quick look. There is also a time in the book where Gatsby and Nick are talking about their times overseas while serving, while they were walking they, “talked for a moment about some wet, grey little villages in France” (Gatsby). They were talking about fighting in the war about how France always seems like a nice place but at a depressing time, like during a war when everyone was dying, it shows the real looks of the city.
Without the use of colors, the novel would not have the hidden meanings and it would be harder to distinguish everyone’s true feelings and ways of living and doing things. The Great Gatsby is a novel full of advanced material and still very relevant in daily life. F. Scott Fitzgerald displayed the unknown in the story using symbolism with colors and it was a major part of the story. The connections that were made in the story can personally affect anyone's life if they take the time to think and search into the meanings of the color in this novel.