Importance of Color in The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald
In literature, colors are often purposefully chosen for different characters to represent the character’s personalities. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the colors green, yellow/gold, and gray are used to represent the attributes of the colored person or place.
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.”
In like manner, green is also used to symbolize money. In the story, money controls the life of the people in the story. Gatsby feels that he needs green money to live and to impress Daisy. Symbols of Gatsby’s money included his large green lawn and the green ivy growing up his house. Also, in his car, it depicts the passengers sitting “in a sort of green leather conservatory.” All of these symbols depict Gatsby’s money.
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
Another important colour, which calls our attention at the beginning, when we meet Gatsby, is green. When Nick sees Gatsby for the first time in his backyard, he notices that Gatsby is looking intensely at a green light in the distance, with his arms stretched towards it, as if trying to reach it.
“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).
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
... 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.
One of the greatest injustices of American history included, starvation, illness, and death. These hardships were undeservingly forced upon an innocent group of people – the Native Americans. One may think that the Trail of Tears was only a simple journey the Indians made to discover new frontiers. This is not the case. The Trail of Tears was the result of the white man’s selfishness, causing Indians to lose their homes and belongings. The act was full of unfair treatment, cruelty, and heartlessness. This tragic event took place in the nineteenth century, and was mostly initiated by President Andrew Jackson. In 1814, Jackson proposed an idea for a new act called the Indian Removal Act. (pbs) This act was not widely accepted throughout America, but was initiated because of some Americans wanting more land and gold – resources owned by Native Americans. The Trail of Tears caused much controversy and confusion, and many tears and heartache followed along the way.
A gap of several years passes before they see each other again. They see each other at the airport, but they both pretend not to know the other.
F. Scott Fitzgerald used the imagery of colors in his masterpiece The Great Gatsby. The colors are used very frequently as symbols, and the hues create atmosphere in different scenes of the book. White is a clean and fresh color, but the author shows how it can be tainted as well. Next, yellow illustrates the downfall of moral standards of the people of West Egg. Lastly, green, the most dominant color in the book, symbolizes wealth and Gatsby's unattainable dream.
Thieves of Language: Women Poets and Revisionist Mythmaking 8.1 (1982): 68-90. JSTOR. Web. 14 May 2014. .
...e a Dream" speech and civil rights was the single most influential movement of the day. With major social changes on the horizon, Ms. Jackson was engulfed with enough writing inspiration to create material for the next decade. In 1965 she was awarded the Arents Pioneer Medal for Outstanding Achievement from Syracuse University. Life was good and many new projects were in the works. Unfortunately on August 8, at the age of 48, it all came to an abrupt end as Shirley Jackson died unexpectedly of heart failure during an afternoon nap.
Byers, Ann. The Trail of Tears: A Primary Source of History of the forced Relocation of the Cherokee Nation. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2003.
In conclusion, Continuing NASA and the programs run by it, is harmful to American society and Government. NASA harms the economy. NASA also harms the environment in which we live. And the money that NASA spends could be used to help solve problems in our country, not on another planet. Only if we work together, fixing our own problems first, respectfully with each other, as one body, one world, and one planet, then we will be able to reach out into space. We will be able to explore it safely, efficiently, and environmentally soundly.
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.
Practices designed to enhance appearance by making a physical change has a long and distinguished history. These practices date back to the time of the Pharaohs and are described in most primordial groups and essentially all of the higher cultures.[1] Tribesmen in Brazil wear disks and plugs as jewelry in perforated and progressively stretched lips and earlobes. Scarification of the skin as a method of beautification or a mark of distinction is popular amongst several African tribes. In ancient Athens, women bound their chests tightly to produce atrophy of the breasts because the small, firm breast was associated with poise and grace. [2] With the advent of technological civilization and culture, a widespread wish to improve appearance may relate to contemporary social customs. This strongly emphasizes the importance of common aesthetic norms that are strongly marketed and an increased accessibility of cosmetic surgery.[3]
Heathcliff is a character in the novel whose personality is the center of the dispute between the psychological nature vs. nurture. Emily Bronte’s novel, Wuthering Heights, contains many controversial psychological conflicts, the main of which was the argument about Heathcliff’s wicked nature and how it was formed. Whether his wickedness was from his own personal nature or from how he was nurtured. Heathcliff was an orphan, growing up in a household in which no one enjoyed his presence. Heathcliff’s dark character can also be explained through psychological references such as Sigmund Freud’s id, ego, and superego. Being that he is the id, Heathcliff’s personality represents the most basic desires of a human.
Students can be asked to assess themselves. There are various ways of doing this: most involve forms of checklists and as a part of questionnaires. An important advantage of self assessment, as Jordan (1997) and Richards (2001) state, is that learners are involved and it helps them raise their awareness of language skill and abilities. On the other hand, it may result in impressionistic and imprecision information.