Symbolism & Color Imagery In The Great Gatsby
Francis Scott Fitzgerald uses colors to represent symbols and themes throughout The Great Gatsby. The characters in the novel are often associated with a key color and this can help depicate emotions and feelings in certain events. Fitzgerald also uses color to place a deeper and stronger connection to other topics. His use of color imagery and symbolism enhances the novel in ways that only color could describe.
Fitzgerald, refers to the color green quite frequently throughout the novel. “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” (Fitzgerald, 25). Later on the reader finds out this figure was Jay Gatsby reaching out from his dock towards a green light across the bay. The color green represents Gatsby’s love and hope for his ultimate dream to be with Daisy, an old lover.
Money is represented with the color green as well. Throughout the novel, Gatsby is constantly trying to buy and show off to gain Daisy’s affection. Tom Buchanan uses his “old money” to make up for their relationship problems between Daisy and often avoids solving their issues. Gatsby’s new money can be seen as filth because of the mysterious ways he earns it. Later Tom announces his feelings of Gatsby and his “new money” spending, “I know I’m not very popular. I don’t give big parties. I suppose you’ve got to make your house into a pigsty in order to have any friends — in the modern world,” (Fitzgerald, 139).
The color blue is mentioned in different ways and represents more than one meaning depending upon the interpretation. Blue is used when Fitzgerald introduces the eyes of doctor T.J. Eckleburg on a billboard in the vall...
... middle of paper ...
...at white can become when society becomes too corrupt which is one of the main themes Fitzgerald told throughout the novel. Colors have huge impacts on the story, characters, and the reader’s interpretation of The Great Gatsby. Words can be deceiving, but color allows the readers to always see the true meaning.
Bibliography:
Huber, Herbert. "The Use of Colors in The Great Gatsby." The Use of Colors in The Great
Gatsby. Am Fröschlanger, 11 Aug. 2011. Web. 12 May 2014.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Colors in The Great Gatsby." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc.,
11 Nov. 2008. Web. 12 May 2014.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Collier Books, 1991. Print.
Searles, S. "Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." Explicator 50.1 (1991): 45. Advanced Placement
Source. Web. 14 May 2014.
"Hilton Gatsby Project." Hilton Gatsby Project. Wikipedia, n.d. Web.
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.
“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 plays an important role in any novel of literary merit. From objects, to traits, to the way something is portrayed, it can have a whole different meaning. Like death and taxes, there is no escaping color. It is ubiquitous. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald displays a superior use of symbols such as color, light, and heat. Fitzgerald’s superior use of color as a symbol is the focus of this essay.
Gold is a color often used to describe Gatsby. On the day that Gatsby meets Daisy he wears a "...gold-colored tie..."(84). The gold tie represents his wealth and success. After Gatsby came back from the war he had no money or any place to go, with the help from Wolfsheim he becomes a very wealthy man. He has become very successful in his life and he wants to impress Daisy. Yellow is a different form of gold. Yellow is used to describe Gatsby's car. "...inquiring a yellow car." ( ). Gatsby's yellow car is a symbol of his desire to enter into New York's high society.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Colors in The Great Gatsby." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 10 May 2014. .
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
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
In the book The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a vast amount of colors to represent characters in the book. For instance, Gatsby is one of, if not, the main character in the book. Every single color in the book has to do with Gatsby. The three main colors in this book or most used colors are red, yellow, and black. These three colors seem to have the most meaning. When it comes to Gatsby, these colors represent him in many ways.
When people think of daisy flowers, the colors yellow, green and white come to mind. The yellow in the middle represents corruption, and in the novel Daisy is one of the most corrupt characters. White represents how she was pure and "an enchanted object" on the outside (TCLC 6). Daisy's name truly fits her character, in the way that she comes off sweet, but on the inside is morally sullied. The color green can also represents money. The day Gatsby goes to Nick's to reunite with Daisy, Gatsby sends a gardener over to Nick's house to cut his grass and give him a green house. When Nick sees that "Mr.
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.
Color Symbolism in The Great Gatsby & nbsp; Colors can symbolize many different things. Artists use colors in their paintings when they want you to see what they are trying to express. Like if an artist is trying to express sorrow or death. he often uses blacks, blues, and. grays. Basically he uses dreary colors. You automatically feel what the artist is trying to express. When the artist uses bright colors you feel warm and you feel happiness. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald is like an artist. He uses colors to symbolize the many different intangible ideas in the book. He uses the color yellow to symbolize moral decay, decadence, and death. Then he uses the color white to symbolize innocence. He also uses the color green to express hope. Fitzgerald's use of the color green the strongest.
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.
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.
Fitzgerald used green most frequently to symbolize Gatsby's love for Daisy Buchanan. Daisy rejected Gatsby because "rich girls don't marry poor boys", so her philosophy compelled him to become wealthy. Gatsby described Daisy's voice as "full of money" and he acquired millions of green dollars in the hope that Daisy would love him again. Also, Gatsby moved into his mansion so that he could live near the Buchanans, and at night the millionaire watches "a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been at the end of a dock.