Color Symbolism In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby, exposes the corruption and greed of the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald is able to captivate readers' attentions through his employment of color symbolism. Fitzgerald portrays important messages in the novel by his symbolic use of colors. Colors play an important role in Fitzgerald’s descriptions of the lives of Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway and many of the other characters in the novel. Fitzgerald uses the colors white, yellow, and green to express certain sentiments to the reader, commenting what is going on in the story. Fitzgerald uses the color white to symbolize purity and innocence, while yellow is used to symbolize moral decay, and death. Green is used to represent hope and

Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism helps create an ambiance of longing. He dominantly uses color to represent and convey specific messages to the reader. These colors are woven so seamlessly into the story that one would not think very much of them. However, they play a large role in shaping the novel. Fitzgerald uses yellow to represent money, and Gatsby’s desire to be included among the elite “old money” social class. His longing is shown through his yellow car and his yellow suit. Although yellow represents a major aspect of the novel, the green light at the end of Daisy’s pier holds the most significance. When Nick says, “Gatsby believed in the green light … ” (Fitzgerald 180), he is referring to Gatsby’s American Dream and how he believed that he would one day be reunited with Daisy. Green expresses the same feelings

The color blue is another clear example of the theme of deceptive appearances. The color blue represents depression, unhappiness, and loneliness. Gatsby’s first piece of wealth is a blue coat given to him by Dan Cody, signifying the beginning of his life as a rich person. In addition, Gatsby's blue lawn, and blue garden, where he hosts his extravagant parties reveals his sadness and loneliness everytime Daisy does not show. All of this blue represents an aspect of Gatsby's personality and identity that he tries to hide. Gatsby is known by the public because of his extravagant parties even though Gatsby does not attend them. Because of this, everyone speculates on the real identity of Gatsby. Gatsby has worked hard his entire childhood and development to achieve his dream of wealth and happiness, yet once he is granted just that he he can not even show his face to those he aspired to be. Gatsby is constantly held back by his blue life despite his effort to ignore it which is a clear depiction of a deceiving the world through outward appearances.

Throughout literature, colors are used to represent feelings, emotions and actions of characters. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the color green is used to represent the love story between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. As he grew up and worked for his immense fortune, Gatsby transformed his life into one he felt would impress her the most. Fitzgerald uses the color green to represent Gatsby’s perfect image of Daisy, and the greed that engulfs the couple throughout the entire novel.

Colors can invoke feelings for people. Certain colors are attached to moods. Red can represent anger, green sometimes represents envy and blue can represent calm or even melancholy. Much art, music, and literature is dependent on color to convey the intended mood of the artist. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, a man with wealth, power, and possessions is on a quest for the dream that he will never attain. He cannot have all that he already has plus the true love of Daisy. Fitzgerald creates his own unique motifs surrounding certain colors and uses these colors to emphasize the futility in Gatsby’s quest for this dream. Through the use

When F. Scott Fitzgerald was writing The Great Gatsby, he was not only working as a writer, he was an artist painting a piece through his words. While making the lives of fictional characters come to life for the reader, one of the main tools he used to do this was by using the symbolism of colors. Nick Carraway, the main character, befriends many of the wealthiest and corrupt people of Long Island, while exposing them for what they truly are in the journeys he endures with them. His extravagant use of colors to illustrate scenes and characters helps us determine the symbolism behind them, and how they’re used to expose the true personalities of the characters.

In The Great Gatsby blue and green show Jay Gatsby’s real character and how he is as a person. “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. (p.43)” Blue is often symbolized by depression. Jay’s house is surrounded by blue gardens by showing the sadness in his life without Daisy. “If it wasn’t for the mist we could see you home across the bay...You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of the dock. (p.92)” Green often symbolizes life. In Gatsby’s

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, has deeper information hidden by colors all over the book. Each color has its own significant meaning and connects to the story in some way. From nearly all the colors on the rainbow to the color grey, there is a connection between these buried meanings behind all of the colors. Green is the most important color throughout the book because of special meanings and roles it plays on all of the characters. The color green relates to wealth and success on almost all of the characters. Gatsby is the one who brings this color to life and connects with it to show how it takes part in this story.

The color blue is another clear example of the theme of deceptive appearances. The color blue represents depression, unhappiness, and loneliness. Gatsby’s first piece of wealth is a blue coat given to him by Dan Cody, signifying the beginning of his life as a rich person. In addition, Gatsby's blue lawn, and blue garden, where he hosts his extravagant parties reveals his sadness and loneliness everytime Daisy does not show. All of this blue represents an aspect of Gatsby's personality and identity that he tries to hide. Gatsby is known by the public because of his extravagant parties even though he does not attend them. Because of this, everyone speculates on the real identity of Gatsby. Gatsby has worked hard his entire

If yellow is the appearance of Gatsby, blue is the miniature of loneliness in his deeply heart. And it was that the fragile and sensitive from the color”blue” caused the contradiction between his external world and noise and cruel external world for Gatsby , which turned a blind eye to the sensitivity of human beings. In a certain degree, Gatsby can not really fit into the upper class. Although his heart is full of loneliness and sadness, but also has a huge imagination, which is Gatsby's inner portrayal,the color”pink”.

Colors are an essential part of the world around us. They can convey messages, expressing that which words do not. Gentle blue tones can calm a person and bright yellows can lift the spirits. If an artist is trying to express sorrow or death he often uses blacks blues, and grays basically he uses dreary colors. Without one word, a driver approaching a red traffic light knows to stop. Colors are representative of many things. In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses color symbolism throughout as a major device in thematic and character development. He uses colors to symbolize the many different intangible ideas in the book. Throughout the book characters, places, and objects are given "life" by colors, especially the more

One of the symbols that Fitzgerald took advantage of was color. If he made a point to mention or emphasize a specific color in the book, it most likely had meaning to it. One of the main issues in the Great Gatsby was materialism and greed. For example, one character is named Daisy. Her name shows that she is like the flower; white or pure looking on the outside, but yellow and corrupted on the inside. For example, when Gatsby went to war, she wouldn’t wait for him and started to date other men. “Suddenly she was again, keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men,” (Fitzgerald, 151). Then later in the book, Daisy accidentally hit Myrtle with a car. “The ‘death car’ as the newspapers called it, didn’t stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment, and then disappeared around the next bend,” (Fitzgerald, 137). However, instead of trying to help out or admit to her mistake, Daisy wouldn’t say anything, letting everyone

Color imagery in The Great Gatsby is vital to the books storyline. If there was no color imagery then the reader could not associate a certain person or thing with a color or idea. Fitzgerald uses the color so people can remember the person more than just their name. The use of color imagery greatly impacts the story line.

     F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, uses symbolism throughout the novel to create the characters and events of the post World War I period. Colors are one way symbolism was used to develop the characters’ personalities and set up events. This is shown by colors like the green at the end of Daisy Buchannan’s dock, the color of Jay Gatsby’s car and how Myrtle and Jordan surrounded themselves by white. Other symbolisms used to set up events are the difference in the people of the West Egg and East Egg and the sign in the “valley of ashes”.

During the 1920’s, many people would disguise themselves through the identities of someone else. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main characters can be seen “hiding” behind the symbolism of different colors. Color affects the mood, emphasizes the importance of events in a novel, and can also interact with the personalities of the characters. The concept of color symbolism is prominent in the novel. White, yellow, blue, green, and even the color black affect the atmosphere of scenes through association with a specific mood, and also through the actions of the characters.