Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

Colors can tell someone an abundance of information on a topic because of the color’s warmth or the object it is most commonly seen in. Fitzgerald uses colors to further explain the meaning behind the symbols in his novel, “The Great Gatsby”. The novel is set in the 1920s in which the new rich came about. In Fitzgerald’s novel, the new rich, the old rich, and the working class socialize and create chaos; further explaining the thought that different social classes should not interact. The author Fitzgerald uses green to symbolize hope, white to depict innocence, and yellow to detect materialism and decay. Throughout his novel, “The Great Gatsby”, Fitzgerald’s use of color imagery conveys a theme.

Individuals perpetuate false personas to such an extent that they are convinced into a state of false consciousness of reaching the American dream, ultimately, this facade leads them to their downfall, exposing repressed reality from idealistic lies. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes symbols to describe the hollow nature of each character’s deceitful persona, which comes to show the ultimate theme of downfall through the individual’s perception of the American dream. The use of gold as a mask for the colour yellow represents authentic wealth versus fake wealth, further developed though Jay Gatsby’s pursuance of the American dream. The colour white known for is purity and simplicity is denoted by Daisy Buchanan, a character who represses the reality in which she lives, insinuated by her change in surroundings. Furthermore, the character of Myrtle Wilson, showcases her greed for wealth and her need of a rich-husband as an American dream, symbolized by the surrounding colour of grey, a representation of her veneer-rich persona.

Similar to white projecting honesty and purity, Fitzgerald also uses it to symbolize perfection. Daisy, always in white, was perfect in Gatsby's eyes. He lived his life around her, in order to reclaim her. Just as Daisy's whiteness symbolized perfection to Gatsby, the white world of the upper class was the epitome of perfection for Myrtle Wilson, Tom's mistress. To Myrtle, the perfect life would be to live like Daisy, to be wealthy. Although she lives in the valley of ashes as the wife of a garage owner, she feels she belongs with the upper class. She stakes claim in high society through Tom, but will never be fully able to gain access to their elite world. Fitzgerald shows her attempt to become “white” through her clothing. When she is first seen in the novel, she is wearing “a spotted dress of dark blue” (Fitzgerald, 25).

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.

Symbolism is arguable one of the most important literary devices in all of literature. Not only is it used to help explain key plot points in a story, but it is also used to highlight certain aspects in a story you might not have noticed originally. In the novel The Great Gatsby, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism through color to express mood, different characters, and a variety of themes though the story. Colors like white, yellow, and blue each have their own meanings to be explored by not only the readers of the paper, but the readers of the book.

Thinking about the past almost always affect present happiness. Perhaps the wrong memories, and sometimes the right memories with someone have negative effects. Many people experience overthinking. This requires someone to sit around and think about something in their life until they begin to over exaggerate the situation. Coming up with every negative outcome that they can acquire. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, there is almost an opposite thinking coming from the main character, the wealthy Jay Gatsby believes that he should find comfort in the past and hope for it to positively affect the present. Through the text Gatsby is taught using symbolism, that it is foolish to attempt to recover the past because it is impossible for it to lead to present happiness.

White describes a falseness of purity of something that is deceiving. This is shown in the beginning of the novel when the brazen Jordan Baker and Daisy Buchanan are both introduced to Nick Carraway. “...that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire” (Fitzgerald 12). This quote includes the color white to describe their dresses, meaning that these two girls--Jordan and Daisy--are not what they seem to be. Another quote is when they are at Gatsby’s florid house, and Nick is leaving. “Then I went out of the room and down the marble steps into

Symbolism is the use of symbols to supply things with a representative meaning or to represent something abstract by an existing object. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, colours are used to symbolize a person’s inner thoughts and feelings. Colours, such as green, white are used to find ones true feelings; while others use colours to hide their true persona. Colour symbolism is used to convey a deeper message to the readers and help us understand the characters true colours.

One of the main colors in The Great Gatsby is white. White represents the innocence and purity in the book. Daisy and Jordan are first introduced wearing white. It makes you think that the ladies’ are pure from the start of the book. Later on it is realized that neither one of the girls is all that pure. They are obviously not pure since they both are not so innocent. In the book is says Jordan cheats in her golf

Symbolism is an important part of literature that helps show a deeper meaning to what is written on the pages. In the book, The Great Gatsby by author F. Scott Fitzgerald, symbolism is used throughout each chapter, giving the reader greater insight of what the author is trying to disclose, and the meaning of key components to the story. Some of the symbols used throughout the novel are as simple as the colors the characters wear or the colors of their surroundings. Other symbols include, the famous eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg on a billboard looking over the Valley of Ashes, and the light in which Gatsby reaches towards in the night. These three symbols play a very important role in the book, and without them, much of the connotation is lost.

A symbol can be anything that represents something else in a story or something that has a deep effect on the story. Symbols can be an object, a character, an animal, a color, etc. Being a great writer, Fitzgerald has used symbols in a very effective manner. In Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby has been in love with Daisy for a quite long time. While he was at the war, she marries a rude yet a rich guy named Tom Buchanan. Desiring to win her back, Gatsby transmutes himself into a wealthy person. He conducts parties every weekend hoping to see her there. Finally, when she meets him, everything turns out badly. Fitzgerald, in this novel uses various symbols to make it more fascinating and these symbols mainly represents the life in America in the 1920’s and the American dream.

Fitzgerald also uses colors for symbolism. The color white is used many times in the story. The author uses white to describe Gatsby's clothes and his mansion. The color white represents Gatsby's innocence and pure heart.

     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”.

Colors can be symbolic of infinite various things. Artists take this truth into attention while selecting the colors they use in their paintings; as these colors are used to generate emotions inside their target market. Identical to an artist, F. Scott Fitzgerald makes use of light and color in his masterpiece to create float and harmony. There is, however, an additional, extensive motive for his use of light and coloration symbolism. Fitzgerald uses lights and hues to focus on the critical battle, Gatsby and Daisy's courting. The first of the many colors used in the novel is white. The first time Nick met Daisy and Jordan "they had been each in white" (Fitzgerald 12). White, in American civilization, is usually related to innocence. This

Colors represent many moods and atmospheres in The Great Gatsby, and each one represents something different. When “He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way,”(Fitzgerald 20) Gatsby was reaching out to Daisy in exasperation. “I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light”(Fitzgerald 21). The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock represents the love that Gatsby has for Daisy. Another way that color is represented is in the way in which Gatsby is dressed. When he goes to nick’s house to meet Daisy, he is “in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie”(Fitzgerald 84). This represents his immense wealth and stature. His clothes can also represent his love for daisy, or the way in which people view him. When Tom, Nick, Jordan, Daisy, and Gatsby are on their way to New York City, Tom makes a comment about Gatsby’s suit: “‘An Oxford man!’ He was incredulous. ‘Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit!’”(Fitzgerald 122). Tom doesn’t believe that Gatsby could be an Oxford man because of the way in which he dresses.