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The Color White In The Great Gatsby

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The color white is one of the many symbols used throughout “The Great Gatsby”. It symbolizes both the purity and innocence of something. It has been used in society and in the novel “The Great Gatsby.” It has also put more meaning into the readers’ experience. The color white has shown a great significance in society and within the novel which helps make the experience for the readers more meaningful. In society the color white is used at important-formal events such as weddings and baptisms. At weddings the color white represents the virginity of the bride, and a baby wears white at a baptism because it represents the purity of their soul. The color white has also been used to describe people in a society; Tom Buchanan-a racist man has used this color to compare people. He said, “...The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be-will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved” (pg 12-13). Tom is not only looking at white as in racial color, but the deeper meaning would be that he is using white to represent the better and pure race. In “The Great Gatsby” the color white has been used to describe characters. In the …show more content…

Later on in the book Gatsby describes the incident of how Myrtle Wilson was killed to Nick. He said to him, “You see, when we left New York she was very nervous and she thought it would steady her to drive-and this woman rushed out at us just as we were passing a car coming the other way...Well, first Daisy turned away from the woman toward the other car, and then she lost her nerve and turned back” (pg 143). From the view of readers they do not want to blame Daisy for what happened; they all find her to be a pure and innocent person who would not kill someone. The readers’ intent is to blame Gatsby because he was in the car with Daisy at the time of the accident even though he was not the one that killed

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