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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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In the novel “The Great Gatsby”, F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses the imagery of color throughout the book. Social classes, emotional states,and racial slurs, all reflect back on the many different colors that are used throughout the book. The colors are used repeatedly as symbols, and shades to develop the mood and tone In different scenes of the novel. The color white is a symbol of being clean and fresh, on the contrary it could also be very tainted like the color black. Green is the ruling color in the book which represent confidence and hope.

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In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Firzgerald, Nick Carraway represents the qualities of the green color. He is curious, calm and collected, intelligent, and describes others meticulously. Nick observes the other characters actions and judges them based off of those in precise ways. Nick also possesses qualities from the blue color because of how everyone confides in him. Nick is the first person that everyone goes to when they need to talk.

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White is associated with innocence and purity. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald describes Daisy with the word white to represent her innocence and girlhood many times. When we first meet Daisy, she is with Jordan and “they [are] both in white,” (Fitzgerald 10) in “a cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial mansion,” (Fitzgerald 9) surrounded in a pure, white room. Right from the beginning of the novel, Daisy is portrayed as a virtuous woman. She says her “white girlhood [with Jordan] was passed together [in Louisville].

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813 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, deploys color symbolism in order to further develop characters and the plot. Fitzgerald’s use of color symbolism within The Great Gatsby not only defines the characters but adds depth to them. The most recognized color within the novel is “the single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (26). In addition to the green light, there are many other colors within the novel that embody characters, objects, and ideas. The most significant and memorable colors, other than green, are white and yellow, both of which are intertwined in Fitzgerald’s fictional world of materialism and scandal.

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1311 Words | 6 Pages

The color white means freshness and innocence but in the article Symbolic Meanings of Colors in The Great Gatsby, it says something different. It states that the color, “white actually symbolizes empty, vacuity, superficiality, ruthlessness and selfish to a great extent in the novel” (Zhang 1). Daisy is a sweet and innocent on the outside but deep down she has a cold and selfish heart that does not care for love, only the money. She reveals her selfishness when Gatsby dies and she does not show any sadness and leaves to go and travel with her

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783 Words | 4 Pages

Gold and money, a light in the dark, or a warning on the road; the color yellow has many diverse meanings in society and these are just a few. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald colors represent several aspects of the characters as they are swept through rollicking emotions powered by the mystery shrouding the enigmatic Jay Gatsby in the height of the Roaring Twenties. Yellow gives insight into Gatsby’s character, who he wants to be, who he is in truth, and who others think he is. The color yellow is often associated with money because it reminds people of gold. In Fitzgerald’s book, the colors gold and yellow are used interchangeably and often to connotate class or wealth.

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497 Words | 2 Pages

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald exhausts numerous colors throughout the novel to demonstrate different aspects of the changing times. He associates colors like yellow, white, blue and gray with certain characters as well as specific topics in the novel. The color gray is associated with the character Jordan Baker as well as with the topics of moral and sexual ambiguity. Fitzgerald also demonstrates the use of color psychology in The Great Gatsby, thus causing the audience to acknowledge perceptions of those colors.

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In everyday life and works of literature, color can symbolizes a wide variety of emotions from moods to political views. When someone is feeling upset one often says “I’m feeling blue” or when someone is mad their face turns red giving that color the association with anger. Political status even uses color to represent each party, one is usually either a blue Democrat or red Republican. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby color plays a significant role throughout the story symbolizing emotions and social rankings. Colors such as green representing hope and money, grey portraying hopelessness, discontent, and low social class, and yellow exemplifies destruction and desire.

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317 Words | 2 Pages

Racism in The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the Great Gatsby in the mid-1920's, where some of the comments people said about the races would be seen as offensive or degrading. I think the reason Fitzgerald included these comments was because of the time period he wrote the story. There are several times in the story where he makes he The characters he portrays as "racist" in my opinion would be Nick Carraway and Tom Buchanan. In my eyes, Tom is more of a racist then Nick.

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1029 Words | 5 Pages

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, color symbolism is used to reveal important character traits and create a variety of moods throughout chapters 1-4. Fitzgerald incorporates the color white to demonstrate the virginal purity and initial innocence of some of the characters. He also uses this symbolism of the color white to differentiate between social classes. Fitzgerald then affiliates the colors gray and yellow with the dismal corruption that engulfs the novel. To tie everything together, he develops a pattern of the color green to portray how Gatsby’s world revolves around a greedy, yet romanticized dream, only attainable through money.

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121 Words | 1 Pages

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald the book I’m writing about. Blue and green are the colors I’m going to use to indicate Gatsby. Blue represents Gatsby because Gatsby shows strength, since he was in the military, plus hopefulness because he still thinks that daisy and him could still work because he still shows her love he has for her. Stability shows in Gatsby because of way he lives, with all money he has and his business he owns. Green is the second color I’m using to indicate Gatsby.

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1081 Words | 5 Pages

The color grey often symbolizes dull and lifeless characteristics or a state of depression. During the 1920s people in the working class were described as “grey” as they chased their goals they could never achieve. The Great Gatsby is a story of people who try to gain and reach success in a world where social classes vary significantly. In his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the color grey in both characters and settings to portray the disillusionment of the American Dream through his characters' corrupt ambitions and amoral behavior.

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1999 Words | 8 Pages

The color white is everywhere. It can be expressed for anything from pure to boring. In the Great Gatsby it has a deeper and multiple meanings. For example to show the innocence, purity, and riches of an object or person. The forms of white were shown from Daisy’s dresses to The Buchanan’s home.

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884 Words | 4 Pages

One’s ability to not get caught up in the chaos of the 1920’s is evident in the novel, especially in Daisy. Daisy symbolizes innocence and purity, which is why she is described wearing white clothing and having white powder on her skin. Even though Daisy represents purity, she becomes corrupt throughout the novel. The color black resembles Daisy as a result of Daisy running over and killing Myrtle. Gatsby became worried that Tom would harm Daisy for her murder of Myrtle, so Gatsby travels to Daisy’s house to check on her when he stated, “I waited, and about four o’ clock she came to the window and stood there for a minute and then turned out the light” (Fitzgerald 147).

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437 Words | 2 Pages

Fitzgerald uses color to add mod and symbolize different things throughout the novel. The novel uses many different colors to provide imagery for the readers to understand and to live as if they are truly in the novel. The color blue represents Gatsby’s illusions his deeply romantic dreams of unreality. He’ had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.”

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