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What Does Gray Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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Colors; they can be utilized to represent many different things. Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the contrast of colors to symbolize the shattering realities behind the dreams.
First of all, the color gray is frequently referenced throughout The Great Gatsby. "But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg" (Fitzgerald 23). The valley of ashes is where gray often is referred to. Fitzgerald used gray to symbolize a dullness and a lack of life. In order for characters in The Great Gatsby to get to New York, the dreamland, they have to go through The Valley of Ashes, where dreams go to die. This is why gray is …show more content…

"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." When the outside of Gatsby's home is described, the grounds are often blue. This could symbolize the ideality of Gatsby, which means often when blue is referenced, a dream or the ideal life of Gatsby is brought up. In this particular quote, Gatsby has tried so much to obtain his dream, to reach the blue lawn. Nevertheless, he did not succeed. "In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." As said before, the blue gardens represent the ideality Gatsby wants. While the parties that he throws are great, what Gatsby really desires is …show more content…

The color red in The Great Gatsby can be used to show the shining dream as well as the brutal realness of the world. "He(Gatsby) must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass" (Fitzgerald 161). Roses are symbols of love, and are often thought of when romance is said. However, roses also have thorns. Gatsby realizes now how his dream of loving Daisy will not happen, causing him to have bitter thoughts. "After that I lived like a young rajah in all the capitals of Europe- Paris, Venice, Rome- collecting jewels, chiefly rubies..." (Fitzgerald 65). Gatsby says this to Nick while in the car with him, telling him about is past life. Gatsby states that he collected rubies the most, tying in the dream of red, which was him traveling and becoming rich but also the reality, because it is not the actual dream that Gatsby wants to

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