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.
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.
In the book “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, colors have been used to represent the character’s unapparent and underlying thoughts, feelings, status and class. Through the motif of colors, Fitzgerald depicts the feelings of the character as he refers to a specific color while describing each one of them. The colors make a deep impact on the readers as they contain a profound meaning throughout the novel. There are around five main colors in the novel appearing frequently: white, yellow, green, blue and grey, which help the novel look more gaudy and idealistic.
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.
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.
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. The colors white, yellow, blue, and green shape the novel’s characters and plot, resulting in a vivid story of love and blind pursuance.
The symbolism of the color white appear several times in the book. But, there was one scene that stood out. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about the color of white in the scene where Nick is visiting Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald described what happens when Nick was going on a trip with Gatsby in his car, “-only half, for as we twisted among the pillars of the elevated I heard the familiar “jug-jug-spat!” of a motor cycle, and a frantic policeman rode alongside. “All right, old sport,” called Gatsby. We slowed down. Taking a white card from his wallet he waved it before the man’s eyes. “Right you are,” agreed the policeman, tipping his cap. “Know you next time, Mr. Gatsby. Excuse me!” (72). This scene shows how Gatsby is driving
When meeting someone for the first time a large part of an initial impression is their clothing. The color, quality and style of their clothing gives information about them as a person that may or may not be true. F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby, utilizes clothing as an informer of each character’s lifestyle and their desires. Fitzgerald carefully depicts each character’s clothing using color, material, and quality to expose their insecurities. He uses clothing to show how each character wants to be perceived. Unlike race or eye color, clothing is not permanent and can be easily changed, which Fitzgerald uses to exhibit character’s status, emotions, and personalities. In the novel, character mask who they are using their
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]. [In her] beautiful white” (Fitzgerald 22) girlhood, “she dressed in white, and had a little white roadster” (Fitzgerald 80). This describes Daisy when she was eighteen years old, when she was in the prime time of her youth. White is used to convey her innocent childhood years. It also describes how she is
In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life.
Arguably one of the most complex works of American Literature, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald displays a satirical United States taking place in the early twenties in New York. The roaring twenties often portrayed a happy time immediately following World War 1 however, it gave off a false feeling of joy and many people were truly unhappy. Even though Nick Carraway shows a realistic image of himself, The Great Gatsby encompasses an illusion created in this time period and portrays this image through the atmosphere surrounding the actions of its characters; it ultimately shows a conflict against reality, identical to that to the early 20th century.
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.
Color is everywhere. Although color may not seem important, they might have a greater, deeper meaning. Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is set back in the Roaring 20’s, when the economy was booming. A newly rich man named Jay Gatsby is one of the richer people in this time that enjoys his money. He throws overgenerous parties, hoping that the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan, attends. Gatsby’s life is filled with various colors which signify the messages Fitzgerald is trying to convey. Color symbolism plays an important role through the novel, The Great Gatsby.
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.
The director of The Great Gatsby Luhrmann conveys that money won’t buy you the things that matter in life like a happiness, true love or power; money will only buy you boisterous parties, expensive clothing, and fancy cars. Luhrmann conveys this through set and color throughout The Great Gatsby .