Color Great Gatsby

Improved Essays
Color. Color is an important part of our society. It causes emotion, reactions, and action. It is a powerful tool of communication. Adding color can make literature more colorful. Readers are drawn to the mention of color in novels, especially when it is used more than once. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, the Great Gatsby, color is used as a symbol. Fitzgerald’s repetition of the colors, yellow and green emphasize Gatsby’s quest for and lost of the American Dream.
Yellow portrays Gatsby’s wealth and his eventual downfall. It symbolizes materialism and wealth. It is color that he struggles with all his life. Throughout his life he strives towards becoming wealthy enough to please Daisy. He changed his name from Gatz to Gatsby and works up towards
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The color refers to the green light in the novel. Nick notices Gatsby “stretch out his arms towards the darkness in a curious way” and realizes that Gatsby was looking at the green light at the dock. (25) Eventually, the readers realize that the dock is Daisy’s. Gatsby’s goal and desire is right across the bay, so close he can almost touch it. In this case, his desire, hope, and goal is Daisy. He does everything, so that he can get the girl. It represents his reunion with his love and his crave for the past. Gatsby believes he can win Daisy back with money, which leads him to do shady business with Wolfsheim. Since the light is not too far away, he believes that only if he tries his best to purse it, he can touch the green light, hold his hope and realize his dream. However, since the light is just a little too far away, it symbolizes the demise of Gatsby’s dream. Once he gets Daisy, Gatsby starts to realize the difference between his dream girl and the current Daisy. The light lost its charm and in a sense represents the reality of the beauty of the American dream. Finally towards the end of the novel, the green light represents hope for the future. Nick realizes as he leaves West Egg that the light that Gatsby yearned for represents “the organistic future recedes before us” and the struggle towards our dreams. (189) The pursuit of Daisy allowed Gatsby to become wealthy but at the same time brought him

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