Symbolism In The Great Gatsby And The Scarlet Letter

While Fitzgerald uses green to symbolise the character Gatsby and his inner feelings, Hawthorne uses the red and yellow garments that Pearl, Hester Prynne’s daughter must wear, effectively demonstrating that Prynne and Pearl are symbolic of her same sin. An example of this is in Chapter 7, when Hester “in contriving the child’s garb, had allowed the gorgeous tendencies of her imagination their full play; arraying her in crimson velvet tunic, of a peculiar cut, abundantly embroidered with fantasies and flourishes of gold-thread.” (Hawthorne 92). In allowing her daughter to wear the same colors as Hester’s scarlet and gold A, the audience and the people of the novel who criticize Prynne for her actions associate Hester’s A with her child’s clothes and connect the actions of …show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald on occasion uses the commentary to relate to his own life contextually in 20th century America and create the themes of the American dream, wealth, impossible love, and tragedy, while Hawthorne, respectfully, utilizes his commentary on society to highlight themes such as sin, identity, judgement within Puritan society, and God. While both text effectively utilize color symbolism, the symbolic meanings when used in both novels does not remain the same, as both authors use a variety of colors to help portray their characters, their contextual background such as the mentality of the 1920’s and Puritan life, which can help the reader provide meaning of their texts. Through the further understanding of such uses of symbolism, it is understood that most similarities of such colors and their symbols are drastically different, but share some obvious similarities such as their similar uses in color, but not a shared meaning contextually or