Essay On Colors In The Great Gatsby

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The colors of The Great Gatsby
“People are so busy dreaming the American Dream, fantasizing about what they could be or have a right to be, that they 're all asleep at the switch. Consequently we are living in the Age of Human Error.” Says American author Florence King. King could have been talking about the characters in F. Scotts Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The great Gatsby is about the roaring twenties when wealth and the American Dream meant a lot to people. Gatsby is not actually interested in achieving the American dream but feels like doing so he will be able to win back the heart of Daisy, who is stuck, like Florence King said, in a dream world were they need everything. The American Dream has been defined as the ideal that every
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In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the colors green, gold, and grey to symbolically show the wealth in the American dream, which ultimately proves to be shallow and false, these colors also represent Gatsby’s quest to obtain the American Dream to impress …show more content…
In the book when Gatsby shows Nick and Daisy his bedroom, Nick notices Gatsby’s decorations. Nick narrates, “His bedroom was the simplest of all—expect where…the dresser was garnished with a toilet set of pure dull gold” (91). Throughout the book the reader will notice that most things that are described as gold are utilitarian, they are just for a specific use and have no deeper meaning than what they are. This shows that the charters chose to have these simple objects to be gold and show off that everything they own, down to the smallest things will show wealth. Earlier, when Daisy and Tom are at Gatsby’s party, Tom wants to go off and talk to people and Daisy says to him, “’And if you want to take down any addresses here’s my little gold pencil’” (105). The author, again, choses to describes the characters basic items to be gold. Interestingly, Daisy specifies that her pencil is gold, because it is a fact that matters to her, as it is to everyone who is after the American Dream. Earlier in the book when Gatsby wants Nick to invite Daisy and himself to Nicks house for tea, Gatsby arrives later than expected. Nick narrates, “An hour later the front door opened nervously, and Gatsby in a white flannel suit…and gold-colored tie hurried in” (90). A tie may not be utilitarian, but it is nothing more than an article of clothing. Also, the author decided to have Gatsby wear a gold tie when he sees

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