The unreachable entity that surrounds the characters and the themes within “The Great Gatsby” are represented by the color gold. F. Scott Fitzgerald captures the brilliant wealth and success that each character strives for, but may not ever completely reach, by the character’s reflection through color.
Author Kevin Rea states in his article entitled The colour of meaning in The Great Gatsby that“The party 's blend of yellow (hope) and gold (money worship) is significant. It is this quintessentially American mixture which proves to be the undoing of both the protagonist and his nation.” (Paragraph 15) The color gold represents wealth and success, and Rea is suggesting that it was the mixture of Gatsby’s inexplicable need to gain wealth to fulfill his american …show more content…
Yellow comes close to gold, but does not have the exact same connotation or implications within the novel. For example, at Gatsby’s extravagant party Jordan is described as having “golden arms”, but the background cocktail music is described as yellow. This could give the connotation that Jordan is on a higher level than the cocktail dancers or musicians. Their yellow music doesn’t hold as much wealth as even Jordan’s golden arms. Fitzgerald surrounds the characters that are assumed to have the most wealth with more of the color gold. This however brings up speculations of the authenticity or morality of Gatsby’s wealth. Yellow can be seen as an imitation of gold and with this, there is the realization that Gatsby is gaining wealth through unconstitutional means, but the reason that he is attempting this, is for another human being: Daisy. Gatsby is constantly trying to seek the approval of Daisy, and that is why the reader is more prone to blaming Daisy for any wrongdoings, rather that Gatsby. This gives the readers much more leeway when it comes to sympathy towards Gatsby and this is why Fitzgerald still shines a golden light onto Gatsby, despite
Author Kevin Rea states in his article entitled The colour of meaning in The Great Gatsby that“The party 's blend of yellow (hope) and gold (money worship) is significant. It is this quintessentially American mixture which proves to be the undoing of both the protagonist and his nation.” (Paragraph 15) The color gold represents wealth and success, and Rea is suggesting that it was the mixture of Gatsby’s inexplicable need to gain wealth to fulfill his american …show more content…
Yellow comes close to gold, but does not have the exact same connotation or implications within the novel. For example, at Gatsby’s extravagant party Jordan is described as having “golden arms”, but the background cocktail music is described as yellow. This could give the connotation that Jordan is on a higher level than the cocktail dancers or musicians. Their yellow music doesn’t hold as much wealth as even Jordan’s golden arms. Fitzgerald surrounds the characters that are assumed to have the most wealth with more of the color gold. This however brings up speculations of the authenticity or morality of Gatsby’s wealth. Yellow can be seen as an imitation of gold and with this, there is the realization that Gatsby is gaining wealth through unconstitutional means, but the reason that he is attempting this, is for another human being: Daisy. Gatsby is constantly trying to seek the approval of Daisy, and that is why the reader is more prone to blaming Daisy for any wrongdoings, rather that Gatsby. This gives the readers much more leeway when it comes to sympathy towards Gatsby and this is why Fitzgerald still shines a golden light onto Gatsby, despite