Color is all around you. It makes up everything that you encounter in your life. You use color to describe who you are and what you like. Whether you are wearing a specific color of clothing, or being drawn to an advertisement that has a color you like color is around you every day. The question is what is behind these colors, and what do they mean to you and the world around us. People use colors to symbolize different aspects of their life. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, an idealist with a dream to win the love of his life is surrounded by different colors. Jay Gatsby and all the people he encounters while trying to win his love Daisy Buchanan wear and possess items of many colors that symbolize who they are and how they
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The first Fitzgerald uses symbolism with the color green is when we are introduced to Gatsby and the green light, “Involuntarily I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald 21). The green light symbolizes Gatsby’s hopes and dreams of one day reuniting with his old love Daisy Buchanan. Nick first sees Gatsby reaching out to the green light late at night. When Nick sees him Gatsby is reaching out to Daisy longing to be with her. In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald also uses green to symbolize disgust, “With an effort Wilson left the shade and support of the doorway, and breathing hard, unscrewed the cap of the tank. In the sunlight his face was green” (Fitzgerald 123). George Wilson is full of disgust, and sickened by the whole ordeal of his wife having an affair, hence his green face. By the end of the story everyone’s faces are as sick and green as George’s. In the story green is used to symbolize another emotion, “Green… is traditionally associated with spring, hope, and youth. However one possible meaning of green is envy” (Samkanashvili). George …show more content…
In this novel yellow is used to mean something that it usually does not, “yellow is often associated with happiness, but in this novel it goes hand in hand with violence and negativity” (World Lit). You see yellow associated with violence and negativity when Myrtle Wilson is murdered with Gatsby’s yellow car. Gatsby’s yellow car is one of the main sources of symbolism in this novel. It portrays many meanings, like violence when it hit Myrtle, or it can also portray wealth, “with the ubiquitous yellow~ symbol of the money, the crass materialism that corrupts the dream and ultimately destroys it” (Schneider). Yellow symbolizes money because yellow is the color of Gatsby’s car. Gatsby loves to flaunt his money. He does this with his car because it is very flashy; he wants people to know that he paid a lot of money for it. Along with wealth yellow represents Gatsby’s inevitable attempts to chase his dream, “Yellow is the color of gold that Gatsby thought he needed to purchase his dream” (Samkanashvili). He uses his wealth to purchase items such as his car to try and buy his dream of winning back Daisy, and being accepted into the East Egg society. Because Gatsby tries to do this it makes people see him more like new money than they did before when he was just throwing parties and having a good time. He now is being flamboyant and flaunting his wealth to make sure people know he has
The first Fitzgerald uses symbolism with the color green is when we are introduced to Gatsby and the green light, “Involuntarily I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald 21). The green light symbolizes Gatsby’s hopes and dreams of one day reuniting with his old love Daisy Buchanan. Nick first sees Gatsby reaching out to the green light late at night. When Nick sees him Gatsby is reaching out to Daisy longing to be with her. In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald also uses green to symbolize disgust, “With an effort Wilson left the shade and support of the doorway, and breathing hard, unscrewed the cap of the tank. In the sunlight his face was green” (Fitzgerald 123). George Wilson is full of disgust, and sickened by the whole ordeal of his wife having an affair, hence his green face. By the end of the story everyone’s faces are as sick and green as George’s. In the story green is used to symbolize another emotion, “Green… is traditionally associated with spring, hope, and youth. However one possible meaning of green is envy” (Samkanashvili). George …show more content…
In this novel yellow is used to mean something that it usually does not, “yellow is often associated with happiness, but in this novel it goes hand in hand with violence and negativity” (World Lit). You see yellow associated with violence and negativity when Myrtle Wilson is murdered with Gatsby’s yellow car. Gatsby’s yellow car is one of the main sources of symbolism in this novel. It portrays many meanings, like violence when it hit Myrtle, or it can also portray wealth, “with the ubiquitous yellow~ symbol of the money, the crass materialism that corrupts the dream and ultimately destroys it” (Schneider). Yellow symbolizes money because yellow is the color of Gatsby’s car. Gatsby loves to flaunt his money. He does this with his car because it is very flashy; he wants people to know that he paid a lot of money for it. Along with wealth yellow represents Gatsby’s inevitable attempts to chase his dream, “Yellow is the color of gold that Gatsby thought he needed to purchase his dream” (Samkanashvili). He uses his wealth to purchase items such as his car to try and buy his dream of winning back Daisy, and being accepted into the East Egg society. Because Gatsby tries to do this it makes people see him more like new money than they did before when he was just throwing parties and having a good time. He now is being flamboyant and flaunting his wealth to make sure people know he has