Colors in Gatby

[Longweird]

Preface: This is a paper on the color usage in The Great Gatsby. It is not that good nor is it that long. I just hope someone will enjoy reading it

The Prismatic Symbol

Colors are the quintessential aspect of the satire for the novel The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the novel in the brief time of prosperity and moral degradation, before the rude awakening of The Great Depression. White is used as an antithesis from what is traditionally perceived. White is representative of innocence and genuinity, whereas in the novel it is used for a lack of substance or a general facade. Green though is closer to what it is used in most other literature but still has a much more materialistic connotation.

Fitzgerald uses two women in a house in West Egg to construct the standard for which white will be used in the novel. These women are Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker. "They were both in white" (Fitzgerald, 12). These women are the epitome of his message. The clothes these women adorn are white and even complimented by a flutter and a ripple. Giving them almost an ethereal appearance. A certain mien that is not concrete or bound to earth. The character traits that accompany this white, shimmering appearance are: superficial, moody, and mendacious. Daisy and Jordan are the baseline of what white represents in this novel. Whenever white is observed by the story’s focus, Nick, it is to show an empty, meaningless, and shallow interior, while still having an attractive aesthetic. Fitzgerald goes to describe the house that Tom and Daisy inhabit. It describes the windows, much like Daisy, as ajar and white. While this is a
only a slight detail, it is used as additional weight to describe her lack of a substantial inner self. Thoughts fly in and, within the same mannerism, thoughts fly out. "The windows were ajar and gleaming white" (Fitzgerald, 12).

Green is used as a symbol of hope, for parts of the novel. In other sections it is used as a presentation of new money. Fitzgerald’s character, Gatsby, has a goal that he has been trying to achieve for an extended amount of time. That goal is to gain the love of one superficial woman dressed in white, Daisy. Daisy lives in a bay opposite to Gatsby. At her bay, more specifically her dock, there is one green light that can be seen at Gatsby’s end. "You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock" ( Fitzgerald, 92). That green light is brought up in many times of the novel and represents Gatsby’s hope that Daisy will be his. Gatsby is in connected to the Dutch sailors never stopped going against the constant flow of the antagonistic nature of reality. They all kept going for the color green.

At the end of the novel, Fitzgerald alludes to the Dutch sailors who came to in search of the “green breast”. These are the first inhabitants that came in search of the freedom that came with the new world. The green breast was the hope of America and the start of the American dream (Fitzgerald, 170).

Fitzgerald uses the colors of The Great Gatsby as a satirical piece on American culture during the 1920s. People at the time were shallow. Money was the need. Money was the way to live life. There was no need for moral responsibility nor a need for morals themselves. The color white was used to represent the shallow nature of which the rich were consistently exuding. Green was different. It was something of a hope for Gatsby to keep driving towards. These colors were the prototypical symbols that gave the novel its perfected satire.

[Luminaria]

Really good!
I like it. Makes me want to read that book.