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Katelynn Nguyen

Dr. Lim

AP Language and Composition

03 April 2017

Painting the Novel With Colors

Colors appeal to how someone is perceived and provokes emotions. Authors often use

color symbolism in their writing to give deeper meanings toward the scenes, characters, and

objects in the novel. Throughout the novel of ​The Great Gatsby​, Fitzgerald not only uses color as

symbolism, but he uses it to describe and shape the various characters in the novel.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses white to portray innocence and class. He uses

white several times while talking about Daisy and children because white is a pure, innocent

color, but Fitzgerald also uses white to talk about palaces and "Old Money" to portray the

upper-upper class. Fitzgerald uses the color white symbolize purity and a mask covering

dishonesty. Daisy represents innocence and purity as she often is associated with the color white.

Even with her name, the flower daisy is surrounded by white petals and a golden center which

symbolism the corruption within her (Samkanashvili). She wears white dresses and recalls her

“white girlhood”, and this use of color helps her to characterize herself who becomes incarnate

as Gatsby’s dream (Fitzgerald 21). When Gatsby throws a bunch of color shirts at Daisy, she

starts weeping which shows that she realizes she no longer is pure. She is corrupted by having an

affair with Gatsby and later on with the murder of Myrtle. Though white is associated with have

an innocence, Fitzgerald utilizes the color to show the corruption within the character and

society.
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Yellow and gold represents the enchanting and corruption of wealth. These colors are

often used through having a golden opportunity or the golden ages. Not only is gold perceived as

being wealthy but it also signifies death. In Gatsby’s party, the turkeys are "bewitched to dark

gold" whilst Jordan and Nick sit with "two girls in yellow" and this demonstrates how Gatsby is

using these parties to try to fit in with the "old money" crowd (Fitzgerald 41). Daisy, who is only

called "the golden girl" once Gatsby realizes that her voice, her main feature, is "full of money"

(Fitzgerald 120). Wealth is the American Dream, however Fitzgerald signifies that with wealth

there is corruption. This could be seen with the yellow rimmed glasses of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg that

looks over many deaths and Gatsby’s yellow car when Daisy murders Myrtle (Crash Course).

The symbolism clearly associates money with destruction; the ash heaps are the outcome of the

decadent lifestyle led by the rich.

The use of the color green is associated with various emotions such as hope and envy in

the novel. The vivid green light at the end of the dock demonstrates the hope that Gatsby holds

on to in being able to live a loving life with Daisy. It represents everything that haunts and

beckons Gatsby: the physical and emotional distance between him and Daisy, the gap between

the past and the present, the promises of the future, and the powerful lure of that other green stuff

he craves—money. The use of a ​green light​ at the end of a landing stage to signal a romantic

reunion, is similar to the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. The initial appearance of the

green light occurs when Nick sees Gatsby for the first time, standing in front of his mansion and

stretching out his arms to ‘a single green light, minute and far away that might have been the end

of dock’ ( Fitzgerald 131-133). However, green also corresponds with jealousy – with Wilson,

whose sunlit face is paradoxically green ( Fitzgerald 123). Green became significantly associated
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with both the green light and the “green breast of the new world”, uniting the hope and promise

of Gatsby’s dream with that of America itself (Elmore 438). This is significant because when

applied to the book because it could resemble how the color green could affect the various

characters in the novel.

Fitzgerald builds and shapes the characters in the novel using a world of colors,

elaborating on their individuality and giving insight on their personalities as well. Colors used in

the novel play an important effect in shaping the characters, developing the plot, and deepening

the theme of the novel. It makes this novel more profound and significant. The colors utilized in

the book connect the readers to the characters and have the readers analyze what each character

is like.
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Works Cited

Elmore, A. E. “Color and Cosmos in ‘The Great Gatsby.’” ​The Sewanee Review​, vol. 78, no. 3,

1970, pp. 427–443., www.jstor.org/stable/27541823.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. ​The Great Gatsby. ​New York: Scribner, 2004. Print.

“Like Pale Gold - The Great Gatsby Part I: Crash Course English Literature #4.” ​YouTube,

uploaded by Crash Course, 12 December 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=xw9Au9OoN8.

Samkanashvili, Maia. “Uses of symbols and colors in ​The Great Gatsby ​by F. Scott Fitzgerald.”

Journal of Education.​ ​PDF​.