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The Use of Creative Color Throughoutout F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

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F. Scott Fitzgerald creatively utilizes colors throughout his novel, The Great Gatsby, not only to provide the reader with a rich visual image of the scene taking place, but also to convey certain symbols within the story. To begin with, one must understand what each color symbolizes. Green symbolizes hope, blue symbolizes illusion, red means violence or love, yellow illustrates wealth or death, white is innocence, and gray or black symbolizes corruption. The reader can see that color symbolism is used to characterize Tom Buchanan. Another character, Daisy Buchanan, is also associated with a few different colors. The usage of colors in The Great Gatsby conveys many ideas―personalities of the characters, foreshadowing, events in the story, …show more content…

After Myrtle’s death, a pink light is shown from Daisy’s window at her home―showing how violence has been mixed into Daisy’s innocent character. Another character, Jordan Baker, is also associated with color within the novel. Jordan Baker is a friend of Daisy Buchanan’s and a relatively famous golf player. At the beginning of the novel, Jordan is described as having gray eyes, so the reader can assume first-hand that she must be associated with some kind of corruption. Later on in the novel, the reader finds that Jordan was accused of cheating during a golf tournament―which is likely the cause of why Jordan is associated with being corrupt: “At her first big golf tournament there was...a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round. The thing approached the proportions of a scandal―then died away” (57). Therefore, the reader may understand why corruption is symbolized by Jordan’s gray eyes from this quote. Like Daisy, Jordan is also associated with wealth―and this is mostly conveyed in her “slender golden arm” (43) and yellow hair. She is famous for her golf career, and shows up to Gatsby’s party, which is why she must be associated with wealth and high status. Therefore, color is a very prominent aspect of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. Daisy is most often associated

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