Colors are a powerful form of communication used to convey what words cannot. Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism in the form of color is on display in nearly every chapter of The Great Gatsby. To understand his use of color as a symbol, a reader must recognize the situations in which they are used. Fitzgerald applies colors to his characters to hint at their personalities. The colors are intentionally repeated multiple times to establish a significance between them and the characters personality they are used to symbolize. Therefore, to understand each character entirely, colors must be considered. Throughout The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald uses color symbolism to show how people mask their personalities to hide from the truth which results in negative…
Nick escorted Daisy into his residence only to discover Gatsby was not in the living room. Nick did not need to wonder long because “there was a light dignified knocking at the front door… Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes” (86). The purpose of his action was to deceive Daisy and make her believe he was not waiting for her. While an innocent lie, it is already giving a dishonest start to the reunion between Jay Gatsby and…
The Great Gatsby had many themes in this book. One of the themes is that a person’s social Determines on the weather of the day. This theme is shown during the book, showing the moods of each character.…
One way Fitzgerald portrays his characters as confined by the world around them is through his use of pathetic fallacy. The phrase ‘weather-beaten’ is used to describe Nick’s bungalow on the West Egg and this implied that it wasn’t just the people in ‘The Great Gatsby’ that the weather and change bore down on, but the buildings too. When Nick first visits Tom Buchanan at his home, Fitzgerald says the two men talk on ‘the sunny porch’ with the sunshine here being presented as a sense of optimism that Nick can find companionship with a man he knew at ‘Yale’. When Nick talks to Daisy during that first visit, he tells her there’s a ‘persistent wail all night’ along the shore of where they’ve left; Nick is bowing to Daisy’s desire to be missed by personifying nature to allow it to chase after her, much like Gatsby. Sunshine again is used by Fitzgerald to present those who are indulgently wealthy when Nick visits Tom and Myrtle’s apartment which was ‘full of cheerful sun’ until night time and alcohol were brought into the story. Alcohol is usually accompanied with darkness within the novel, to reflect…
Gatsby’s love with Daisy is depicted when they are both looking out the window at the pink clouds above the sea line (Fitzgerald 101). In the end of chapter 7, Gatsby’s love for Daisy is also shown. When he waits outside her house in almost a stalking manner just to make sure she gets to bed safely. While he is standing out there, his pink suit is described as glowing underneath the moon (Fitzgerald 153). This pink suit symbolizes his love for Daisy. This general color can also mean something completely different. It can also be a symbol for death or dangerous events. An example of this death color is shown in this quote from the end of chapter 8: “The touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg of compass, a thin red circle in the water (Fitzgerald 173).” The red is not only suppose to stand as an illustration of the blood in the pool but as a representation of Gatsby being…
The correlation is especially prominent when Daisy and Gatsby meet again after five years of no contact. For example, when Daisy is late arriving for tea at Nick’s house, it is pouring rain outside. The rain matches the gloomy and worrisome thoughts Gatsby is having. Later, the weather is mistier and less rainy when Daisy arrives. This reflects how Gatsby is less stressed now that she’s there. Even though she’s arrived, Gatsby believes that the entire ordeal is a, “a terrible, terrible mistake” and takes awhile to calm down (66). The rain matches his emotions because it begins pouring again to match his freak out. Throughout the entire situation the rain was mimicking the emotions that Gatsby was feeling. The rain only stops once Gatsby and Daisy have had a conversation and Gatsby is filled with joy. While Gatsby has a, “new well-being” radiating from him, Nick notices that it has stopped raining (67). As Gatsby’s emotions raise and plateau, the rain reflects…
Nick describes Gatsby's thoughts in saying “A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about . . . like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees” (161). This ominous imagery directly portends Gatsby’s murder by Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson is described as gliding towards Gatsby in a sort of supernatural way, in keeping with Fitzgerald's way of portraying something on the fringe of reality as a ghost. Wilson is on the fringe here in several ways, first through his belief that Gatsby killed Myrtle and second, his own mental state of a man so distraught that he is near death himself. Wilson kills Gatsby, the ultimate man of what is unreal, due to a misguided vision about something that Gatsby didn’t do. This whole quotation captures the elusive truth about Gatsby. It describes a world where things don’t have to be real and dreams, things that are real, but only to the person who sees them and where dreams come true in a steady stream. This is the world in which Gatsby lives, on the border of substance and nonentity, where dreams flow like water. Gatsby gets everything he dreams of through his realization of himself with his mansion, his millions and above all, Daisy. It is then ironic that everything that broke right for Gatsby comes crashing down…
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism and adds complexity to the characters and deepens our understanding to their true identity. There is always a deeper thought into everything that happens.…
Sometimes a symbol is all you need to say a thousand words. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby the lavish lifestyle of many of the characters ultimately leads to major consequences as their actions play a part in the crumbling American Dream. The tragic story of love, greed, and secrets exploits the toxic lifestyle of Gatsby, Daisy, and others in both West and East Egg. The significance of the many symbolic elements in The Great Gatsby reveals the themes that led to the downfall of many of the characters.…
Throughout the story “The Great Gatsby” there are countless symbols that pop out to the reader. Symbols are so apparent that there is not a chapter missing at least one. F. Scott Fitzgerald does an exceptional job at situating symbols in the text. However, there are a select few that stand out over the others for being most controversial…
Symbolism, the appropriation of an object or word to represent an abstract idea of quality, is used in literature in order to communicate a deeper meaning and facilitate weaving the thematic intricacies of the plot with one another. In the highly acclaimed novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, symbols are mentioned frequently to provide insight, such as the omniscient eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleberg, the mysterious Valley of Ashes, and the glowing green light Gatsby finds himself mesmerized with. The green light Gatsby reaches out for at the end of Daisy's east egg dock represents his hopes and dreams, and is symbolic of Daisy as his ultimate key to success, not only romantically, but monetarily and socially, exemplifying…
In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he uses symbolism in such detailed way. Fitzgerald integrates symbolism into the book so well that it is necessary to read it several times to fully understand it. Maureen Corrigan quotes “Many of us first read it when we were too young to fully comprehend its power.” Even a critic on the book itself had to read the story many times to fully understand all that the book has to offer. Fitzgerald focuses on three main themes in “The Great Gatsby” they are time, loss of appearance, and perspective. Most of the book’s structure is in one of these categories. In order to fully understand the book, we must better understand these three themes.…
Gatsby's gardener interrupts a conversation between Nick and Gatsby to tell Gatsby that he plans to drain the pool. The previous day was the hottest of the summer, but autumn is in the air this morning, and the gardener worries that falling leaves will clog the pool drains. Gatsby tells the gardener to wait a day; he has never used the pool, he says, and wants to go for a swim. I think significance of the pool is that it's the only thing that can cool gatsby off emotionally, and also it represents his last attempt…
He begins to see things as they are, and not just for Daisy. For example, had he seen a flower before, he might have associated it with Daisy. Now, however, he would just see it as it is: a nice flower. When Nick is visiting Gatsby in the morning, Gatsby mentions to Nick that: “‘I’ve never used that pool all summer.’” This is a symbol that he has changed in this last portion of the novel (Fitzgerald 153). He is going to go for a swim for the first time all summer. While he is in the pool, he realizes that he has wasted his life on Daisy. In this moment, Gatsby can finally see clearly. It is impossible to know what Gatsby was thinking as he was shot, however one may speculate that he was ready to die. His entire dream was destroyed and he knew there was no way to salvage…
When the chapter begins, Nick returns from a date with Jordan Baker, but when he arrives home he, “was afraid for a moment that [his] house was on fire. Two o’clock and the whole corner of the peninsula was blazing with light” (Fitzgerald 81). To his relief his house is not ablaze, but is surprised to find that the very bright house belongs to Gatsby, in which he tells him that, “Your place looks like the World’s Fair” (81). Nick’s description of Gatsby’s house not only shows how much wealth Gatsby has, but additionally foreshadows that he is secretly preparing for Daisy in the hopes that when she arrives to Nick’s house, she’ll be curious as to who lives next door to him. In preparation for Daisy, Gatsby begins to worry about the status of Nick’s grass since, “there was a sharp line where [Nick’s] ragged lawn ended and the darker, well-kept expanse of [Gatsby’s] began” (82) he sends a servant over to Nick’s house to have it cut. Between his over the top house decorations and sending…