Symbolic Meanings of Colors in The Great Gatsby Haibing Zhang PDF

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Green in The great Gatsby...

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Symbolic Meanings of Colors in The Great Gatsby.

Haibing Zhang Studies in World Literature University of Hong Kong

Vibrant, deadly, deceiving, innocent - colors are the dominating symbols utilized by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his masterpiece The Great Gatsby. Daniel J. Schneider, the Chairman of the Department of English for Windham College, states, "The vitality and beauty of F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing are perhaps nowhere more strikingly exhibited than in his handling of the color symbols in The Great Gatsby." Throughout the book characters, places, and objects are given "life" by colors, especially the more prominent ones. The colors of white, yellow, and green are the most eminent, easily distinguishable from the rest, and representing purity, death, and hope. Such strong symbolic colors are seen continually, and exist to provide a higher and more in depth meaning to the book. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece The Gatsby was written in an exceedingly time of social decadence, within which values now not compete a crucial role among the fresh made and wannabee famous, whose life was regarding parties, cash and affairs. On the surface, Fitzgerald’s story conjointly looks to alter success, wealth and love. although the superficial lifetime of the rich and powerful may be a major theme in The nice Gatsby, however, it largely explores underlying complexities and personalities and during this method reveals the negative side of the aspiration to the reader. Corruption, despair and desperate want return in conjunction with idealism, religion and illusions. The protagonist, Jay Gatsby, personifies the aspiration as

he's a person with a dubious background who managed to accomplish an expensive kind of living and to realize everything he wished to possess by his own efforts – except for his nice love, that's Daisy. The nice Gatsby is engineered upon the desperate wishes of the protagonist and divulges a look behind the sparkly facade of the rich. Fitzgerald manages to draw the reader’s attention to vital details and symbols within the text so as to create one with confidence alleged ‘truths’ and about the sham reality of a society that tries to stay up appearances. Consequently, symbols are a necessary device of adding profundity to the text and of permitting the reader to achieve insight into a character’s personality. The foremost vital symbolism applied in The nice Gatsby is color symbolism, inexperienced, white, gray, blue and yellow being the most distinguished colours throughout the novel. During this paper, i will be able to focus on analyzing Fitzgerald’s symbolic use of the colour green supporting the most significant examples and therefore try and expose the means of its appliance in relation to society and therefore the protagonists within the novel.

Although it's not the color mostly applied within the novel, inexperienced is presumably the foremost pregnant color Fitzgerald uses as an emblematic device of showing ideas. In The nice Gatsby, green is preponderantly related to Gatsby’s character because it is principally wont to emphasize his want and his unrealized would like to win his love flower back. As he has already achieved everything in life regarding material success, wealth and power, Gatsby’s solely aim left is to succeed in Daisy’s heart. Therefore, the colour green stands for his unending hope for her love and functions as a symbol of his desire, as it is generally associated with the inexperienced light-weight at flower’s dock. Throughout the novel, the green light consequently functions as a key image that carries a deep meaning. The initial look of the green light happens

once Nick Carraway sees Gatsby for the primary time. He watches him standing lonely on his blue lawn, that is a component of his world of imagination, and Gatsby “stretched out his arms toward the dark water in an exceedingly curious way, and [...] he was trembling” (p. 31). This illustration shows his robust yearning for Daisy and therefore for the fulfillment of his dream which even affects him physically. However, the inexperienced light-weight is simply too far for him to succeed in and can forever keep out of reach as for him flower remains associate degree impossible princess. solely in an notional world of fairytales they might be re-united. Indeed, Gatsby doesn't need to deny the unhappiness of his dream though he assumably is aware of regarding it (this are examined later on) – and then will the talker once he says “I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except one green light, minute and much away” (p. 31). Here the stress is to be placed on “far away” that signifies unattainability. Besides, the only light-weight doesn't nonetheless carry any which means for Nick because it appearance little and insignificant to him.

The unhappiness of Gatsby’s dreams is additionally discovered within the following passage:

“On the inexperienced Sound, stagnant in the heat, one small sail crawled slowly towards the freshman sea. Gatsby’s eyes followed it momentarily; he raised his hand and pointed across the bay. ‘I’m right across from you.’” (p. 105)

In this scene, Gatsby for the primary time watches the green light from the opposite facet of the water, that's from Daisy’s house. Here, the green light is replaced by the green thereforeund, the

inexperienced water, that functions each as an emblem of the space between Gatsby and flower and as a symbol of his unending hope to beat the water and therefore the distance. He says to himself that he's right across from Daisy, so apparently shortly away. His hope of overcoming the distance, however, is as stagnant because the sound. And whereas the sail will slowly move towards its aim, which is diagrammatical by the freshman ocean as a symbol of vitality, Gatsby cannot reach his. However, he doesn't need to prevent basic cognitive process within the green light and rather lives in his world of imagination than admitting that he has lost flower forever.

Gatsby’s denial to {just accept} reality conjointly becomes obvious in an exceedingly scene that takes place at one in all Gatsby’s parties once flower says:

“If you wish to kiss American state any time throughout the evening, Nick, just let me apprehend and I’ll prepare it for you. simply mention my name. Or gift a inexperienced card. I’m giving out green---“ (p. 94)

She is gratingly interrupted by Gatsby, for though he has been awaiting this ‘green card’ as a free price tag to her love for such a protracted time, he's not allowed to beat the space between flower and him. Instead, he will solely watch the inexperienced light-weight at the top of Daisy’s dock that infrequently guarantees him a green card. therefore he interrupts her as a result of he doesn't need to listen to reality however rather carry on appearances....