The Importance of Color
F. Scott Fitzgeralds book, the great Gatsby, takes place in the fictional peninsulas of East Egg and West Egg just after World War I during the prohibition era. The book is about the dreams of one man who is stuck in the past, embodying the American dream and his eventual destruction because of the corruption of the American dream. From both the side of this story, there is an underlying theme of power gained from wealth and artificial social status. All throughout the book, the Great Gatsby, there are many types of color symbolism, mainly referring to the colors gold and white for money and emptiness respectively; the more prominent of these symbols are the character Daisy, the clothing and major items, and the Valley of Ashes.
Fitzgerald puts a lot of emphasis on a major character, Daisy, in his novel, The Great Gatsby. It begins with her name, Daisy, and use of the colors of a daisy with its golden center surrounded by white petals. The golden center of the flower represents the money and sense of power that Daisy bases her decisions and life around. The white colors of the petals represent the overall emptiness of the material artifacts that Daisy surrounds herself with and the falseness of her life. Here, white also represents the shallowness rather than purity of Daisy and those that she tends to group with and identify herself with. Fitzgerald also uses symbolism in the color of Daisys hair. Daisy tends to have two sides, a blonde, empty headed side and a brunette, mysterious side. This combination of the two sides of Daisy is part of Fitzgeralds conflicting emotions about losing his first love, Ginevra King, and almost losing his second love (eventually his wife), Zelda Sayre (Korenman). The side of Daisy that is mostly seen throughout the book is her blonde, empty-headed, shallowness. A great example is when Tom Buchanan confronts Gatsby about the affair with his wife Daisy (showing Toms shallowness as well). In the end, Daisy chooses to stay with Tom, who has abused her and cheated on her, to keep her power and wealth when given the alternative of love with less power and wealth (Fitzgerald 134-135).
Another powerful area of color symbolism in The Great Gatsby is the color of the clothing used by people of the different social statuses, especially highlighted in the contrasts of the items worn by the wealthy as compared to the poor. This is best exemplified by the character Myrtle, who, in chapter 2 of the book begins in the Valley of Ashes in a dark brown-gray dress, but ends her day after three increasing lighter changes of clothes in a light cream colored dress. The changes in the colors of her clothes are used to represent a change in Myrtles state of mind and of her social class when she is with Tom Buchanan instead of her husband.
Another important example relating to color symbolism is Gatsbys car. The color of the car is described as a cream or yellow color. In this instance, the ideal of the cream color is portraying Gatsbys attempt to show off his wealth to earn Daisys love, and an attempt to out compete Tom Buchanan in his wealth. The yellow color of the car is also used insidiously to lead the reader to Gatsbys car, shown in chapter 7, when Daisy ran over Myrtle (Fitzgerald 139-144). The only light in the room in Mr. Wilsons home with Myrtles body is yellow, foreshadowing that the car was Gatsbys (Fitzgerald 138).
A very large and important area in The Great Gatsby is the Valley of Ashes. Throughout the book it is generally described as being a gray color, usually symbolizing hopelessness, those who had corrupted their American Dream, or those who had given up on themselves. Although most of the colors from the valley are grays, there are the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. The eyes on the billboard are described as a blue color with yellow spectacles (Fitzgerald 23-24), one of the only such items in the book. The blue tends to signify a type of sadness, approaching depression with what is around them, but also, they eyes symbolize a type of omniscience, and neutrality concerning the issues set before them. The yellow color of the glasses on the billboard foreshadows a tragedy yet to occur near the valley, in this case, the death of Myrtle Wilson (Fitzgerald 138-139) and Mr. Wilsons murder of Jay Gatsby and eventual suicide (Fitzgerald 161-162).
When reading The Great Gatsby, one can be sure to find many hidden meanings behind any action of a character, color, or description. Within the book the yellows and whites are used to display wealth, corruption, and emptiness. Even though Fitzgerald used yellow as a symbol of wealth, he also used the color yellow as a color of foreboding of tragic events yet to come. When Daisy and Gatsby are reunited in the book, Daisy appears to have truly missed Gatsby but, in the end, is just using him to get back at her own husband for cheating on her. Throughout the entire book Fitzgerald uses many colors to symbolize the different emotions of the characters and to symbolize the essence of the American Dream.
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Paperback. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print.
"Only Her Hairdresser...": Another Look at Daisy Buchanan. Joan S. Korenman, American Literature. Vol. 46, No. 4 (Jan., 1975), pp. 574-578. Published by: Duke University Press. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2924582
Already have an account? Log In Now
6673