Fifty Shades of Gatsby

Lelani Hicks

Professor Smith

English 110         

November 4, 2010        

                Fifty Shades of Gatsby

        Symbolism is used by F. Scott Fitzgerald to exhibit the representation of the colors green, white and gray. This shows that America materialized its original dream of high deals such as individualism and jubilance with the entelechy that money can’t buy love. Colors have symbolic meanings that often change amongst different emotions, thoughts, scenes, etc. Colors have deep subliminal meanings that affect our thinking and rationally they affect the mood and accentuate the importance of events in the novel.  When studied, the continual use of color and its importance can be established. In The Great Gatsby, the colors green, white and gray symbolize the atmosphere of scenes through a connection with distinct feelings. Many chapters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel show the utilization of colors in the pellucid shade sanctioning readers to get a better understanding of the different characters existence.  Normally to fully comprehend these colors, readers must initially grasp the situations within which they are used. 1[The symbolic green light at the terminus of Daisy’s dock gave Gatsby the conception of an American Dream.] All the while, green is associated with rejuvenating, wealth, magnification, etc. and conveys avarice and envy. 2[In the essence of innocence, purity and accolade, the color white in the novel is additionally  vital because it has been used to portray comeliness, wealth, innocence, purity, cleanliness, and indolence.] Daisy appears too pristine and innocent on the outside (white) however, she is corrupt on the inside. 3[The connection to a barren of lifelessness is associated in the color gray when it comes to “The Valley of Ashes.”] The dullness of this area conveys its lack in spirit and dreariness.

Gatsby’s image of an American Dream was to surmount Daisy, which is whom the green light represents in his dream. The green light is describe as ‘minute and far away’ which makes it appear infeasible to reach.  The green light withal represents society’s desire and the seeming dead cessation of accomplishing the selfish American Dream.   Gatsby’s desire for Daisy is supplementally his desire for the past. Gatsby’s first meet with Daisy was the representation of status and wealth. A woman who was desired by all the puerile men and for Gatsby to surmount Daisy betokened that he was the most worthy.  He reinforces conception that green light represents Daisy, which is his dream. He utilizes the metaphor of traffic lights, where if he wishes to drive toward the green light, first Gatsby will need the money to buy a car, which is in the terminus what he does. He amasses this wealth to use in his perusal of Daisy. However now when he desires Daisy, he also desires the past that he shared with Daisy.

The color white is featured many times in the novel is closely proximately connected with Daisy. White represents the profoundly clean and pristine comeliness. It betokens nobleness and purity. Upon first meeting Daisy people felt that she is impeccable, pristine, noble and innocent. That is why Gatsby was in love with her throughout her life and regards her as a pristine comeliness and his American Dream.  In the novel Daisy is often wearing white once when she met Gatsby for the first time and withal when Nick visited her in the East Egg. All the while Daisy’s designation was withal a kind of white flower, Daisy’s house was plenary of the color of white, for example, “The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside “and “A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags.” All the while, White represents purity, innocence, resplendency, etc. it adscititiously designates shallowness, selfishness, vacuous, vacuity to a great extent in the novel.  In the novel describing Daisy with the color of white, it shows that under the pristine and pulchritudinous appearance, Daisy owns a shallow, gelid and selfish heart inside. Her life is plenary of nothing except luxury and she wastes everyday in insipidness and solitude. What is more, albeit Gatsby has run out of all his youth and zealousness for her, even sacrifice his life, Daisy shows no dolefulness about his death but just goes out for peregrinating with her husband, which shows her selfish and not caring one way or the other personality.  White hints that albeit the upper class is affluent in their material life, they are quite poor and decadent in their sense of right and erroneous and are irresponsible and callous to the society, to their life and to other people. White denotes Daisy’s vacuousness, superficial, hypocrisy and incognizance. Whereas Gatsby regards Daisy as his dream, so it shows that his dream is illuding and worthless, and it adscititiously hints that his American Dream is doomed to be ruined.