F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is a classic of American literature that uses color symbolism to explore themes of wealth, social class, love, and more. Color plays an important role in Fitzgerald’s descriptive writing style and in building the atmosphere and meanings of the novel. Looking closely at Fitzgerald’s use of color reveals insights into the characters, themes, and the 1920s setting of the novel. This article will provide an overview of the symbolic meanings of key colors and how Fitzgerald used color to bring deeper resonance to The Great Gatsby.
Overview of Important Colors in The Great Gatsby
Here is a quick overview of some of the main colors used symbolically in The Great Gatsby:
| Color | Meaning & Significance |
|---|---|
| Green | Represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future, as well as money and prosperity |
| White | Suggests purity, innocence, and sometimes joy |
| Gray | Represents lifelessness, bleakness, and drudgery |
| Yellow | Symbolizes decay, corruption, and dishonesty |
| Gold | Implies wealth, luxury, and the illusion of riches |
As we explore more deeply how Fitzgerald employs color imagery, keep these symbolic associations in mind.
Green: Gatsby’s Hope and the “Green Light”
The color green has special significance in The Great Gatsby as a symbol of Gatsby’s aspirations, hopes, and dreams. One of the most famous examples of the symbolic use of green is the green light located across the bay from Gatsby’s mansion. The green light sits at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s dock and Gatsby gazes longingly at it each night as it represents his dream of one day reuniting and recapturing his lost love with Daisy. Green reflects Gatsby’s forward-looking attitude and how his hopeful nature defines him. However, green can also symbolize money and material wealth, and Gatsby associates the color with his quest to win Daisy back through ostentatious displays of riches. Overall, green symbolizes how Gatsby’s dreams give him purpose and meaning in a corrupt world dominated by the pursuit of wealth.
White: Purity and Joy
The color white often has positive connotations of purity, innocence, and even joy in The Great Gatsby. For instance, when Nick Carraway first arrives at his cousin Daisy’s home in East Egg, he describes it as “a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial Mansion” (Fitzgerald, 14). The white of Daisy’s mansion gives it an airy, welcoming beauty full of possibility. Daisy frequently wears white, suggesting her ethereal charm, femininity, and social grace. However, white clothes can also get stained and dirty, foreshadowing how Daisy’s pure facade masks her moral corruption. When she wears an elaborate white dress in Chapter 7 and lets Gatsby gaze at her, their nostalgic reunion seems luminous and perfect. Yet by the end, white symbolizes how Daisy is unable to live up to Gatsby’s spotless ideal. Overall, white signifies a brightness that quickly loses its luster in the Valley of Ashes and high society.
Gray: Lifelessness and Drudgery
In contrast to the brightness of white, the gray color palette in The Great Gatsby generally represents lifelessness, bleakness, and working-class drudgery. The Valley of Ashes between West Egg and New York City is depicted as a wasteland covered in gray ash with gray locals living joyless lives. When the characters pass through, the gray scenery outside the train windows creates discomfort and dreariness. Myrtle Wilson, stuck in her lifeless marriage to George Wilson, lives above their gray gas station, showing how the Wilsons’ poverty drains their world of vitality. Dr. T.J. Eckleburg’s faded gray eyes gaze bleakly over the valley, suggesting a godless, decaying world. Gray represents the loss of hopes and dreams in the social wasteland between old money (East Egg), new money (West Egg), and the destitute poverty of the Valley of Ashes.
Yellow: Decay and Corruption
Yellow is tied to decay and corruption in the novel. Even the natural beauty surrounding Gatsby’s parties and mansion cannot fully hide the moral rot within. When Nick attends one of Gatsby’s lavish parties for the first time, he is enthralled by the “yellow cocktail music” floating across the garden (Fitzgerald 40). However, yellow music suggests something artificial, showing how Gatsby creates an illusion of grandeur and happiness that covers for his guests’ unsavory behavior. Later, the married Daisy and Gatsby begin an affair, making their dream of love take on a more sordid, decayed hue. After Myrtle’s death, Nick notices yellow leaves on the bushes at Gatsby’s house, symbolizing Gatsby’s own decay as his obsessive pursuit of Daisy has led to tragedy. Yellow finally predominates in the story’s bleak conclusion, as Gatsby is left floating dead in his yellow pool. The corruption that wealth causes comes to fruition in the ugly yellows permeating Gatsby’s fantasies.
Gold: Gatsby’s Gilded Illusions
Gold, with its associations with extravagant wealth, luxury, and the striking but superficial allure of riches, aptly represents Jay Gatsby and his lavish lifestyle. Gatsby wears a pink suit, silver shirt, and gold tie when he reunites with Daisy in Nick’s cottage. The gaudy outfit reflects Gatsby’s taste for ostentatious displays of wealth as he tries to impress Daisy and prove he is worthy of her. Gatsby’s pink suit could represent his sensitive hope while the flashy gold suggests wealth used to mask his criminal dealings. Nick describes one of Gatsby’s decadent parties as shimmering with “golden girls” dancing on the beach, showing how Gatsby surrounds himself with shine and shimmer (42). Gatsby wants to achieve old money respectability for himself and Daisy, but his enormous mansion and parties show him for who he really is—”the king of the nouveau riche”, as Tom calls him (130). Gold underscores the illusions, lies, and superficiality behind Jay Gatsby’s made-up identity and quest for status.
Deeper Analysis of Color Symbolism
Looking more closely at key scenes, Fitzgerald’s careful use of colors reveals additional layers of symbolism and emotion in The Great Gatsby.
The Green Light
In one of the most famous passages from The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald describes Gatsby gazing longingly at the green light across the bay:
“…he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way… a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock” (21-22).
On the surface, this vivid image captures Gatsby reaching towards a light that represents his physical proximity to his lost love, Daisy, who lives across the bay. However, the green brightness shining through the black night also symbolizes Gatsby’s optimism and unrelenting hope that keeps him searching for meaning and fulfillment in a world shrouded in darkness. Green’s associations with money become intertwined with Gatsby’s private longings for love and happiness. This powerfully evocative scene has inspired everything from book covers to movie adaptations to endless analysis. Fitzgerald’s sparing use of color – a single “green light” surrounded by black water – sets the tone for the novel while revealing central insights about Jay Gatsby.
The Cream Rolls Royce
In Chapter 7, Gatsby takes Daisy out for a joy ride in his impressive cream-colored Rolls Royce to show off his wealth and seriousness about winning her back:
“The sun glared down on the cream-colored car as it raced along the Highway” (68).
The cream color represents luxury and hints at applied artifice, as true aristocrats simply have old family money, not showy new money like Gatsby. Driving fast in the Rolls Royce lets Gatsby display his wealth as he tries recapturing Daisy through material excess and creating an illusion of status. However, applied colors like cream also suggest contamination beneath the shiny surface, foreshadowing the tragic events to come. The bright sun’s glare obscures the car and passengers instead of illuminating them, hinting at concealed truths and building tension. Fitzgerald’s color choices add symbolic depth to this pivotal scene where Gatsby tries overwriting his humble past and Daisy weighs leaving her husband Tom.
The Yellow Party
Nick’s observations when he attends one of Gatsby’s decadent parties again let color symbolize decay lurking beneath revelry:
“In the main hall a bar with a real brass rail was set up, and stocked with gins and liquors and with cordials so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another” (41).
Nick’s description of intoxicated partygoers oblivious to the faded liquor brands implies the parties have a desperate, drunken air that covers for moral emptiness. The gaudy, drunken parties cannot truly sustain Gatsby or his guests, hinting at the corruption and human costs of Gatsby’s excessive lifestyle. Fitzgerald’s use of evocative colors like “golden”, “yellow cocktail music”, and forgotten cordials creates a vivd scene symbolic of wasted lives and the hollowness of the nouveau riche.
Conclusion
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald employs color symbolism to create deeper meaning, reinforce emotions, and hint at symbolic connections across scenes. The green light across the bay encapsulates Gatsby’s longing and hopes, gray ash creates dreary landscapes, yellows and golds mesh luxury with decay, and more. Paired with metaphors, imagery, and Fitzgerald’s elegant prose style, color symbolism helps make The Great Gatsby a nuanced and haunting American masterwork rich with atmospheric details. The novel’s colors make tangible the inner lives of its characters and the themes of a society obsessed with wealth yet rotting at its core. Fitzgerald’s judicious and evocative use of color gives The Great Gatsby its sensuous feel, haunting mood, and iconic visual language.
