A Colorful Personality (analysis of the use of colors in The Great Gatsby)

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Very often, colors are used to describe a mood or a feeling. The bright colors of the rainbow are always cheerful, while the dark gray of storm clouds seem to hint gloominess or danger that lies ahead. However, every once and a while, colors are used to describe people or society. The colors that are used in F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby are used in this way. The colors of green, white, and yellow/gold help characterize the main characters in the novel as well as society.



The first color that is introduced to is green. In the beginning, Nick describes a moment when he sees Gatsby stretching his arms out towards …a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. (Fitzgerald 6) Later on in the novel, we learn that Gatsby associates this light with Daisy. Gatsbys time and effort is spent on winning Daisys heart. This is his American Dream. Here, the green light symbolizes Gatsbys hope for a reunion with Daisy. Gatsby has an ideal picture of Daisy in his mind that is nothing close to reality. He thinks that whatever he does, he will succeed in winning over Daisy. At one point in the novel, Gatsby and Daisy are in Gatsbys house looking out the window. The mist comes in and the green light vanishes from their view. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever...Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one. (Fitzgerald 8) Nick makes this observation. Gatsby now has the real thing, so the green light is no longer needed, so it fades away. However, the reader realizes that nothing can replace the ideal of Daisy that Gatsby has created in his mind. When the green light comes back into view, its telling the reader that yet another dream is out of his reach. No matter how much wealth he acquires, he will never achieve his dream. It eluded us then, but thats no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms out farther... (Fitzgerald 18) Nick mentions this at the end of the book as to say that the green light represents that everyone has something they long for that is far off in the distance.

Another color that is used as a symbol is white. White is often associated with Daisy. When she was young, she dressed in white and had a white roadster. She also referred to her girlhood as being a white-girlhood. (Fitzgerald 0) Now she has a white house that has airy-white rooms. Daisys name itself is ironic. Daisies themselves are white just like Daisy herself. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together… (Fitzgerald 187) The white gives Daisy an innocent and naive appearance. It helps characterize her as the unattainable enchanted princess. She uses this as an excuse for her foolishness and hides behind it. Jordan also uses the white symbolism to hide herself. She uses the mask as a shield and implies that she cannot have done anything wrong.




This also ties in with the symbolism of the color gold/yellow. Gold/yellow appears in the novel when dealing with the affluent. It mostly symbolizes old and realistic wealth, such as that of Tom and Daisy. ...she was always an enchanted object...and then as the Golden Girl... (Lelan S. Person, Jr. 166) The way Daisy is described in the previous statement supports the meaning behind the gold/yellow. Just like old money, Daisy is an unattainable object. Also, since she thinks that everything can be perfect with money, she is seen as the Golden Girl. The gold/yellow also stands for the decay of morals caused by wealth that then leads to death. “Daisy could have crashed into another car but, at the last minute, loses heart and runs Myrtle down.” (Samuels 80) This is a perfect example of moral decay. It is not moral to run over someone especially if it is done on purpose. The fact that Daisy could’ve hit another car instead of hitting Tom’s mistress just goes to show that wealth can cause people to deteriorate. It is also seen in Tom and Daisy. They live in East Egg, the one full of old rich people. They are so caught up in possessing wealth that their morals are actually decaying inside of them. No one really notices this because Tom and Daisy have innocence that says they cant have done anything wrong. The moral decay can also be seen in Gatsby. He buys a yellow car and with this he gives up many thing just to acquire this old wealth that Daisy is so attracted to. Yet, in the end, Gatsby doesn’t get what he wants and he is left dead. When you think about the combination of the white and gold/yellow symbolism you might see a physical apparition of an egg. Tom and Daisy are decaying inside (the yellow corresponds to the yolk), yet they are innocent looking on the outside (the white corresponds to the shell).

The colors are symbolized very thoroughly in this novel. It is easily seen how they characterize the main character. The green symbolism is seen through Gatsby as new aspiring wealth, while the white and gold/yellow symbolism is seen through Tom, Daisy and Jordan as old wealth. It helps us separate and understand the difference between the realists and idealists.

Works Cited

1) Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York Simon & Schuster, 15

) Person, Lelan S. Jr. “‘Herstory’ and Daisy Buchanan,” in American Literature, Vol. L, No. , May 178, pp. 50-57; excerpted and reprinted in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Vol. 6, ed. Sharon K. Hall (Detroit Gale Research Company, 18), pp. 166.

) Samuels, Charles Thomas. Essay in Novels for Students, Vol. II, ed. Diane Telgen (Detroit Gale Research, 17), pp. 80.

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