The Vivid spectrum of color in ' Great gastby ' or symbolism of the novel great gastby

1. The Vivid Spectrum of
colors in ‘The Great
Gatsby'
-Prepared by kavita Chauhan
●
●

2. ● Personal Information:
Name : Kavita N. Chauhan
Roll No. : 10
Enrollment No. : 5108230010
Semester : 2cond.
Paper No. : 106
Paper Code : 22399
Paper Name : The Twentieth Century Literature: 1900 to world war II
Topic : The Vivid Spectrum of colors in ‘The Great Gatsby’
Submitted to: Smt.S.B.Gardi,Department of English,MKBU
E-mail : kavitanchauhan2002@gmail.com

3. ● Introduction:
● Brief about Novel:
● The Vivid Spectrum of colors:
● Conclusion:
● References:
● Points to ponder:

4. ● Introduction:
In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, symbols are an important and
integral part of what makes it a great novel. Though there are
numerous and different aspects that could be explored,
emphasizes several colors used for symbolism in the novel, for
example, green, white, silver, yellow and golden. The writer is
simultaneously a painter who makes his writing very visual and
bright, as he mostly uses “pure” colors, not shades, to make the
picture clear. These colors give us a great insight into the characters
and their lives. Symbolism reflects what life in the 1920’s was like,
through Fitzgerald’s eyes.

5. ● Brief about Novel:
The Great Gatsby is an amalgamation of love, power,
and the American Dream. Set in the roaring twenties
and largely occurring outside New York City, the novel
targets the American Dream while narrating a love
story between Daisy and Jay Gatsby. Nick Carraway is
one of the main characters who narrates the tale as he
reminisces about his life, friends, and society. Nearly a
century has passed since F. Scott Fitzgerald first
published his fourth novel in 1925. Even though the
novel initially faced large criticism, resentment, and
“did not sell well” The Great Gatsby is acclaimed and
globally recognized today as a classic novel. Published:1925

6. ● The Vivid Spectrum of colors:
● In the novel is important of color-symbolism and the complex pattern of
contrasting light and dark colors.
● Green color:
● White color:
● Yellow & Golden color:
● Silver & Black color:
● Gray color:
● Blue color:
● Red & Pink Color:

7. ● Green color:
Positive Significance—Youth and Love: Green is a vibrant and hopeful
color. In the novel, green symbolizes Gatsby’s dream and wealth. The
port’s impressive green dock lights appear to be Daisy’s incarnation,
symbolizing Gatsby’s love.
Negative Meaning—Impossible Dream and Tragedy: The green light
that never goes out at night symbolizes his pursuit of a dream that has
never been realized in his life.
color number of times collocations. meaning character it is associated with
green light
green face
green house
green golf-links
green jersey
5
1
1
1
1
Green
romantic reunion, hope + once - death
envy
hope, money
nature
hope
Wilson
Gastby
Jordan Baker
Gastby
Gastby
(sun)
(Samkanashvili)

8. ● White color:
The symbolism of white in character like Daisy and Jardon.
Daisy's repeated association with the color white has
attracted the notice of several critics, including A.E. Elmore,
who observes, "Color and Cosmos in The Great Gatsby,”
Daniel Schneider remarks that "white traditionally
symbolizes purity, and there is no doubt that Fitzgerald
wants to underscore the ironic disparity between the
ostensible purity of Daisy …[her] actual corruption”
White color Discussion of purity, innocence and the
facade ofdeciet.
(Lance)
(Samkanashvili)

9. ● Yellow&
The yellow and golden in the text symbolizes luxury and
wealth.When Daisy, a rich upper-class man, ran into Myrtle,
a yellow car appeared,symbol of the rich and the upper
class: Daisy the blond girl, Gatsby’s blond tie, Jordan’s
blond hair, and the yellow combination of party girls.
On the one hand, they are symbols of wealth, on the
otherhand, they are symbols of human depravity and
social decay under the influence of money supremacy
the novel, yellow is also accompanied by death. After his
death, his body was placed in a car store, “in which there
was only a yellow light hanging from a barbed wire cover
over his head”.
Golden color:
(sun)

10. The silver, of course, symbolizing both the dream and the reality,
since as the color of the romantic stars and the moon it is clearly
associated with the romantic. hope and promise that govern
Gatsby’s life, and as the color of money it is obviously a symbol
of corrupt materialism.
Black has almost inescapable symbolism as the colour of
negative forces and unhappy events. It stands for the darkness
of death, ignorance, despair, sorrow, and evil.
silver curve of the moon- beauty, melancholy-Daisy
black wheel -mourning- Daily
a motor hearse, horribly black –death –Gatsby
● Silver & Black color:
(Samkanashvili)
(Pawlowska)

11. ● Gray color:
Grey has important symbolic significance in the Great Gatsby. Gray
Valley, a dumping of industrial waste in the gray zone, a symbol of
the human spirit of the Wilderness, is the pursuit of human wealth.
“There are only houses and chimneys and rising smoke. At last,with
some miraculous effort, they occasionally pile up a crowd of grey
people, and a long grey car slowly crawls along an invisible path,
creaking to a halt.
gray sun-strained eyes- facelessness- Jordan Baker
gray beard- sadness-Gatsby’s father
gray cars - facelessness, low class
((Samkanashvili)

12. ● Blue color:
Positive Significance—Dream :According to color experts,
blue is closely related to dreams, so this color is mainly
related to Gatsby and his dreams and illusions.
The blue uniform driver, the blue garden and the blue lawn in
Gatsby’s home represent a pure land where you can put
down all the troubles in life and enjoy the pursuit of
happiness.
Negative Significance—Greed :The blue in the text
symbolizes secular factors. Eckberg’s eyes are considered
to be the eyes of God because they are blue eyes with big
pupils. Myrtle’s blue dress symbolizes her desire to run away
with Tom, and Myrtle’s desire to get out of her petty life.
The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are -omniscience-God
(sun)

13. ● Red & Pink Color:
The color red : love, passion and tragedy. Analysis of the use red
in moment's of love and tragedy ,As a representative of the noble
class, Tom Buchan’s family is rich and generous, which is
unimaginable: they live in luxurious “red and white villas.
Unlike previous naturalist writers, Fitzgerald associated red with
violence and death. At the beginning of the novel, the cover of
Nick’s economics book is “bright red and gold”—which seems to
mean that Gatsby’s economic success comes at the cost of
violence and bloodshed.
wine-colored rug- elegance, richness,danger -Tom & Daisy
pink clouds- dream- Daisy
pink suit - tastelessness - Gatsby (Samkanashvili)(sun)

14. Conclusion:
“The Great Gatsby” is one of the most “colorful” and “visual”
works in literature – so high is the density of color words per
page. Almost each time the color symbolizes some human
value or feature, a character of the novel. He uses the literary
technique of symbolism to reflect what life in the 1920’s was
like, through Fitzgerald’s eyes,he uses of colors throughout
the novel prove to be of importance to the development of the
theme and to the development and characteristics of the
characters in the Great Gatsby. These colors give us a great
understanding of the characters and their lives.

15. References:
Lance, Jacqueline. “The Great Gatsby: Driving to Destruction with the Rich
and Careless at the Wheel.” Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 23, no. 2, 2000,
pp. 25–35. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23414542. Accessed 31 Mar.
2024.
Pawlowska, Vera. “Colour Symbolism in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great
Gatsby.” Diva-Portal.Org, 9 Feb. 2022,
www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1636853/FULLTEXT01.pdf. Accessed
01 Apr. 2024.
Samkanashvili, Maya. “Uses of Symbols and Colors in the Great Gatsby by F.
Scott Fitzgerald.” Journal of Education, 2013,
jebs.ibsu.edu.ge/jms/index.php/je/article/view/74. Accessed 01 Apr. 2024.
Sun, Yiran. “The Symbolic Meaning of Color in the Great Gatsby.” Art and
Performance Letters, Clausius Scientific Press, 2023,
www.clausiuspress.com/article/7991.html?journalAbbr=ARTPL. Accessed 01
Apr. 2024.

16. Thank you