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Color Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

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Throughout life a person experiences and sees many different colors. All colors send a hidden message to a person. The message can be based on that person’s emotion or what they just simply think the color’s message is. “Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions”, this was said by Pablo Picasso. What he means by this is that colors can and will have a very big effect on your emotions and actions. Looking at certain colors can change your whole mood very quickly whether it’s great or awful. Some dark colors could cause you to be sad, angry, or gloomy. But when a person looks at bright, beautiful colors it can make them very happy, friendly and social. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, …show more content…
Green is one of the most used symbolic colors in the novel behind white, gold and yellow. Green represents a couple different things according to when this is said, “So besides the disillusionment of dream, the green light also represents new hope and the ceaseless struggle towards our dream”(Zhang, CS Canada). The color green symbolizes new hope, a disillusionment of a dream, and a ceaseless struggle towards the American dream. The American dream is the idea that every U.S citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success. The American dream was very popular among many Americans during this time. Daisy had a green light on her docks, and that was visible from Gatsby’s house. Gatsby looked out at that light very because he still had feelings for Daisy. When Fitzgerald says, “Involuntarily I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the of the dock”(Zhang, CS Canada),it gives us more information about the green light. As Gatsby is looking out to sea there are many things that could catch his eyes, but the only thing he notices is the green light at the end of the dock. Fitzgerald makes it clear that Gatsby made a very close connection with the light when he writes “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther” (Fitzgerald 296). Gatsby loved looking at this green light by Daisy’s house. Green is the color of hope, and ceaseless struggle to the American dream and these things are symbolized very well throughout the

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