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What Does Yellow Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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Words 960
Pages 4
Ashley Craig
Mrs. Olivier
English II Pd.4
3/21/16

For my research paper the question I settled on was: How does Fitzgerald use symbolism concerning the American dream? Fitzgerald uses personification and the colors: green, red, white, yellow, blue, grey, and purple to symbolize the truth and principles within and about the American dream. The colors mentioned the most and used to enforce a greater meaning in the Great Gatsby are: green, yellow, red, blue, grey and white. Each color is a crucial detail in the book relating to intentions and foreboding.

Throughout the history of literature colors have been used as motif. *add quote about color motifs in literature* Red commonly means power, danger, passion and love. Yellow is associated …show more content…
Not only is it linked to money and luxury it is also accompanied with greed and death. There are many things in the book that come in yellow, Daisy’s Golden locks and Jay Gatsby’s custom car are prime examples for yellow’s meaning in the book.”It was a rich cream color, bright and there in it’s monstrous length with… and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns.” (pg.33). Gatsby’s car resembles the greed of his ambition in regaining a relationship with Daisy, and is tied to death (ties death and wealth together,Myrtle’s death, and to an extent because of the confusion, Gatsby himself.) Daisy’s golden hair portrays her greed in desiring a luxurious life that is centered on materialistic …show more content…
“The eyes are the windows to the soul.” Gatsby’s hair may be the rich golden color demonstrating the luxury and high social status that Gatsby wishes to betray however his blue eyes are representative of his true melancholy and loneliness.He throws luxuriously loud parties in his blue garden; a metaphor for the act he puts on to hide the sadness in his heart. ”Her face above a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine, contained no facet or glam of beauty.”(pg. 25) Tom’s car and Myrtle’s dress is also blue which refer to the fantasy/illusion of his affair with myrtle and to his realizations between Gatsby and daisy before they went into the

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