Colors and Symbolism
Colors:
The Color White
“Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water” (Fitzgerald 5)
White is utilized to show wealth or nobility. In the novel, the “white palaces” are where the wealthy, Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby live. The color “white” shows how luxurious the “palaces”, or homes are. In the film, when Nick enters Tom’s home, white curtains flutter throughout the room. The wealthy women are wearing white gowns, and the room is furnished with white lamps and furniture. Tom’s awards and riches in the hallways are also speckled with white. The bright white emphasizes wealth and flawlessness through being bright and popping out to the viewer’s eyes. The wealth shown in the white objects emphasizes the American dream: being rich and owning a lot of expensive luxury items. The white implies that the wealthy people have lots of material goods and money.
The Color Grey
“the ashheaps, where small grey clouds took on fantastic shape and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind" (Fitzgerald 159)
“Ash grey men ... swarm up with leaden spades” (Fitzgerald 23)
The color grey, usually as fog is used in both the book and movie to show sadness and despair. In the novel, the valley of ashes is a working area, and is filthy with construction and demolition. “Grey clouds” cover the sky, and “ashheaps” pollute the ground. Even the “men” are “grey”, showing that they have been contaminated with this despair. In the movie, the valley of ashes is shown in a similar way: a barren and dark grey landscape shows where the poor work and live. The “grey men” in the valley of ashes have a sad and hopeless life, and the American dream of happiness is not in reach for them
“But above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg.” (Fitzgerald 23)
The grey landscape shows the truth of America, and disproves the American dream of happiness and wealth. The grey settings show that America is not always an easy rich place to live in, as people do have to suffer and work in such grey “bleak” conditions. In reality, America is a spiritual wasteland, where its people suffer from hopelessness and sadness “endlessly”. The grey shows the gloominess and tragedy of life in America, as dreams can not always be reached. Instead of achieving a happy and prosperous life, Americans do sometimes have no hope and will live a “bleak” life.
Bright and Primary Colors
“shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange with monograms of Indian blue” (Fitzgerald 92)
Bright primary colors represent happiness in The Great Gatsby. In the book, colors are described in times of great happiness and joy. When Daisy and Gatsby reunite, Gatsby showers Daisy in “coral ... apple-green ... lavender ... faint orange” and “Indian blue” shirts. Daisy spins and catches the colorful shirts as she is really happy. In this moment of joy, the colorful shirts bring an extra component to brighten the situation. Similarly, bright blue, greens, reds are shown in the movie to communicate happiness, as shown by Nick in New York as he is living and working on Wall Street at the beginning of the film. The trees are a lush green, the books are are bright red, and the flowers and other objects are a stunning yellow. In the film, Daisy also is cascaded by Gatsby’s beautifully colored shirts. Color shows the American dream, the pursuit of happiness.ess.
Symbolism:
The Green Light
(color and symbolism)
"He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock" (Fitzgerald 20 - 21)
"You always have a green light that burns at the end of your dock" (Fitzgerald 92)
The color green symbolizes confidence, vitality, and hope in both the book and novel. This is seen in the green light at the end of Daisy's dock that shines throughout the night. The "green light" that is so far away represents Daisy, who is "minute and far away". Daisy can not be reaches by Gatsby, but she is his dream. Therefore, Gatsby pursues a life of wealth to become closer to his dream, Daisy. He is always struggling and hoping to reach her.Then, he will be able to capture Daisy and achieve his dream. However, the pursuit could be hopeless because of how "minute and far away" the light is from him when he reaches for it. The second quote shows that Gatsby has separated the light from Daisy, because they have finally met and he can achieve his goal of getting closer to her. This indicates that the American dream is very sensationalized in imagination, but it is actually fragile in real life.
Gatsby as an Overwound Clock
“He had passed visibly through two states and was entering upon a third. After his embarrassment and his unreasoning joy he was consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock.” (Fitzgerald 91 - 92)
In both the movie and book, in the scene of Gatsby waiting for Daisy to arrive for tea, he passes through several stages of emotions: “embarrassment”, “joy”, and “wonder”. The emotions pass through him because he has long awaited to see Daisy, and he has kept the dream of her alive for so long. He is like an “overwound clock”, because he has passed through so much time while waiting for her. In the movie, this is communicated visually through the clock on the fireplace that Gatsby watches nervously. The clock slowly edges toward 4:00, and when Gatsby accidentally makes it fall, it breaks. This shows that Gatsby truly is an “overwound clock”, because like the real clock, he breaks when the conflicts with Daisy and infidelity arise. The degrading of the American dream is shown, because Gatsby pursues happiness for so long, and he can never fully achieve it.
4/16/2019 2:35P
Caitlin C.