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Uses of Color in The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby is a short time based "love" story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the mid nineteen twenties. It is loosely based on Fitzgerald's own life. Written in a first person past tense style, the story is viewed through the eyes of Nick Carraway, a close friend and neighbor to Gatsby. The story is set in the post World War One era called the roaring twenties, where crime was prevalent, liquor was cheap, and the parties were large. While life and scenery in the 1920's was vibrant, Fitzgerald's use of symbolism is almost revolutionary, especially when it comes to his use of colors. F. Scott Fitzgerald used color to identify qualities and ideals people have, such as yellow/gold is true or fake wealth, white is purity, gray is lifelessness/death, and green is life. Yellow and gold are two sides of the same coin but the slight difference in the Great Gatsby is a key component in understanding this novel. "You don't know who we are, said one of the girls in yellow" (47). Whenever Fitzgerald introduces a new character and they are wearing a gold color he identifies it as yellow. This allows the reader to get a better understanding of a character, whether it is a main or side character. Fitzgerald also used yellow to note when a character was not of true wealth but of 'fake wealth' or someone who isn't old money. But in this quote it identifies a person as wearing gold instead of yellow. "With Jordan's slender golden arms"(47). When Fitzgerald describes Jordan and the yellow fabric on her arms, he identifies it as gold. This is to show that Jordan is of true wealth and "old money". This knowledge is reinforced because Jordan spent her childhood playing with Daisy and both Jordan and Daisy's families were closely tied. Clearly, wealth plays a large role in the Great Gatsby and it helps distinguish what role it plays and how it affects the novel. Fitzgerald uses white to describe what a person is like rather than his/her ideals. "She dressed in white, and had a little white roadster, and all day long the telephone rang i

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