Monday, December 12, 2011

Colors in Chapter 1

In chapter 1 the color green is used to describe a light on the dock outside of Daisy and Tom's house. Green is a color used to symbolize many feelings and ideas including luck, envy, wealth, new life, and hope. In the book the green light that Gatsby reaches out to symbolizes his hopes and dreams for the future. The light makes him think of Daisy and his goal of being with her. Gatsby's goal can also be representative of the goal to reach the American Dream. White symbolizes purity, innocence, and peace. I believe that Fitzgerald introduces characters that he wants to make a good impression on readers, in white clothing. For example Daisy, and Jordan's dresses in the first chapter. In the book, yellow represents moral corruption and decay. The color yellow is used to describe Gatsby's parties that appeal to the wealthy and immoral.

7 comments:

stw923 said...

Rose, do you see yellow anywhere in particular in the first chapter? What adjectives are used to describe the white dresses? (This will be important later because there will be another scene with white dresses later on in the novel and they will be described much differently.)

Anonymous said...

I think it's really interesting that the things the color green represents in this novel seem to contradict each other in some way. Ex: Envy and new life. I find it clever that both can be associated with the same symbol.

Rachael Ciccone said...

I also noticed the white dresses. When Nick walked in to find them there, they seemed very peaceful which reminds me of being pure. The color green is obvious to represent wealth which is a big part in this book, too.

JulianaV said...

I wrote about color, too. Now that I think about, Gatsby seeing green light could also represent his attempts of living the American Dream, because he wants to live happily-ever-after with Daisy.

TimHegedus said...

Gatsby does want to find hope and a future it seems as he reaches far out. The green shows that the hope is still there even though somehwat hard to see

Kevin Kaderis said...

When i was wriying about color i never thought of green meaing the American dream.

Krista~ said...

I think that white does symbol innocence, but for some reason, Daisy didn't seem all that innocent to me.