preview

What Does The Color Blue Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

Good Essays

Crime, romance, tragedy. These qualities put together have the ability to make a fascinating book, but when taking a close look, one can find that there is more to it than that. In The Great Gatsby, colors and their connotations add another level of understanding to the book by symbolizing different social classes while creating imagery and adding to the reader's understanding of a dream. Most every color can be categorized through its connotations to the social classes they represent, mainly the old rich, new rich, and lower class. Everyday objects can all hold a deeper meaning when looking at something as simple as the color.
From her house to her make-up, Daisy is covered in white everywhere she turns. “She dressed in white, and had a little …show more content…

Every single social class has some aspects of this color around the. For the old rich, the color blue is used to describe many things such as Tom’s knuckles after he punched Myrtle, the color blue was also used to describe Tom’s car and the ocean. “. . . we came into sight of the easygoing blue coupe”(125). Even though Tom is the most associated with blue in the old rich community many others also have ties to the color. This includes the people of West Egg. The difference with the color blue in the new rich is that it is more associated with happy things such as gardens, banners, and the sky. “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” (39). Thought these two communities are associated with blue so is the lower class, also known as The Valley of the Ash’s. In The Valley of the ashes the color blue most often represents hope. Hope for a new and better lives in Myrtles blue spotted dress. Hope for a more fulfilling life in Wilsons eyes, Myrtles husbands. Hope for a brighter future in the eyes smeared on the sign featuring Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. “When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes” (25). Although blue is used to represent almost everyone many colors do not such as the colors gray and …show more content…

In The Valley of the Ashes the color gray can be used to describe nearly everything in the town. This includes the people, the land, the cars, and even the air. “Occasionally a line of gray cars crawl along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up and impenetrable cloud” (23). The color gray is used many times throughout the book but mainly to describe The Valley of the Ashes. Another color that is not primary and used often in the book is the color

Get Access