Character Analysis the Great Gatzby

When reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “great classic”, and quintessential novel of America, The Great Gatsby, one of the first things you will notice is the abundant use of color imagery. You find it not only in the description of the environment in which the story takes place, but also how it is used to describe and indicate how characters feel through, often subtle, use of color. For the reader, the usage of color imagery to describe situations and the people in them is often very helpful in the understanding and meaning of things one would often overlook. I have chosen Daisy Buchanan as my character and I have chosen the color white to aid me in gaining a better understanding of her character. I have chosen the color white because I noticed, as I was reading, that the color white is used almost everywhere where Daisy is present or speaking, from the very beginning when the reader is first introduced to her. In the very first chapter Daisy (and Jordan) are introduced and given an impression of pure innocence: “The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.” The color white is used here to describe the first impression of Daisy indicating how pure, innocent and unsoiled she comes off to an outside viewer. Not only does Daisy dress in white, but also wherever she is mentioned, something white is always present. The windows at Daisy 's house are white "The windows were ajar and gleaming white", and so is her “small white neck”. However, as I was reading the novel I came to realize that all the white used to describe Daisy, maybe wasn’t purity, maybe it was chosen to send off a false sense of purity. Looking back a few chapters, I came to learn that Daisy wasn’t all that innocent as her white dress made the reader

Cited: http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/twentiestoday/symbolism.html http://www.shmoop.com/great-gatsby/symbolism-imagery.html http://www.lesekost.de/amlit/hhl252c.htm