Araby's Use Of Color In The Great Gatsby

Humans are constantly experiencing color, whether they realize it or not. It plays a vital role in how we experience the world; it evokes emotions and influences mood. Many authors recognize its power and thus fill their work with symbolic meaning and representation through color and shading. James Joyce, known for packing symbolic meaning in almost every word, utilizes colorful descriptions to enhance his short story, “Araby”, from the collection Dubliners. Both color and shade manifests ideas about growing up and finding love. F. Scott Fitzgerald mimics this descriptive technique in his novel, The Great Gatsby. In this piece, Fitzgerald develops key characters by using color description which helps lead the story. Both Joyce and Fitzgerald
As Daisy’s pure white shell is removed, her selfishness and greed are exposed through the use of yellow. In Daisy’s darkest moment, when she kills Myrtle, she uncoincidentally drives a yellow car. Daisy’s opulent lifestyle taints and corrupts her soul. All Daisy has ever known is money and comfort, not having to work for anything she wants. Money played a very valuable role in the Jazz Age of the 1920s. Fitzgerald uses Daisy to comment on “the hollow and superficial upper class” of this time, whose lives revolved around their wealth (Zhang 42). Daisy allows the world to see her whiteness, in the hopes of evoking jealousy in others. However, the one and only Jay Gatsby can see through her white façade to her yellow core. He too tries to disguise his real self, but unlike Daisy, he wants to show his yellow attributes. Gatsby’s yellow however, is more of a gold, to show the wealth he has accumulated for Daisy and for her love. He “garnished” his dresser with “a toilet set of pure dull gold,” his not so subtle way of showing Daisy how well off he has become (Fitzgerald 91). Gatsby knows how much Daisy values money and believes the only way she will love him as much as he loves her is if he is living as
Grey, a color considered to be a shade, often represents the loss of emotion and the dullness in people and objects. Yet, this color exhibits the true misconception of how the characters perceive reality. “About half way between West Egg and New York.. is a valley of shadows” upon “the grey land” with “ash-grey men” and “lines of grey cars” (Fitzgerald 23). Shadows often evoke the unknown and create a sense of mystery which is true for the people of West Egg. In their “reality”, colors such as white, blue and gold are used to illustrate their exuberant homes and lives while the rest of the world in covered in this grey area. The “Valley of Shadows” connects to grey since it is between the two areas: one being the dream and fantasy while the other is the nightmare. This balance between the light and dark is what one would experience in daily life involving issues including stress, family and love. The “West Eggers” don’t experience much of true life since they are blanketed with materialistic items and unrealistic views. The “reality shade” is around them however they never experience it due to the veil that covers their eyes. Like a bride on her wedding day, only then when the groom removes the veil can she see the reality that she is getting married. Until then, only the dream of being married encompasses her thoughts. Kathleen Parkinson acknowledges “he