Color Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby introduces many color symbols that have their own meaning and relevance to the story. Fitzgerald used a lot of colors to give an insight to the lives of the characters. The color green represents the future. The color yellow represents money and death. Lastly, the color white represents innocence. Each color symbol has a meaning and functions together to support the central theme of the book which is gaining wealth and reaching your dreams or in other words the American Dream.

The color green is a very important symbol used throughout the book because it symbolizes the the hazy and eluding future with Daisy that Gatsby was trying to reach. One of the most important representation of the green color is the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock that Gatsby was extending his arm out to. This symbol leads to the theme of the American dream because Gatsby went from poor to rich to reach his goal but failed. Nick claims,”Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eludes us then, but that’s no matter- tomorrow we
The magnificence and extravagance of Gatsby’s yellow car shows that he is very wealthy and it symbolizes his status in the society. The color yellow is also relevant to death because it was the color of the car used to kill Myrtle. This symbol functions towards the theme of the American Dream because the was a representation of Gatsby’s wealth and place in society as well as his downfall because of the murder that occurred. Nick describes,”Gatsby's car was a ''rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hatboxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of windshields that mirrored a dozen suns”(Fitzgerald 64). This quote is describing how Gatsby’s car is meant to impress but cannot live up to those that are the “old money” and will not be accepted by