Chapters 1&2

The color I found to be the most reoccurring and important to

chapters 1 and 2 is white. Fitzgerald uses white in a number of ways.
He often used it when describing a something involving wealth. For
example, he says Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of
fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, (5). The East Egg is
seen as the nicer of the two Eggs and his diction gives me an image of
a White House type building. Fitzgerald also says white several other
times when describing Toms mansion.
Fitzgerald describes the wealthy Daisy and Mrs. Baker as both in
white dresses, (8). In this scene, Nick is sort of in awe at Toms
mansion and his wealth in general. In chapter 2, when the group
travels to Manhattan to Myrtles apartment, he says the cab stopped
at on e slice in a long white cake of apartment-houses, (28). Myrtle is
a trophy wife to Tom and the fact that she also has an apartment home
in Manhattan says that she has wealth. To me, he uses white to
emphasize and embody the wealth of the town.
Chapter 3
The color yellow was the most reoccurring in chapter 3. The
focus on chapter 3 is Gatsbys party and the nightlife in general. Nick
has never been to a party like Gatsbys before. Its amazing and
buzzing with life. Fitzgerald says the orchestra is playing yellow
cocktail music, (40). This is Nick describing the music Gatsby chooses
for his exciting night parties. The color yellow reminds me of gold or a
soire and just sophistication in general.
Later, while Nick is actually attending his first Gatsby party, he
encounters two girls in yellow dresses. He adds the color of their dress
almost every time he mentions them. To me, they sound like partygoing socialites. They live for these bustling parties. As the party
begins to unwind, one of the girls in yellow was playing the piano,
(51). In this chapter, yellow is used to portray the nightlife and
excitement of this town.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 concentrates on Gatsby as a person. The color I found
to be most relevant to the chapter is green. Green can represent envy
and money. Gatsby is new money pretending to be old money so he
has both envy and money. When Gatsby drives up to Nicks house he
doesnt just ask him to go to lunch with him, he tells him he his going
to lunch with him. As Nick gets into Gatsbys luxury vehicle hey says
Sitting down behind many layers of glass in a sort of green leather
conservatory, (64). This is an example of Gatsby flaunting his wealth.
Nick and Gatsby go to New York City for lunch and they met one
of Gatsbys older and wealthier friends, Meyer Wolfsheim. It seems that
Mr. Wolfsheim is trying to prove his wealth and sophistication to Nick
through his conversation with Gatsby. They talk about things using
certain names that only the elite would know. Mid sentence, Mr.

Wolfsheim calls Nick out on staring at his cuff buttons to which Nick
responds, I hadnt been looking at them, but I did now. They were
composed of oddly familiar pieces of ivory, (72). Meyer Wolfsheim
obviously wants to draw attention to his cuff buttons because they are
nice. The color detail of ivory emphasizes that he is all about wealth.
Chapter 5&6
Chapter 5 is full of an array of colors but the one that stood out to me
the most was simply black. This chapter is all about feelings and
Gatsby and Daisys emotions towards one another. While those two are
flirting and falling back in love, Nick escapes to the backyard and says
I ran for a huge black knotted tree, whose massed leaves made a
fabric against the rain,(88) By adding the detail of the color black, it
draws the attention away from Gatsby and Daisy being head over
heels for one another to Nicks loneliness.
The color black appears in chapter 6 as well. Tom and Daisy
attend one of Gatsbys famous parties. Nick says that Gatsby asks him
to stay late that night. Nick says I lingered in the garden until the
inevitable swimming party had run up, chilled and exalted, from the
black beach, until the lights were extinguished in the guest rooms,
(109). He is saying that he is just hanging out, observing and absorbing
his surroundings, until the party is over. The use of the color black
helps describe how when the night is over, things get very dull at the
Gatsby residence.
Chapter 7
The color I found to be the most prevalent in chapter 7 is white.
White could be used to represent a number of things in this chapter. I
found that it was often mentioned when talking about Daisy and new
money. On page 130, Jordan says to Tom, Were all white here,. The
literal meaning would be skin color but it can be interpreted in a
deeper way. White is clearly representing old money when Jordan is
saying to Tom Were all white here, followed by a quote about
throwing big parties.
Followed by Gatsby straight forwardly saying Her voice is full of
money, (120), Nick says to himself High in a white palace the kings
daughter, the golden girl (120). In this quote, Nick is describing
Daisy as a wealthy princess sitting in her high castle, being kept safe
from the lower class by her father. I found this to be an interesting use
of the color because it incorporates both innocence and wealth.
Chapter 8
In chapter 8 of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the color silver
with a meaning that is deeper than the ways he has used it previously
in the book. He uses silver along with adjectives like shiny to portray
materialistic things. On page 150, Fitzgerald says Daisy, gleaming like
silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor. Fitzgerald
is describing Daisy as physically shining silver while looking down on
the poor and their issues. He almost makes her sound like a

materialistic object. The point he is trying to make here by using silver

is how wealth can get effect the way a person sees themselves and
others.
Another example of silver being used symbolically to represent
materialistic wealth is found on page 149 when Fitzgerald describes
Gatsbys reaction to Daisys porch. It was Gatsby who was breathless,
who was, somehow, betrayed. Her porch was bright with the bought
luxury of star-shine. Fitzgerald amplifies how material objects are so
attention-drawing in the way that he says Gatsby was somehow
betrayed and using the adjectives bright and star-shine really help
to paint a picture in the readers head.
Chapter 9
Fitzgerald endsThe Great Gatsby by using the color green in
chapter 9 to revisit the main focus of the novel, hope and new
beginnings. On page 180, Fitzgerald says that flowered once for Dutch
sailors eyesa fresh, green breast of the new world,. Fitzgerald is
comparing Dutch sailors arriving to North America for the first time to
Nick realizing a new hope. Although Nick is not as well off as the other
characters in the book, he finds a new beginning at the end of the
book. Fitzgerald uses green to describe the land in order to draw
attention to his symbolism of newfound hope.
Fitzgerald begins the last paragraph of the book with Gatsby
believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year
recedes before us, (180). He is ending the novel with a great symbol
of Gatsbys reach for hope. In this quote, he is using the green light at
the end of Daisys dock as an idea that Gatsby is reaching for. Gatsby
died still reaching for that orgastic future. Fitzgerald ties the
symbolism of Daisys green light and the metaphorical meaning of
hope together in an interesting yet powerful way to end The Great
Gatsby.