ACECES PARAGRAPH : How does Fitzgerald use color in The Great Gatsby?

What does color

show about the characters?

By: Jamie Tyson and Isabel Flores

Fitzgerald uses a variety of colors in The Great Gatsby to express the settings in the
book, and how they relate to the characters to build the plot. In the first chapter of the book
where the characters are being introduced, Fitgerald says “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”(Fitzgerald 8). Based off of this quotation it is evident that Fitzgerald is using
the color white to describe the innocent nature of Daisy in this scene. White symbolises
goodness and innocence which fits the dream girl narrative he based Daisy’s charter off, the
girl everyone wanted. Black is symbolized when “... before I could answer her eyes fastened
with an awed expression on her little finger. ‘Look!’ she complained. ‘I hurt it.’ We all looked-the
knuckle was black and blue” (Fitzgerald 12).The black knuckles showcase the state of Tom and
Daisy’s marriage, it is lifeless. Tom hurt her finger unintentionally but all Daisy does is mention it
carelessly. When everyone looked, “the knuckle was black and blue” which was meant to show
the lack of love in the household as black is often thought to be connected to death, it is the
epitome of the Buchanan-Fay marriage. From all of the evidence shown in this paragraph the
readers of The Great Gatsby can see the impact the colors have when describing the
characters personality and life. And, how what the different colors symbolise affect their
interactions throughout the book.