Symbolism Is Central to the Meaning and Effects of the Great Gatsby

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Symbolism is central to the meaning and effects of The Great Gatsby In “The Great Gatsby” symbolism is central to the meaning and effects of the novel. Fitzgerald cleverly uses colours, the Valley of Ashes, eyes, accidents, time, clothes and appearance as symbols to emphasise meanings in the Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses a lot of colours in “The Great Gatsby” to underline his ideas. Fitzgerald cleverly changes the universal symbol of white from purity to impurity, loss of innocence and materialism. The first time we meet Daisy she is dressed in white which is ironic because Daisy is far from “pure”. The fact that Daisy is putting on a fake persona makes the reader wonder if she really is as naive as she acts. White in the novel also symbolises materialistic insubstantial love, this is shown when Daisy chooses her marriage partner based on $350,000 string of white pearls, and this suggests that Daisy is extremely materialistic because she “chose” Tom purely because he bought her an expensive gift. Fitzgerald also uses pastel colours, “coral...and lavender and faint orange, with monograms of Indian blue”. Pastels connotes a fairytale, ephemeral quality, this represents the unreality of the Buchanans’ lifestyle and what they have, relationship wise won’t last for a long time and will eventually wither away. The fairytale connotation suggests that the characters are living in a dreamlike world and nothing is as it seems. This is shown with Gatsby’s chauffeur whose uniform was “robin’s egg blue”, this shows that nothing is as it seems because it is clear that Gatsby’s lifestyle is all a show to impress Daisy. The colour grey is also used throughout the novel. Grey symbolises waste, decay and desolation. Some of the items in Gatsby’s house are grey, "The grey windows disappeared" and the portrait of Dan Cody in his room is described as "... a grey, florid man
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