The Symbolic Use of the Color Green in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: A, San Diego State University, course: Major American Writers, language: English, abstract: F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece The Great Gatsby was written in a time of social decadence, in which values no longer played an important role among the newly rich and wannabe famous, whose life was about parties, money and affairs. On the surface, Fitzgerald's story also seems to deal with success, wealth and love. Although the superficial life of the rich and powerful is a major theme inThe Great Gatsby,however, it mostly explores underlying complexities and personalities and in this way reveals the negative side of the American Dream to the reader. Corruption, despair and desperate desire come along with idealism, faith and illusions. The protagonist, Jay Gatsby, personifies the American Dream as he is a man with a dubious background who managed to accomplish a luxurious style of living and to achieve everything he wanted to have by his own efforts - except of his great love, that is Daisy.The Great Gatsby is built upon the desperate desires of the protagonist and reveals a glance behind the glittering facade of the rich. Fitzgerald manages to draw the reader's attention to significant details and symbols in the text in order to make one think about socalled 'truths' and about the sham reality of a society that tries to keep up appearances. Consequently, symbols are an essential device of adding profundity to the text and of allowing the reader to gain insight into a character's personality. The most significant symbolism applied in The Great Gatsby is color symbolism, green, white, gray, blue and yellow being the most prominent colors throughout the novel. In this paper, I will concentrate on analyzing Fitzgerald's symbolic use of the color green based on the most significant examples and thus try to expose the meaning of its appliance in regard to society and the protagonists in the novel.