Color in The Great Gatsby
A. Choose one important color in The Great Gatsby.
B. Be creative- inspired by our novel, describe the color, & use your ideas: write a poem, tell a story, write a line of vivid imagery.
C. Look back and find references to that color and use one-two quotes.
D. Discuss- what might the color symbolize in The Great Gatsby? What is the importance of this color in the novel?
B. Be creative- inspired by our novel, describe the color, & use your ideas: write a poem, tell a story, write a line of vivid imagery.
C. Look back and find references to that color and use one-two quotes.
D. Discuss- what might the color symbolize in The Great Gatsby? What is the importance of this color in the novel?
White- "'What'll we plan?" She turned to me helplessly: What do people plan?"' (11).
ReplyDeleteThink of an empty room. Everything in it is white. The lights shine bright with the crisp color of white. The walls are also the same shade of white. When you enter this room, all you see is empty space surrounded by the color of white. There's no desire in this room because white represents the absence of it. White is a representation of how little purpose someone has in their life because all that it leaves is this empty feeling of having nothing to do. Fitzgerald is able to use the color white to represent that the East Eggers have so much money that everything is handed to them to the point where they are left with nothing to do and no thought of what they can do.
I agree with you, it is the sympathy of nothing. It is hollow with no desire. And i agree with your representation of it.
DeleteOne important color in The Great Gatsby is cream.
ReplyDeleteCream is similar to white but they are not the same. The characters in The Great Gatsby who are lower class try to mimic the rich but fail as they lack in some areas of their "new version" of themselves. Myrtle is a perfect example of this because as she switches to her cream-colored chiffon, her lifestyle changes because "With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change" (30). Nick describes her actions differently after the change but she is still the same Valley of Ashes girl underneath. Cream is a mask used by those who are below the rich to try and reach higher grounds in society. With this in mind, the introduction of the use of cream by Gatsby himself can be inferencing something shocking later on in the book.
I really enjoyed how you described the color cream as a mask! I really agree with that because no matter what, you still are part of your social class, whether you try to pretend you're not.
DeleteOne important color that I chose in the Great Gatsby was cream; cream is like a color that is almost close to white but it is not white entirely it has like a hint of darkness to it. When I hear the color cream, I think of the color brown but just in a lighter setting like a nude color. “It was a rich cream color, bright with nickel…behind many layers of glass in a sort of green leather conservatory…” (Fitzgerald 64) Through the Great Gatsby cream symbolizes someone trying to be something that they are not. It's like they are forcing themselves to be perceived as a certain image, but it just doesn't turn out right because it's just not the same. The color of Gatsby's car is cream, and this means that there is something about Gatsby that we don't know because he is hiding it. For example, Gatsby has a library in his house but yet none of the books have been opened; it's like Gatsby wants to put out this image that he is sophisticated or smart but yet the books are untouched, so he has not read them they are just for show. The importance of cream in the Great Gatsby identifies people who are not being true to themselves.
ReplyDeleteCream has a secret
Trying to hide its true self
Wanting to be white
Now it would never be that
Cream has failed at mimicking
I really like how u describe cream as a cover for their true self!
DeleteI completely agree with your analysis of the color cream. Cream itself has a more yellowish tone which differentiates it from white which is more striking and cleaner. In real life examples white walls usually turn cream as they get dirtier. As the reader we can conclude that there is a color difference to highlight a fake persona. In Myrtle and Gatsby's perspective though they could potentially think that cream does fit in with white, and don't know the difference due to the social class they were brought up in.
DeleteI agree with this, i like how you formatted the color's meaning and the significance behind it, as it is portrayed in the book.
DeleteOne important color I chose was cream, since in general its a really clean color, and has a big representation in the Great Gatsby especially Gatsby's cars. When I hear the color cream I think of white but like with a mix of cappuccino. The main quote I found for the color cream was "“It was a rich cream color, bright with nickel…behind many layers of glass in a sort of green leather conservatory…” (Fitzgerald 64). The color cream in the Great Gatsby symbolizes new money ands the green leather conservatory symbolizes the desire Gatsby has for Daisy. I think behind the color cream also Gatsby is behind or up to something most people don't know about. A reason why I think this is because its really suspicious that no one knows anything about him or why the books in his library have nothing written in them. The cream color represents overall riches, and people who have something to hide like Gatsby.
ReplyDeleteWhite is Rich
Cream is a Identity
Trying to be white
Can never be it
Cream hides riches and personality
I really like how you chose cream it surprised me because white and cream are two different things.
Deletewhite- waiting for appraise and interference, to be interacted with. for this context think of it being a canvas and a painter. white is waiting to be filled. White in the great Gatsby is all the metaphors people do not want to speak about. Letting the actions that occur take place to speak for themselves. Like How Tom broke Myrtle's nose in chapter two, symbolic in nature it defines the upcoming chapters, on how the characters play with color and the consequence of it. I think to think of how color results in their mood, and Fitzgerald uses this to foreshadow different emotions ahead of time. " never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire" - pg. 12. color is where we can find our faults and what paints us. - ked
ReplyDeleteCream
ReplyDeleteUsed to cover and change us
Faking our positions
Hiding that we were and are different
Deep down we know we lack their “true superiority”
So close to them yet so far
The color cream has a great significance to the act of changing your behavior in order to fit in with the higher class. Cream is close to white just as new wealth is close to old money, but the key difference between the two is the “pureness”. The cream is first revealed on pg. 30 as myrtle entertains her friends. She draws all the attention to her by stating fake experiences and acting as if she carried a regular wealthy lifestyle. From this we create the inference that the cream is the representation of a facade or show. It is then brought up again on pg. 64 describing Gatsby’s beautiful expensive car. From the holes in his backstory the connection can be made that the cream resembles the same falseness for him. It’s the key color to make the reader aware of the deception the character is carrying.
I like how you described cream as a color of changing behaviors trying to fit in (trying to be the color white).
DeleteI liked how in your analysis you showed how Gatbsy and Myrtle both represent cream because they aren't old money and how it shows that even if you try to be old money you never be old money unless you are born into it.
Deleteone thing that stuck out to me the most was " faking our postion" in your poem. the color creme is like a mask throughout the story and how myrtle dresses are her mask in trying to fit in the old money world.
DeleteWhite:
ReplyDeleteDull in essence,
Time in obsolescence,
In lack of ambition,
Boring in exhibition.
The significance of white is first emphasized with Daisy & Tom. The color or shade represents the lack of color. In TGG, it symbolizes the lack of desire and ambition. It’s shown how only the wealthy can afford pure white. However, because they’re wealthy, there is no need in working as their wealth, generally old money, maintains them and their family. Daisy expresses how they have seen and done everything because of their massive wealth thus giving them nothing but free time to spend. With much free time, they struggle to figure out things to do since they don’t know how to plan. Fitzgerald uses it as a color to demonstrate the wealthy and their absence of desire.
“They are 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”.
I loved your poem! It really matched your argument, I agree on how white is the symbol of wealth but of no desire as well.
DeleteI liked how your poem showed how the color white symbolizes of no desire. I also liked how your quote connected to your argument and how it reinforces the idea that white shows extreme wealth but it lacks desire.
Deletein the great gatsby whute is used is used to symbolize
ReplyDeletethe illusion of perfection and the emptyness it brings without thought and ambiton
daisy, with her white dresses and car,
portrays a picture of innocence and grac,
but behind the veil lies a life bizarre
a life of decadence and moral disgrace.
the white palaces and mansions of the elite
represent their wealth and opulence
but they are out of touch with reality beat
living in a world of luxury and pretense
white, oh white, the color of deceit
in te book it serves to show
the superficiality and shallow elite
whose lives are but a mere show.
The white inside of great gatby is used to represent the superficiality and artificiality of the world of the wealthy elite during the roaring twenties and their white palaces and mansions of the wealthy characters serve to symbolize their wealth and opulence, as well as their detachment from the harsh realities of the world around them.
Your poem perfectly expresses the idea of the color white and the lack of ambition as emphasized in the book and connects with your clear explanation. Nicely thought out.
Deletei enjoyed your poem, i feel like you truly understood what fitzgerald truly meant regrading the color white. also, i like how you used daisy, she is the epitome of fitzgerald definition of white.
DeleteYour poem made us realize the definition of the color white and the lack of ambition as emphasized in the book and connects with your poem.
DeleteA white car, that has just been painted; the paint seems to have an abundance of white layers as the car tends to be scratched a lot, making it easy to see its gray past. With headlights that beam white lights, that impairs all your vision when you’re far enough. But when you get closer it’s still hard to see in, with heavily tinted windows. But as you open the car door you notice the cream interior that shows an immediate contrast to the very white car. The cream seats are a rich leather material, but as you go to sit down it burns you. Then you realize that dark gray seats might’ve been better. “Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time before, and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream-colored chiffon… With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change.” (Fitzgerald 30). The cream color in The Great Gatsby symbolizes the concept, in which people try to appear rich and royal, when in reality that isn’t what their life consists of. The importance of the color cream in the novel is that it emphasizes the immense desire of people to want to be rich and show it off as well, despite their reality not meeting that standard. - Camerin Gonzalez
ReplyDeleteYour story of green around parties, Gatsby, and desire was a very pleasant read. I liked the way you elaborated using quotes and analyzing them which really made me agree with your opinion.
ReplyDeleteI think the way you described green was really good!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your representation of the green light leaving an emptiness within Gatsby because he has accomplished his dream but wont admit that it hasn’t fulfilled him. He feels lost as for several years all his choices were aimed at the same goal, drawing in Daisy to shows he’s “worthy” through his wealth, with the absence of the powerful love he felt he could think he lacks purpose.
ReplyDeleteYour poem was so good, and I like how you made the poem related to the story with the characters.
ReplyDeleteThe last sentence was extremely well written because it is true that people always want the next best thing. In this case the green light could have also represented a rebirth of Daisy and Gatsby's love which eventually came to fruition as we see in chapter 6 and 7 but it appears it has lost the magic and spark of it. Green also represents the envy Gatsby has towards Tom since they are married and have a kid.
ReplyDeleteI feel that these colors that are introduced and presented in the book, are deep signs of traits and personalities that resemble each character, for example, Tom resembles with the color red, and red is symbolized as this lustful or passionate personality. Red alone means, passion, love, desire, courage, ambition, and energy. Also, the violence, carnage and in the case of “The Great Gatsby”, the downfall of the American dream. Red is used to show an extreme emotion rather than intellectual ideas.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this, because Green is a symbol of life and prosperity, it is a change in perspectives, either greed which is bad, or new life, which is reflected upon the good.
ReplyDeleteYour poem is interesting and very thought out. Your explanation of the mentioned relationship between the color green, the light, Gatsby's dream and the connection with Daisy is clear and I agree with it.
ReplyDeleteWhite
ReplyDeleteThe imaginable
And
The unreachable
Daisy.
a girl
with the absence of ambition
A lost cause,
Always in white.
Opportunities and Opulence blowing
In and out like the flowing white curtains of the rich.
Dreams and desires of living the lavish white,
Old money world.
But outsiders can't come in.
Continuing to look through the flowing white curtains.
The imaginable
And
The unreachable
The color white plays a huge major role in the great gatsby, especially when it comes to understanding the east egg and how money plays a role in a person's life. More specifically, the color white represents the dullness and the lack of ambition a person has. For example, “ she turned to me helplessly: “what do people plan? " (11.) Daisy had to ask Nick, who is from a lower status, to decide what they should do. This shows that Daisy's only purpose in life is to be wealthy; she doesn't have any goals to pursue, let alone know what to do in her life.
The significant color from me so far has been green. Green has been talked about in different ways in the book. It represents new money, and west egg according the Fitzgerald. The green light from Daisy's house that Gatsby always viewed was magical. The green light symbolizes hope and that hope for Gatsby would be once more able to hold Daisy's hope and that they could pick up where they left off in the past. Towards the end when they finally get to spend time together Gatsby mentions how the light isn't magical anymore and it's just a light. Green in this case represents desires and new opportunities that are more excited and when we dream about hope for our desires to come true but once it actually does it loses the value and the flame wears off as we see happen for Gatsby.
ReplyDeleteGreen is envy and jealousy
Green is hope and desire
Green is the color of new money.
blue - " in his blue garden men and girls came and went like moths among whisperings and the champagne and the stars" - 39
ReplyDelete{ poem section }
days in the sun
and nights in the rain,
quite unnatural how time could fly, quite exactly how you felt that day, singing to a wall
i know,
Analysis:
chapter three starts with the introduction of blue, constantly having a reprise in different entities within the chapter. blue reshapes itself as the blues ( jazz ) and of melancholia, directly to page 51, "that everything was very, very sad--she was not only singing, she was weeping too. " Chapter three is the epitome of blue, it brings definition to the entirety of the novel. It is a constant and that variable is never examined, it's left ambiguous. blue symbolizes definition and intensity, a provocation of emotion.