Color Symbolism In The Great Gatsby Blue Green

Color Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

Blue Green White Gold Gray Silver Directions: 1. In the first box on your handout, write 3 to 5 things (images, emotions, concepts, vices, virtues, etc. ) that you associate with your assigned color either culturally or personally. Do this individually. a. For example, culturally red is associated with love and anger, but personally you may also associate with the nostalgia of your grandpa’s truck. 2. Now find 5 lines from the novel that mention your assigned color. Write them, including page numbers, in the second box on your handout. You may work together in your groups. 3. In the third box on your handout, analyze how Fitzgerald used the color as a symbol. What objects or characters does he associate with the color? What is the tone of the passages in which the color is referenced? How do the colors interact with the plot? How do the colors create a mood? Make sure you support each claim with evidence from the text. You may work together in your groups. 4. In the final box, working individually, write a brief paragraph that synthesizes what you already associate with your assigned color and how Fitzgerald symbolically used the color in the novel, looking specifically for comparisons and contrasts. Cite the text using the page numbers and quotes you’ve already identified.

Blue:

Blue: Moody/Muted Magic/Romance Evening/Stars Void/Vastness Depth/Mystery Mysticism Melancholy/Depression Loneliness Water/Serenity Spirituality Meditation/Contemplation

Blue in the Text: “The eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic” “. . . a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes” “. . . a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine” “. . . the blue honey of the Mediterranean…” “In his blue gardens, men and girls came and went. . . ” “A chauffeur in a uniform of robin’s egg blue crossed my lawn…” “It was gas blue with lavender beads. Two hundred and sixty-five dollars. ” “A damp streak of hair lay like a dash of blue paint across her cheek. . . ” “. . . with monograms of Indian blue. ” “. . . and bought him a blue coat…” “I liked that man--what was his name? --with the sort of blue nose? ” “. . . we came in sight of the easy-going blue coupe. ” “All night the saxophones wailed the hopeless comment of the ‘Beale Street Blues’. . . In this twilight world, she once again began to move with the season” “. . . ghostly birds began to sing among the blue leaves. ” “When the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air…” “He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. ”

Blue in the Text: ● ● ● ● “The eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic” The eyes of God watching the dreams of men rise and fall “. . . a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes” George Wilson hopes to buy Tom’s car and take Myrtle west “. . . a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine” Myrtle when we first see her; the object of both George’s and Tom’s dreams, but neither one of them really has her “In his blue gardens, men and girls came and went. . . ” Gatsby has created a magical and mysterious world where people seek romance but are never fulfilled; they are free to live their dreams, but the dreams end with the party “A chauffeur in a uniform of robin’s egg blue crossed my lawn…” Part of the illusion of Gatsby’s image/persona, and important tool in helping him win Daisy and achieve his dream “A damp streak of hair lay like a dash of blue paint across her cheek. . . ” Daisy, the epitome of Gatsby’s romantic dreams arrives on the day of the tea party “. . . with monograms of Indian blue. ” The expensive shirts that represent Gatsby’s persona are all monogrammed in blue “. . . and bought him a blue coat…” At the start of his new life as Jay Gatsby, he receives a blue coat from Dan Cody “. . . we came in sight of the easy-going blue coupe. ” The blue coupe, like true wealth and Daisy, belongs to Tom, but Gatsby is currently driving it. He also currently believes that he has won Daisy by merit of his own success and fortune, an illusion “All night the saxophones wailed the hopeless comment of the ‘Beale Street Blues’. . . In this twilight world, she once again began to move with the season” Daisy misses Gatsby, but her own dreams are of the parties and brief romances of her normal life “. . . ghostly birds began to sing among the blue leaves. ” The morning after the accident, Gatsby waits for Daisy’s call, believing she will still come to him; he’s still clinging to his dream and the illusion that she loves him “When the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air…” Nick leaves the East, having seen Gatsby’s “brittle” dreams go up in smoke “He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. ” Gatsby built an illusion around himself in order to win Daisy, which was his ultimate dream