What Does Red Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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F. Scott Fitzgerald was an artist, so it is no surprise that he used many different colors within his writing to associate with the characters. Many people already relate colors to ideas, like red and green for Christmas, yellow is happy, and blue is sad. But Fitzgerald takes the use of colors to a whole new level, and gives the use of colors a whole new meaning. By using significant colors with each character, Fitzgerald is providing the reader with important details about the character without having to go into specifics. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses colors as a symbol to shed some insight into the different characters lives, the situations they are in, and what kind of person they are.

The Jazz Age was a time after the Great Depression when jazz music and dance styles became popular. Many people didn’t have to worry about money during this time because with the booming economy, there were many “get-rich-quick schemes” that …show more content…
The first time red is mentioned, Nick says, “they stood on my shelf in red and gold like new money from the mint…” (Fitzgerald 4). Yellow appears with red here because of how the new money was obtained. The new money is associated with violence and rage. When Nick goes with Tom to meet his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, they go into New York and have a little party. That is when the color red is present again. Tom hits Myrtle and her nose begins to bleed. Red represents blood, but it also represents Tom’s violence and rage. The last time the color red appears is after Gatsby is shot in the pool. Nick says, “The touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg of transit, a thin red circle in the water.” (Fitzgerald 162). Once again, the color red appears with violence, and now death. Red is used to show pain and death, but white is used to show purity within the

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