What Does The Color Green Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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Color Analysis of The Great Gatsby For many, the color green represents nature, trees, forests, etc. This is not true in F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel The Great Gatsby. From the radiant green light across the bay at Daisy Buchanan's house to the flourishing landscape of West Egg, Fitzgerald uses green to deliver themes of ambition for love, hope, and a perpetual effort to regain what one had lost many years ago. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the color green serves as a profound symbol, offering insight into the aspirations and trials of the characters in their pursuit of the American Dream. Early on in the novel, Gatsby reaches his hand out towards a green light across the bay. As Nick Carraway observes “Gatsby believed in the …show more content…
The green light that Gatsby is depicted looking at provides the reader with context into his aspirations that are located on the other side of the bay. The same Jay Gatsby who could buy anything he could ever want had one desire: to be with Daisy. Throughout the entire novel, the readers can see the resemblance between the color green and Gatsby trying to achieve his version of the American Dream.

Link 2 Later in the novel, we get a detailed description of Gatsby's luxurious house and the property surrounding the glamorous house. The lush green garden and house represent what people try to obtain when going for the American dream. Nick describes it as “a colossal affair by any standard; it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of fresh green lawn and garden" (Fitzgerald 5). Instantly one would think that this shows the amount of wealth West Egg has. This is true, but there is also an underlying theme with this quote, and that is a sense of lies and loneliness that comes with trying to acquire tangible wealth. For example,
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