Symbols - Under The Red, White, And Blue - Weebly

Under the Red, White, and Blue

Home Overview Symbols The Great Gatsby (2013) Authors Style Motifs Jay Gatsby Nick Carraway (get it?) Tom Buchanon George Wilson Design Reflection Free Response Similarities to Other American Novels

Symbols found in the Great gatsby

The Color Yellow: The color yellow represents wealth and (more importantly) decay. Throughout the novel there are descriptions of beautiful and expensive items that are yellow in color. Gatsby's car is the best example of the meaning yellow has in the novel. Described as "a rich cream color", Gatsby's car is extremely expensive, with Nick noting that even Gatsby himself looked at it with admiration. Later in the novel, the very same car hits Myrtle Wilson, killing her instantly. Myrtle and George Wilson live in an apartment filled with yellow windows. Both of them end up dead at the end of the novel, with Myrtle being killed by a yellow car, under the yellow glasses of T.J. Eckleburg, and Wilson killing himself under the lemon trees at Gatsby's house. Yellow doesn't always mean death; Daisy Buchanan is named after a yellow flower. At the end of the novel Daisy has lost the man she loves, and is going away with the wealthy Tom Buchanan, rotting in her own depression.The Green Light in front of Daisy's House: The green light across the bay from Gatsby represents hope, specifically Gatsby's hope that Daisy loves him. When Nick first sees Gatsby he was reaching toward the light. As Nick describes, "he stretched out his arms toward the dark water." Gatsby is reaching out, trying to physically hold onto hope that Daisy loves him. In chapter nine Nick compares the green light to what settlers saw when they first came to America, and their hope for new opportunity and riches, the very beginning of the American dream.Automobiles: Automobiles symbolize the carelessness of the rich. During the first party Nick attends at Gatsby's house a man crashes his car as he leaves, then continues to drive missing a wheel. This exemplified how out of touch the guests were with reality, none of them able to fathom a world where they were restricted in any way. When Nick asks the man why he crashed the man "shrugged his shoulders 'I know nothing whatever about mechanics' He said decisively." While driving home, Daisy killed a woman in Gatsby's car, then kept driving and suffered no consequences for her actions. Gatsby speeds and drives carelessly seeming to be unfazed by the prospect of being stopped by a police officer, than once he is stopped he is able to show the officer a card from the chief and is let go. This symbolism is also exemplified in the passage the rich protagonists constantly take through the Valley of Ashes. In the valley of ashes are people, such as George Wilson, who have to actually work for a living. Yet whenever the rich characters pass through the valley they are oblivious to the struggles of the working class people. Tom detests the place so much, he pays for Myrtle to have a separate apartments where they can rendezvous in the city. George Wilson has to sit on the sidelines, do the actual work so the rich may enjoy their expensive cars that drive them to their parties, but in the end he can't afford a car for himself. Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates. Get Started