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Significance of color in the great gatsby, anyone?

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blakroc
Posts: 2323 - Karma: 28
i need to write a page with 3 examples explaining the significance and i have no clue
Oct 18 2007 7:45PM
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Jamesl48
Posts: 547 - Karma: 10
Say that the color of the billboard with the big eyes (I forget which color it was) symbolizes the color of god because that billboard watched over the valley of ash like "god."

Say that the gray color of the ash valley is the color of death, poverty, and despair.

I can't think of a third, but there's two
Oct 18 2007 7:56PM
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ECGove
Posts: 1947 - Karma: 75
ahh i remeber this from last year

i'm pretty sure the colors green

theres the green light at the end of that chicks dock which symbolizes money

i cant think of two other examples though...sorry
Oct 18 2007 7:57PM
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ECGove
Posts: 1947 - Karma: 75
The color green is associated with hope and goals. At the end of the dock in front of Tom and Daisy’s home is a blinking green light. Gatsby spends a significant amount of time focusing on the green light. Nick writes that Gatsby “stretched out his arms toward the dark waters”(25). He reaches towards the light because he is reaching toward his dreams of life with fantasy Daisy. The light represents Daisy as he remembers, or the Daisy he wants to remember. Even if his memories of Daisy are ones from the past or completely made up, to Gatsby the light is the perfect Daisy. Another reference to green and hope is found when Nick returns home to the West. The train tickets that Nick has for his return trip are green
Oct 18 2007 7:59PM
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mistaskia
Posts: 1252 - Karma: 32
if im not mistaken when gatsby looks at the green light on the dock it remidns him of the past he had with daisy or w.e her name was. 
so theres another.
Oct 18 2007 8:00PM
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Schoening
Posts: 14332 - Karma: 1,268

I had to do very similar shit last year...unlucky for you i deleted all it

Oct 18 2007 8:00PM
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Billek
Posts: 5665 - Karma: 98
THe light is a pretty important one, you should include that.
Oct 18 2007 8:02PM
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blakroc
Posts: 2323 - Karma: 28
thx guys! ive decided blue would probably be the easiest tho cuz its represents hope adn escape from harsh times and im doing that his "blue gardens" represent ppl getting away, n that daiseys streak of blue har represents hope that nick might tell her something that would change her life and the i need one more.......ps i looked this up on the net so i hope its right
Oct 18 2007 8:06PM
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Itsbackfliptime
Posts: 18901 - Karma: 75
books don't have colors you sillys.
Oct 18 2007 8:09PM
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drwclrk
Posts: 1114 - Karma: 719
I think the concept of light plays a huge role- the light at the end of the doc, the billboard eyes, etc. they hold biblical allusions of hopefullness and guidance. Gatsby's party's are always described as "bright" (in a festive manner) and the name "Daisy" is associated with warmer, lighter characteristics.

But like most people have said, green, gold, etc.

Sorry I couldnt be more helpful it was a long time ago.
Oct 18 2007 8:16PM
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Microcosm
Posts: 4765 - Karma: 153
I'm pretty sure the green light was also a symbol of the American dream. I can go dig up my notes from somewhere.
Oct 18 2007 8:17PM
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Commonwealth
Posts: 3729 - Karma: 11
i know that there is a lot of light and dark imagery in the book. the bright lights during the parties that he has and shit
Oct 18 2007 8:52PM
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b-ladd
Posts: 2300 - Karma: 48
^that's odd.
Oct 18 2007 9:32PM
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Schoellkopf
Posts: 1300 - Karma: 122
the green light could also be thought of as jealousy,
just a thought though, i could be wrong
Oct 18 2007 9:57PM
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danedegruyter
Posts: 2749 - Karma: 1,137
man could you seriously not google this?? no offence but i could probably find a fully written essay on your topic in 5 mins off google
Oct 19 2007 12:08AM
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Justo8484
Posts: 3905 - Karma: 206
there's so much you can write about that book. you can basically take anything that was identified as having a color, say what you think it represents, and as long as you somehow tie it into the story, you really are not wrong.
Oct 19 2007 12:39AM
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b.pickup
Posts: 87 - Karma: 293
http://www.123helpme.com/search.asp?text=The+Great+Gatsby
Oct 19 2007 12:56AM
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Aclique_Clothing
Posts: 1807 - Karma: 19
no no no no no, the green light at the end of Diasys dock represents his dreama nd when it goes out at the end of the book he goes out with it (he kills himself)
Oct 19 2007 12:58AM
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danedegruyter
Posts: 2749 - Karma: 1,137
pretty sure he doesnt kill himself.. he gets shot by Wilson. the guy who owns the garage.. Wilson kills himself after he kills Gatsby.
Oct 19 2007 1:55AM
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potato_man
Posts: 2158 - Karma: 89
we had to do like 8 of those papers for the scarlet letter

but yeah, id help if i had read the book
Oct 19 2007 2:07AM
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skogenjake
Posts: 6685 - Karma: 511

oohhhh the eyes of TJ Eckleberg over in West Egg...


white= daisy's dress or something at one point?
pink= gats's tux
yellow=car


if i remember right the good at heart characters are often in white... you teach wants to hear that white=innocence and purity. read up on who wears it and when

Oct 19 2007 2:49AM
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cpowell
Posts: 35 - Karma: 21
"Jay Gatsby of Wet Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God - a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that - and he must be about His Father's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty." - Fitzgerald

Azar Nafisi in Reading Lolita in Tehran: "Gatsby's loyalty was to his reinvented self, which saw its fulfillment in Daisy's voice. It was to the promises of that self that he remained faithful, the the green light at the end of the dock, not a shabby dream of walth and prosperity...The dream is not about money but what he imagines he can become. It is not a comment on America as a materialistic country but as an idealistic one, one that has turned money into a means of retrieving a dream."

cheers
Oct 19 2007 4:16AM
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