COLOR SYMBOLISM IN THE GREAT GATSBY

WHAT IS COLOR SYMBOLISM? Color Symbolism in Literature has been around for centuries. Colors are used to describe the nature of items or to help the reader develop a specific sentiment about the object or scene. Colors can be used to develop a person's personality when the author takes the time to describe the color of someone's clothes. An author can even create certain feelings about the day or night in the scene by the colors they use to describe it Symbolism is the heart of literature and color is one type of symbolism used.

HOW IT WORKS- OUR ASSOCIATIONS! The key to using color symbolism in literature is that the reader needs to have prior experience to help them interpret the symbols. If you lived in a desert your whole life and had never laid in a bed of plush grass, you wouldn't develop the same feelings about the scene as someone who had this experience. You may have seen it on TV or dreamed about it but you still wouldn't be able to understand the exact feeling the author was trying to create. Symbolism always works this way in literature and this is why books end up meaning different things to different readers.

EVERYDAY EXAMPLES IN OUR CULTURE Color symbolism in literature can be very tricky. Besides having different meanings for different people based on their cultures or where they live, different combinations have different meanings. In America the combination of red, white, and blue stands for patriotism. Orange and black used together symbolizes Halloween while red and green are frequently used as a symbol of Christmas. Pastel purple, pastel blue, pastel green, pastel pink, and pastel yellow are used to symbolize Easter. Fall is symbolized in literature by describing red, orange, and yellow leaves but if you add brown to the fall colors you end up with Thanksgiving. These color combinations symbolize these things for many Americans but may symbolize something else for other people. Color symbolism is important in literature because it is one of the only ways that an author can convey feelings. It also allows the author to describe a scene without describing every aspect of the scene.