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What Does Money Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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Fitzgerald’s use of Symbolism in The Great Gatsby Symbolism is an important part of literature that helps show a deeper meaning to what is written on the pages. In the book, The Great Gatsby by author F. Scott Fitzgerald, symbolism is used throughout each chapter, giving the reader greater insight of what the author is trying to disclose, and the meaning of key components to the story. Some of the symbols used throughout the novel are as simple as the colors the characters wear or the colors of their surroundings. Other symbols include, the famous eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg on a billboard looking over the Valley of Ashes, and the light in which Gatsby reaches towards in the night. These three symbols play a very important role in the book, and without them, much of the connotation is lost. Although it might be unclear at first, colors are used symbolically from the beginning of the book. When Nick arrives at East Egg to visit Daisy, she and Jordan Baker are dressed in all white and their dresses are "rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the …show more content…

Money is obviously a large part of this book, with the idea that “old money” is better than new, and with wealth, responsibilities go away. A ways in which colors are used depict money is Gatsby’s yellow car with green leather (which just so happens to be the same colors as printed money). The use of gold is also very common, for instance, Daisy’s “little golden pencil” which relates to her old money because gold is traditionally a symbol of wealth or money (105). When Nick is first invited to Tom and Daisy’s house, they “walk through a high hallway into a bright rosy-colored space,” which had a “wine-colored rug” (7-8). Red is symbolized here as elegance, whereas when Gatsby wears his pink suit, he is considered more tasteless because it is a different shade, again comparing to Tom’s old money and Gatsby’s

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