The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Symbolism
NB All quotes and references taken from the Penguin Classics 2000 edition.
Symbol:
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colours used to represent
abstract ideas or concepts.
Fitzgerald makes great use of colour in the novel to represent aspects of characters or
the atmosphere he wants to create. What do the following colours represent in terms of
the novel?
Colour
Quote
Represents?
White
‘They were both in white and
their dresses were rippling and
fluttering.’
Green
‘Gatsby believed in the green
light.’
Gold
‘his bedroom was the simplest
room of all – except where the
dresser was garnished with a
toilet set of pure dull gold’
Red
‘Gatsby stood in the centre of the
crimson carpet.’
Yellow
Grey
‘It was a yellow car.’
‘the ash-grey men
swarm up with leaden spades’
© www.teachit.co.uk 2013
21014
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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Symbolism
Look at the following pictures and make notes on
a) what they literally represent in the novel,
b) what they might symbolically represent and
c) find a quotation to support this.
© www.teachit.co.uk 2013
21014
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