Essay On The Green Light In The Great Gatsby

Tennessee and Fitzgerald are very visual in their descriptions, explicitly focusing on colour, yet also pay attention to the sound, where colour and music play an important role in both The Great Gatsby and A Streetcar Named Desire. Fitzgerald uses bright shocks of colour, which cleverly contrasts with purposed vagueness of the characters. Green is closely associated with the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, symbolizing Gatsby’s deep love to Daisy and the American Dream. The manner this green light is feeble and faraway expresses the disillusionment of his dream, and to Gatsby, represents Daisy. This green light burning all night occurs three times in the novel. The first time is at the end of the first chapter, where Nick saw Gatsby stretching his arms toward the dark water and explains the light to be “nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of the dock”. Here it is seen as hope for Gatsby, that he can stretch his arms and reach this light, that he is able to pursue it. The second time is when Gatsby shows Daisy his wealth, and she begins to cry, he says “you always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock”. Finally the third time is at the end of the novel. This mention of the green light throughout the novel makes the plot more complete. The colour yellow also plays a significant role in the novel, as it symbolizes money, …show more content…
In this manner both Tennessee Williams and Fitzgerald present our preference for possibilities over actualities, for riotous dreams in which our minds “romp like the mind of God” and are “magic!” rather than “grotesque reality”, both writers bringing forth the idea that a dream realized, is a dream destroyed, and the fragility of