Both The Great Gatsby and The Awakening share similar symbolic
features: color. They are used throughout both novels to symbolize suppressed
or released feelings by the main characters. They denote the thought’s of the
narrator, without mentioning them making it to obvious. Even though The Great Gatsby has more colors portrayed through the whole novel,
The Awakening is marked half way with
a change from grayscales to color.
In The Awakening there are no pre-established stylistic colors as it is noticeable
in the other novel, instead we see the evolution of Edna and her revolutionary pursuit
as colors begin to appear in the narration. At first when she is living near
the ocean and has found no way to overcome adversity everything is pictured
through grayscales. Blacks, grays and whites prevail in her daily scenes. It is
not until she escapes to an island with Robert one day when the bright yellow
of fruits and colorful green houses begin to appear in the narration. Later on
when she is back in the city Edna is experiencing the final stages of her transformation;
more pops of color are set in the novel as her rebellious soul is finding a way
out of the conformity. As her life comes to an end the novel leaves the opaque colors
and becomes more picturesque until her drowning were colorful memories flash
right before her death.
On the other hand The Great Gatsby is overwhelmed with colorful symbols.
The most obvious is that of the green light, the one Gatsby sees across the bay
towards Daisy. It represents the hope Gatsby has towards one day her, the love
of her life, appearing in one of her extravaganzas. The other less obvious but
as well constantly present symbol is the name of the female lover Daisy. It denotes
the daisy flower; a flower that is yellow on the inside and white on the
petals. It on the other hand connotes Daisy’s personality, she is perceived as
an angelical, peaceful and loving character, but on the inside she is all about
the money and the treasures she can find in others.
Both authors use
colors to apprehend the readers towards their characters feelings in a way no
adjective would do so. As I once read a great literary work comes from
the bridge the author is able to build between his
characters and his outer character: the reader. In this case colors are used as
a literary bridge to relate closer to the readers through emotions expressed
and lived daily that we tend to associate with our environment: colors.
