ORIGINAL: In F.

Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the color blue is used to represent sorrow
and coldness. This idea of blue representing an element of sadness can be seen earliest in the book during
the ending of chapter 1, when Nick describes Gatsby staring into the dark sea with the quote “I didn’t call
to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone — he stretched out his arms
toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling.”
(Fitzgerald 19). The meaning of Blue in this instance is associated with regret. We are left to assume that
the green light is something Gatsby desires and it is across from this great dark blue sea that shows the
darkness and cold that leads to Gatsby’s trembling and sorrow. Fitzgerald’s purpose here is to introduce
Gatsby as a character that isn’t quite what he seems. He isn’t perfect and regrets a lot of things just like
the rest of the world. It gives his character more depth, just like staring into the cold and dark azule of
water. Furthermore, this symbol recurs again later in the book when in the beginning of chapter 2
Fitzgerald describes the eyes of T.J. Eckleberg as “blue and gigantic — their irises are one yard high. They
look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent
nose... his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn
dumping ground.” (Fitzgerald 20). In this example, blue reflects wearing down and an element of
coldness/distance. Fitzgerald’s purpose with blue here is to really paint the valley of ashes as a sad and
depressing place, how cold it is when the only aspect of color is a worn down sign that is almost void of
color except for a small amount of gold but mostly this worn down blue. This theme is further
demonstrated towards the end of the novel, blue appears again, as Fitzgerald writes, “There is no
confusion like the confusion of a simple mind, and as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of
panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from
his control. Instinct made him step on the accelerator with the double purpose of overtaking Daisy and
leaving Wilson behind, and we sped along toward Astoria at fifty miles an hour, until, among the spidery
girders of the elevated, we came in sight of the easy-going blue coupe.” (Fitzgerald 94). Blue’s purpose
here is to illustrate the significance of Tom in this moment. He’s getting the sudden realization that he is
losing the two things he had control over in his life as well as control over his emotions. In this moment,
the blue coupe represents him being just out of reach of what he desires, control, and is beginning to feel
a small sense of defeat and pain which makes him feel uneasy about the events going on in this scene.
Fitzgerald’s purpose is to demonstrate how big of an impact our desires can have on our emotions and
how quickly things can turn from happiness to sadness. Fitzgerald’s use of blue clearly highlights the
darker moments of The Great Gatsby mainly due to the fact that almost every scene where blue is one of
the main focuses is a scene where one of the characters becomes more somber or has darker tones which
isn’t a common occurrence in the book.

REVISED: In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the color blue is used to focus on the somber
attitudes of the characters. This idea of blue representing an element of sadness can be seen earliest in
the book during the ending of chapter 1 when Nick describes Gatsby staring into the dark sea, conveying
“I didn’t call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone — he stretched out
his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was
trembling.” (Fitzgerald 19). The meaning of Blue in this instance is associated with regret. The reader is
left to assume that the green light is something Gatsby desires and it is across from this great dark blue
sea that shows the darkness and cold that leads to Gatsby’s trembling and sorrow. Fitzgerald’s purpose
here is to introduce Gatsby as a character that isn’t quite what he seems. He isn’t perfect and regrets a lot
of things just like the rest of the world. It gives his character more depth, just like staring into the cold
and dark azule of water. Furthermore, this symbol recurs again later in the book when in the beginning of
chapter 2 Fitzgerald describes the eyes of T.J. Eckleberg as “blue and gigantic — their irises are one yard
high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a
nonexistent nose... his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over
the solemn dumping ground.” (Fitzgerald 20). In this example, blue reflects wearing down and an
element of distance. Fitzgerald’s purpose with blue here is to really paint the valley of ashes as a sad and
depressing place, how cold it is when the only aspect of color is a worn down sign that is almost void of
color except for a small amount of gold, but the sign is mostly this depressing blue. This theme is further
demonstrated towards the end of the novel, blue appears again, as Fitzgerald writes, “There is no
confusion like the confusion of a simple mind, and as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of
panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from
his control.,” (Fitzgerald 94). Blue’s purpose here is to illustrate the significance of Tom in this moment.
He’s getting the sudden realization that he is losing the two things he had control over in his life as well as
control over his emotions. In this moment, the blue coupe represents him being just out of reach of what
he desires, control, and is beginning to feel a sense of defeat and pain. Fitzgerald’s purpose is to
demonstrate how big of an impact our desires can have on our emotions and how quickly things can turn
from happiness to sadness. Fitzgerald’s use of blue clearly highlights the darker moments of The Great
Gatsby mainly due to the fact that almost every scene where blue is one of the main focuses is a scene
where one of the characters becomes more somber or has darker tones which isn’t a common occurrence
in the book.

In order to revise this essay I changed up the order and structure of some of my sentences. I did this so
that I didn’t throw in too many unnecessary phrases and words. I also trimmed a few quotes that ended
up being pretty long in the original essay. I believe that these revisions provide a better flow to the essay
and make it easier to read. Overall, I was pretty pleased with my original essay but I wanted to get rid of
some of the sentences that I didn’t end up doing very much with and I’d say my revised version came out
nicely.