The Use of Color Throughout The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath Anonymous College

In both The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath, color is used in order to reflect the atmosphere or mood. This allows Fitzgerald and Steinbeck to illustrate the events in a more sophisticated style and intensify the clarity of actions; therefore allowing the audience to envisage the episodes in a very refined manner. Whilst the use color is equally effective in both novels, it’s function in ‘The Great Gatsby’ tends to be mainly for materialistic features - in order to reinforce the theme of conspicuous consumption throughout the book, yet in ‘The Grapes Of Wrath’ color is used more to describe the atmosphere or the time of day, rather than objects. Nevertheless, certain colors (notably white and grey) still have alike connotations and create a similar mood in both of the novels.

The purpose of color in ‘The Great Gatsby’ is often for describing objects and highlighting certain aspects of their appearance. The use of color in this way strengthens the theme of materialism and highlights the shallow nature of the characters and particularly Nick - as it is he who narrates the tale and constantly uses color in his descriptions. One of the key examples is the use of the colors gold and silver, which often represent wealth and...