What Does The Color Represent In The Great Gatsby

The American Dream and Colors The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story set in the 1920’s in New York City. It tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a young man who bootlegs and gambles to achieve wealth, only to impress his first love, a materialistic spoiled girl named Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby and Daisy went their separate ways when Gatsby joined the war. Now Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan and Gatsby is trying to win her back through wealth. Gatsby’s one goal is to have Daisy; despite her marriage he believes that he can recreate his past with her. Fitzgerald, paints the picture of the of Gatsby’s dream with symbolism, by using the colors gold/yellow, white sliver, and green, the reader comprehends the true contrast in characters and the American dream. The first and most dominant color Fitzgerald uses is gold/yellow. He uses these colors to symbolize money and wealth, but yellow is made to be seen as a fake gold. He uses gold to represent Jordan Bakers wealth which is not fake. Jordan is portrayed as the golden girl when Nick describes her arm as a “slender golden arm” (43). An example of yellow being a fake gold is shown when Fitzgerald uses color to describe Gatsby’s car. And if that isn’t enough, T. J. Eckleburg's glasses, looking over …show more content…
An interesting contrast between Gatsby and the other characters is that Gatsby is only rich for an innocent purpose to love a girl, while the others love their money more than any person besides themselves. Gatsby is painted to be more pure or innocent than the others. When Nick, Daisy’s cousin and Gatsby’s friend, first encounters Gatsby, he sees him standing on his lawn under “the silver pepper of the stars” (20), the beautiful clear night that displays heaven. Later on in the novel, during one of Gatsby and Daisy’s meetings, Gatsby sees his pure, perfect dream of a love, “Daisy gleaming like silver”