High Class And Riches In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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In our society today colors have a deeper meaning than just the pigments we see them as. They have varied meanings depending on the culture or circumstance, being anything from emotions to social classes. In The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald utilizes colors to help his readers determine where the main characters stand in their social rankings. High class and riches are a very important concept to the characters in this novel. Four of the main colors that he uses in this novel to portray their own unique meanings are red, blue, and gold. Each of these colors tend to cling to a certain character in The Great Gatsby and follow them throughout the novel, only occasionally blending into another character’s lifestyle. …show more content…

Being that Daisy lives on the East side, it is fitting that the color gold is linked to her. This is because gold is considered to be representative of “old money”. Daisy’s one true passion in life is for money. Her husband, Tom, is unfaithful to her but she stays with him because of his high class and riches. “Daisy can never be separated from her money” (Strong 1), as Rebecca Strong points out that no matter what Daisy will choose money and nothing can separate her from this life style, not even her unfaithful husband. She truly believes that riches are even more important than smarts when she says “that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald 17). Daisy believes that if you are a beautiful women you will be able to make it in life a lot easier and could possibly marry into a rich family. Jay Gatsby, her lover, comes from “new money” but Daisy is not fond of that. As Gatsby goes to meet her, “An hour later the front door opened nervously, and Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in”, Fitzgerald describes the outfit the Gatsby is wearing to this occasion to try and impress her (84).

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