The Color Black In The Great Gatsby

The color black is often thought of as being sophisticated. When thinking of the color, people often relate it to death, intimidation, unfriendliness, and authority; however, it can relate to confidence, seduction, secrecy, and elegance as well. People exhibiting this behavior are naturally conservative and usually fear things beyond their control. An example of this type of person would be Tom Buchanan. Tom Buchanan’s demonstration of authority, fear of inferiority, and ability and willingness to keep himself and the ones he love hidden from others, all symbolize how the color black is represented within the novel.

Tom is indirectly responsible for all three of the deaths that occurred in The Great Gatsby. His being, in itself, intimidated

Gatsby to the point where Gatsby felt the need to defend himself. This caused a great amount of embarrassment for Gatsby, and Tom thought that the best way to demonstrate his authority over Daisy would be to request that Gatsby take her home because Tom knew that he had nothing more to worry about since he had already belittled Gatsby, who now appeared as a fool. This distressed Daisy and provoked Gatsby to let her drive home in her very confused and bewildered state. The intimidation and authority of Tom Buchanan led to her recklessly hitting and killing Myrtle. Furthermore, Tom displayed malice when he revealed to George that it was Gatsby’s car, even though Tom may have known that Gatsby didn’t deserve such a hateful death, considering it was Daisy who killed her. His black personality created hostility and indirectly caused his wife to brutally, and perhaps accidentally, murder his mistress, which in turn caused George to murder Gatsby and then himself.
Tom fears the rise of other races and females since it is beyond his control. Because it is beyond his control, he fears that he may lose his authority and power. It explains a little bit further into why he hit Myrtle in the nose. If she became too much or too full of herself, he would have lost his authority over her. He couldn’t let her have the upper hand, which is why he hit her. However, when thinking about Tom as a person, he is fairly sophisticated. He exhibits this black nature by his wealth and elegance. He attends black tie events, where black suits are most often worn. He is extremely conservative in his beliefs and dealing with what his fears are. He wants to keep the traditional patriarchal society and wants Daisy to complement him, which is why his wife wears white, to balance out what his black nature represents. Tom and Daisy are polar opposites whereas his black nature absorbs all color and shows an absence of light, Daisy’s white personality reveals what Tom’s black nature is trying to hide.
After everything happened, Tom retreated back into his bubble with his wife. Black is demonstrated strongly here, since it shows how he wants to keep her bottled up and hidden from the world. It also shows how he created a barrier to separate them from the rest of the world. They retreated back into themselves after everything had happened. The deed was already done, and with Tom’s black nature, they sequestered themselves, enwrapped in an air of black mystery. Tom isn’t an optimist and the color black is said to persuade one to take a more pessimistic outlook on life. When you have this perspective, it creates a fear for the future. He is constantly scared of what might happen if he loses sight or power over the ones he thinks he owns.
Tom hasn’t often shown his real feelings, and when you think of black you think of a void space, such as that in a black hole.

Black shows the ability to be able to protect and provide strength and comfort to those you care for. It creates an illusion of mysteriousness around everything. It can cause mood swings and depression. There are so many different ways to see black. Black is a color that has a broad view. Either way, the best way to describe this word is to think of it as the end and the beginning of something new. Black is endless. You don’t know where it ends, nor do you know where it begins so it becomes difficult to tell if a person has a true black nature or faux one. It isn’t widely known why, but black hides what’s on the inside. It gives false pretenses which there are many of in The Great Gatsby. It hides what someone’s true nature or intentions might be. They may have ill intentions, but it won’t be realised until far too late, due to the fact that the color black cloaks what true intentions may be. The Great Gatsby was not from Tom Buchanan’s point of view, so no one really knows if he is truthful with how much he knows or not. It could all be a hoax and Tom intentionally wanted to drive Daisy to kill Myrtle. Black is represented and traced all throughout the book. It starts from mystery and suspicion to hatred and reality. There is still mystery in the book despite the fact that the story is suppose to have ended. Black creates that void of emotion or reality to the point where no one truly knows if what was being said is true or not. With black, that is what you get, confusion. There is much confusion and misinterpretation that goes on within the book. Things are hazy which is most likely due to the fact that many things are still unknown. There is so much secrecy in the book. The same as there is so much secrecy in the color

black.