What Does Yellow Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about a man named Jay Gatsby who is very hopeful that his love for Daisy Buchannan, who did not wait for him, and she would still love him too. Nick Carraway the narrator of the book is also the next-door neighbor of Mr. Gatsby and gets the inside scoop of his life in the summer of 1922. Throughout the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses white, yellow, green, and blue to portray the American dream, the reality, hopefulness, love, the future and money. He uses these colors all over to talk about the characters because these colors represent their life, but Fitzgerald also uses these colors to represent the bad that comes out of them as well, the inevitable.

The color white is mostly used

to describe the innocence and purity, but on the inside it represents the corruption, and not the purity that everyone thought. Jay Gatsby finally realizes that Daisy and Tom and just all money, everything they do is money and wealth. When Tom, Nick, Jordan, Daisy and Gatsby were about to go to the city, Nick says, “High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl" (120). Nick is saying that Daisy is able to receive anything she would like because she has the money to do so, “her voice is full of money.” Since she married Tom Buchannan and lives a very carefree lifestyle, she does not have to worry about a thing. Her innocence and supposed purity rubs off on men, and she soon controls them. They are attracted to her through her money and Gatsby is mesmerized by Daisy because of everything about her. She is being described as white because the innocence and purity is hiding the truth of these wealthy people, especially Daisy. White also symbolizes class, and old money, which Daisy had inherited both. The first time Nick came over the lunch, Tom and him were trying to make conversation, but “Their (Daisy and Jordan) inconsequential conversation was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of desire”(12). Daisy and Jordan do need to make conversation because they have everything they need and want right there and they are able to just relax. This fits in with the color white because this is about class. Daisy and Jordan are in the upper class where everyone knows them and they can buy and get anything they would like because the large amounts of money they have. They can have useless conversations because they do not need to think about anything, since they have the lives of a God. The color white can also be used as honorable or nobility. When Gatsby took Nick into the city for lunch, he was going very fast and a police officer started to pull him over, but he instead started, “Taking a white card from his wallet, he waved it before the policemen’s eyes” (68). Nick is saying that Gatsby is special and he is able to not get a ticket because of where he is on the class system, which is very, very, very high. White is used to describe nobility, but this is the corruption of the high classes being able to pay themselves out of everything. Gatsby is able to ignore laws because of where he stands, and the policeman allows it. This is saying that the policemen are biased towards the upper class beings and the justice system is very dishonorable. The upper class benefit themselves when doing this action and it is a benefit and sense of freedom that they obtain through this. The color white is used in various occasions through the book, but mostly has the meaning of the innocence, class, and nobility, but this also is a mask for the real meaning that is corruption, and the way the rich can figure out how to go around the law.
The color yellow is used in the Great Gatsby as a symbol for reality, the fake American dream, and corruption.

When Nick went to Gatsby’s party for the first time, he found Jordan and then, “She held my hand impersonally, as a promise that she'd take care of me in a minute, and gave her ear to two girls in twin yellow dresses, who stopped at the foot of the steps"(42). Jordan is using Nick to show to other girls, but she truly doesn’t feel anything, and the girls are artificial and just wanting to meet Jordan because she is famous. Yellow mostly means reality with fake money and the fake American dream. These girls are fake people who just come for the party. They have old money, and it is mixing into the new money crowd, but the old money could also be fake money, from how they inherited it and how their families made it. When Nick is describing the Valley of Ashes he looks at the house of Myrtle Wilson and says, "The only building in sight was a small block of yellow brick sitting on the edge of the waste land, a sort of compact Main Street ministering to it, and contiguous to absolutely nothing"(24). Nick is saying that their reality and true American dream is to only live in the valley of ashes. Myrtle and George live in this house, which is their reality that they live in the valley of ashes. After a while Myrtle becomes very desperate and tries to make her situation better and having the real American dream with Tom, but she doesn’t realize that she is destine to have

this being her life and she will not able to live her American dream. When Wilson is describing the car that ran over myrtle he says, “It was a yellow car… big yellow car. New” (139). Wilson is saying that the car that killed Myrtle was new and yellow. This car was Jay Gatsby’s and everyone knew it. Gatsby got his car because he wanted to fit in with the higher society, but he was able to get his car from his past transactions, so the car can symbolize corruption. He has this car to show his wealth he has gotten, and he had done it all by himself, but some people does not think he deserves it. His car is also called the death car because Myrtle was killed by it. Daisy and Gatsby were driving home from the city when myrtle escaped from her life and was then smashed by reality. Daisy and Gatsby were also hit by reality, that they would never be able to workout, but Gatsby still had hope so he defended her even though she actually killed myrtle since she was driving Gatsby’s car.
The color green and blue represents the dreams and hopes that Gatsby and characters in the Great Gatsby wish to come true, but also represents money and the future.

Before Nick and Gatsby were friends, Nick saw Gatsby going outside to look at green light and, “…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. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away…” (20-21). Gatsby is reaching for the green light which is Daisy Buchannan and he hopes to be able to fulfill his dream to be with her. The green represents the future-hoping Daisy will be in his futures as well. As it says, that it is very far away, which is saying it is impossible to reach which is foreshadow in the book, because he will never be able to reach it and fulfill his dream to be with Daisy. This is also representing the society as a whole and the aspiration to achieve the unfeasible materialistic American dream! He will never be able to hold on to Daisy and live the life he has made up for her to be in. When Nick was referring to the Valley of Ashes he said, "The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic-their retinas are one yard high"(23). The eyes of God are big and looking at the unrealistic dreams that He sees everyday. While people of both statures drive past the Valley of Ashes, the billboard watches them and he takes in the all the dreams that they

are trying to catch, but will never actually ever catch. Blue usually represents dreams, fantasy’s and confidence, but since the billboard is placed in the valley of ashes which is the poorest part, God only looks down on unhappy, poor, hopeless people who cannot go anywhere in life. As an example, Myrtle is trying to chase the American dream with Tom, but she is not able to because she is hit the yellow car of reality and realized that all her dreams are smashed, literally. This can also be interpreted as T.J Eckleburg bringing hope into the Valley of Ashes because it is completely dead and no one had the hope anymore. As Nick was saying his final goodbyes to New York and Gatsby’s mansion he said, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (180). Nick is saying Gatsby had trust that the light would bring happiness to his life, but it only failed him. Gatsby could not let go of the past, and he wanted to reply it and recreate it to feel the connection he once had. Gatsby was sure that he was going to be able to have Daisy love him like she once did, but in the end it just turned out bad for Gatsby, no one else. The green light is now in the distance and Daisy is gone forever, so is the American dream. Gatsby’s hopefulness is gone and the reality is that the American dream, is nothing more then a dream.
Colors were a big part of the Great Gatsby as it was used to describe many things in the book, and made it a lot clearer. To the characters in the book, Gatsby’s favorite color was green because he wanted his dreams to come true in the future and he was very caught up in all his money. It plays a very important role with symbolism in this book representing characters and a deeper meaning to the characters in the book. Yellow symbolizes the reality of the situation and the fake American dream, but also the corruption. White represents innocence and purity, but when the mask is peeled off it actually represents the corruption and fakeness as well. Green represents the American dream and money, which is the most important, and finally blue represents the hopefulness of each character through their dreams and wishes.