What Does Whiteness Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

Individuals perpetuate false personas to such an extent that they are convinced into a state of false consciousness of reaching the American dream, ultimately, this facade leads them to their downfall, exposing repressed reality from idealistic lies. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes symbols to describe the hollow nature of each character’s deceitful persona, which comes to show the ultimate theme of downfall through the individual’s perception of the American dream. The use of gold as a mask for the colour yellow represents authentic wealth versus fake wealth, further developed though Jay Gatsby’s pursuance of the American dream. The colour white known for is purity and simplicity is denoted by Daisy Buchanan, a character who represses the reality in which she lives, insinuated by her change in surroundings. Furthermore, the character of Myrtle Wilson, showcases her greed for wealth and her need of a rich-husband as an American dream, symbolized by the surrounding colour of grey, a representation of her veneer-rich persona.

Similar to white projecting honesty and purity, Fitzgerald also uses it to symbolize perfection. Daisy, always in white, was perfect in Gatsby's eyes. He lived his life around her, in order to reclaim her. Just as Daisy's whiteness symbolized perfection to Gatsby, the white world of the upper class was the epitome of perfection for Myrtle Wilson, Tom's mistress. To Myrtle, the perfect life would be to live like Daisy, to be wealthy. Although she lives in the valley of ashes as the wife of a garage owner, she feels she belongs with the upper class. She stakes claim in high society through Tom, but will never be fully able to gain access to their elite world. Fitzgerald shows her attempt to become “white” through her clothing. When she is first seen in the novel, she is wearing “a spotted dress of dark blue” (Fitzgerald, 25).

There are people who believe themselves to be pure and honest, while on the inside they truly obtain none of those qualities. The color white has always been associated with goodness and innocence; it’s usually the color one would think of when imagining an angel or the heavens. However, Fitzgerald uses this connotation with white in an ironic sense by using it to describe some of the most corrupt and none innocent people in the story. As Daniel J. Schneider states in his article on color symbolism in The Great Gatsby “White traditionally symbolizes purity, and there is no doubt that Fitzgerald wants to underscore the ironic disparity between the ostensible purity of Daisy and Jordan and their actual corruption.” Throughout the entire story, Fitzgerald is

Daisy is often written to go along with the color white, which most first associate it with purity and innocence, as white is often used to represent. By the end of the story, the reader sees Daisy for who she truly is, as she skips Gatsby’s funeral the reader can see the white to represent a voidness, emptiness, and lack of consciousness. The reader now

The author of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, reveals the issues of money, happiness, and the unattainable which separated the privileged and unprivileged. Fitzgerald hints to the reader numerous times of the issues of money and how it can ultimately affect a character's life. The main character of The Great Gatsby, demonstrate the struggle of the 20s and how somethings can be within arms reach but cannot be grasped. All throughout the novel, Jay Gatsby, struggles to keep, Daisy Buchanan, the woman he loves, happy enough. Due to the separation of money, Gatsby is identified as a man of “new money”, this makes it hard for Gatsby to achieve his dream of reuniting with Daisy. The color green is used to show Gatsby’s dream and how he struggles to obtain the unobtainable. He hints poverty and hopelessness through the color gray. The author presents the color white in order to expose the true nature of Daisy Buchanan and the privileges of living in the west egg. Fitzgerald uses colors to symbolize the inequality between social classes of the 1920s, ultimately proving that money does not guarantee happiness.

White is one of the clearest examples of deceiver in the novel because of its role in covering up and blurring the truth. Tom also displays the color white, not through clothes, but through his behavior. Tom is a raging racists clearly shown when he says, “if we don’t look out for the white races we will be utterly submerged”(P.13). Tom associates the color white with superiority and dominance not only in regards to race, but also in regards to money. His pride and privileged as a rich white man blinds him from reality and progression in America. He does not accept the possibility for anyone other than people like him to be successful and dominant in America.

In general, the color white symbolizes innocence, purity, and cleanliness. In the novel, the color white is closely associated with Daisy. “White, even after one excludes near-synonyms such as silver, makes more appearances in the novel than any other single color, and something like three of every four are applied to East Egg or characters from East Egg, especially to Daisy” (Elmore 428). This quote proves that the color white contributes to a major theme in the novel. Daisy wears white to show her innocence. The first time Nick sees Daisy and Jordan, they are both wearing white. Nick describes seeing the women in the quote, “They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house” (Fitzgerald 8). It was the women, so magical and light, like birds or butterflies that flew around the house. They could fly, but they didn't fly far, only around the house which they got blown back into. These women don't have much ambition or power on their own. They are housebound, even though they can fly. In the beginning of the novel, the reader believes Daisy is innocent. Even her name Daisy is a kind of white flower. When introduced to her for the first time, people feel that she is pure, flawless, and noble. This is one of the reasons Gatsby is infatuated with her throughout his life and regards her as a pure beauty. The

In everyday life and works of literature, color symbolizes a wide variety from emotions to political status. When someone is feeling upset one often says “I’m feeling blue” or when someone is mad their face turns red giving that color the association with anger. Political status even uses color to represent each party, one is usually either a blue democrat or red republican. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby” color plays a significant role throughout the story symbolizing emotions and social rankings. Colors such as green representing hope and money, grey portraying hopelessness and low class along with discontent, and yellow exemplifies low class and desire.

One of the main colors in The Great Gatsby is white. White represents the innocence and purity in the book. Daisy and Jordan are first introduced wearing white. It makes you think that the ladies’ are pure from the start of the book. Later on it is realized that neither one of the girls is all that pure. They are obviously not pure since they both are not so innocent. In the book is says Jordan cheats in her golf

     F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, uses symbolism throughout the novel to create the characters and events of the post World War I period. Colors are one way symbolism was used to develop the characters’ personalities and set up events. This is shown by colors like the green at the end of Daisy Buchannan’s dock, the color of Jay Gatsby’s car and how Myrtle and Jordan surrounded themselves by white. Other symbolisms used to set up events are the difference in the people of the West Egg and East Egg and the sign in the “valley of ashes”.

When Fitzgerald uses the color white in The Great Gatsby it represents innocence and purity, but, ironically, every subject associated with the color white is the opposite of innocent and pure. When the reader is introduced to Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker “They were both wearing white” (Fitzgerald 8). They dress for people to look at them as “white” and honest people. Later in the story Fitzgerald presents that they are both having affairs and lie in many aspects of their lives. Jordan Baker, a professional golfer, lies during her first golf match and no one questions it because of her social status. Tom Buchanan takes Nick Carraway to a street with “a long white cake of apartment houses” where they drink, party, and Tom has an affair (28). These white apartments are the setting of much sinful and impure behavior. White shows much hypocrisy through The Great Gatsby because Fitzgerald uses irony whenever it is used.

As a reader, one does not usually read into the symbols of a book. Audiences look forward to the entertainment they get from the story. But, in The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald delves into the world of symbolism and metaphors. In this book, readers must pay close attention to the detail Fitzgerald puts into his work. The Great Gatsby is full of important symbols such as the colors used to represent different characters. Silver and Gold are used for Gatsby to represent power and money. Both Jordan and Daisy are represented with the colors white which represents a lack of color; shallowness. In Tom Burnam’s The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg: A Re-examination of “The Great Gatsby”, Burnam quotes, “It is indeed likely, as a matter of fact,

The color white is associated with purity and innocence. Gatsby and Nick, the main male characters in the story, can be affiliated with this

The color white normally represents pureness or innocence. In The Great Gatsby, though, it represented a fake innocence. Daisy was always around white: white clothes, white curtains, and white rooms. Even her name was symbolized with white. A daisy flower has white petals and a yellow center. Daisy was not anywhere close to the picture of innocence; she was all about money and would try her hardest to get it. She married Tom Buchanan for the money,

In literature, color is an important aspect in a story, as it usually symbolizes a deeper meaning. In Fitzgerald’s fictional novel, The Great Gatsby, a mysterious and wealthy Jay Gatsby throws extravagant parties, in hope that Daisy, the love of his life, will make an appearance. As Shakespeare famously said “All that glitters is not gold…” which applies to Daisy, as the real Daisy does not live up to Gatsby’s visions of her. Color symbolism plays an important role throughout the novel, most prominently with the use of green, white, and gold.