#5 Body Paragraphs

#1-   In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the colors yellow and gold symbolize wealth and decay in the characters lives throughout the story. For example, the Buchanan's "French windows, glowing now with reflected gold" (6). This clarifies that the Buchanan's house is just a symbol that they are both, Tom and Daisy, trying to show off how wealthy they are, and it also show that they are decaying on the inside. In The Great Gatsby, Dr. T.J.Eckleburg's "enormous yellow spectacles," symbolize corruption in the character's lives (23). Eckleburg is seen as a Christ-like figure in the book and his yellow spectacles symbolize the corruption that  he sees when he looks down on the world. On page 84, Gatsby arrives at Nick's house for tea wearing a gold tie (84).The gold in Gatsby's tie shows that he is not decaying on the outside  yet, but on the inside because the tie is located in the middle of his body. He also wears the golden tie to show Daisy how much money he has.

#2-   Two similar colors, white and silver, are used very frequently throughout Fitzgerald's novel. The color white is used in the beginning of the novel describing the houses "across the courtesy bay" (5). These houses included the Buchanan's mansion,  that is described as "white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water" (5). White, in this case, symbolizes the view of "pureness" on the outside of the East Eggs mansions. Daisy and Jordan Baker's dresses were both white when Nick first visited the Buchanan's mansion (8). The fact that both Daisy and Miss Baker's dresses were white is significant because they are trying to show off their "purity" on the outside with clothes and accessories, but on the inside they are decaying slowly. When Gatsby comes to Nick's house for tea, he is wearing a silver shirt underneath his white-flannel jacket and around his neck he is wearing a golden tie (84). The white flannel jacket, that is covering the silver shirt and golden tie, is similar to Daisy and Miss Baker's dresses; Gatsby is wearing white on the very outside of his whole outfit to look "pure" and "clean", as if he has never done anything wrong. The silver shirt underneath his white-flannel jacket shows his wealth and the in-between-ness of purity and decay.

#3-   The color green can symbolize many different things, such as wealth, fertility, and jealousy. In chapter four, Gatsby's car is described as "monstrous" in length, with windows that "mirrored a dozen suns", and it was all behind glass inside a "sort of green leather conservatory" (64). His whole car is a symbol of his wealth and what all he can afford. The "green" leather interior is major symbolization of Gatsby's wealth. This green interior also symbolizes Gatsby's jealousy of the people who have more wealth than him. Towards the end of the novel, Tom visits Wilson to get some gas for his car and Wilson is not looking too good. Wilson's face appears to be green in the sunlight (123). This might be a symbol of jealousy for the people who can afford all of the nice cars and even the people who can afford gas. Wilson is having hard time with money during this part of the novel and he has been feeling sick as well. A very important symbol in the novel that includes the color green is the green light on the end of Daisy's dock that Gatsby is always looking at. This green light symbolizes jealousy because Gatsby is jealous of Tom because he has Daisy and Gatsby is in love with Daisy (21).