Gold In The Great Gatsby

Literature is known to be an important aspect of our everyday lives, yet, when you dive deeper into the literature you're reading, symbolism is used to give the text a deeper meaning. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, the protagonist, main character named Jay Gatsby is hoping of life with Daisy Buchanan, a woman who Gatsby has loved since before he went to war, and is constantly trying to win her love back after she married another man. Daisy’s cousin, Nick Carraway, describes Gatsby’s efforts and helps him try and win Daisy over as he tells the colorful story from a first person point of view. In this novel, color plays an essential role. Throughout the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, the color green is used to symbolize characters' …show more content…
Gold in the novel is used to describe old money and contrasts green which is known as new money, “ The colors green and gold contrast in a significant way. In old times people used gold as a means for exchange, but as a national currency was established green money replaced the gold and gold no longer even backed the dollar.” (Samkanashvili). In addition to green and gold contrasting each other, the background to why these colors do contarst become an important aspect of understanding the distinct differences between the two significant classes in the novel. The difference between Daisy and Gatsby is explained with the knowledge that green and gold contrast each other and that old money is thought of more highly than new money which makes it difficult for the two social classes to be together. This difference of Daisy and Gatsby is described by Jordan Baker, a professional golfer and Daisy’s friend, “‘After that she didn’t play around with the soldiers anymore, but only with a few flat-footed, short-sighted young men in town, who couldn’t get into the army at all.’”(Fitzgerald 75). The way Jordan speaks of the men that could not go into the army gives the reader information that these men do not need to serve their country because of their family status and the fact that they are old money. This …show more content…
When Nick first goes to Tom and Daisy’s house, he makes remarks regarding the windows that Daisy has, “The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house”(Fitzgerald 8). The vivid description as to how the windows appear to be “gleaming white” symbolize to the reader the fairness and innocence that Daisy has in relationship to everything that has to do with herself. Since white symbolizes the innocence and fairness of Daisy, the way Fitzgerald incorporates the green grass seemingly moving into the house is in reference to the old money that Gatsby is and how he tries to come into Daisy’s life and break through the innocence of Daisy and her exterior. Similarly, Magher states, “When Fitzgerald describes the clothes the characters wear or the way the landscape looks, he's not just painting a picture, he's telling the reader about the values associated with those people and objects.”(Magher). The way that Fitzgerald describes Daisy’s house and involves the aspect of the green, gives information about both Daisy and Gatsby and portray the symbolism of Daisy resembling innocence and fairness. Secondly, the white attire Daisy and Jordan wear is used in the novel to symbolize the class that they are in, “As her namesake suggests, her exterior appears to be pure white like the petals of a daisy. However,

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