The Color Gold In The Great Gatsby

Yellow is generally thought of as a color of springtime that is both happy and hopeful but in The Great Gatsby yellow is a more sinister color. In the Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway, the narrator, meets the very wealthy Jay Gatsby. Gatsby goes to many extravagant lengths to try to win back Daisy Buchanan, Nick’s Cousin. However, this is not just a story about a rich man trying to steal away another man's wife, something more sinister preys upon the reunited couple. Fitzgerald uses themes and motifs to enhances his writing. The most important motif in The Great Gatsby is the color gold, because it represents not only wealth but also death, it appears in Gatsby’s car, his house and the glasses of T.J. Eckelberry. Gatsby’s house is yellow, which represents wealthy. This also shows that Gatsby will go to any length to win back Daisy. He also won’t accept that Daisy, may have, at some point actually loved her husband Tom Buchanan. “Even alone I can’t say I never loved Tom,” She admitted in a pitiful voice. “It wouldn’t be true” (Fitzgerald pg. 140). Gatsby’s house unlike his car represents wealth and his desire to be with Daisy. Gatsby’s house is often compared to a castle, which not only stresses his will to be with Daisy, but also his new rise to wealth. …show more content…
This blatantly symbolizes yellow’s uses as a motif for death. For hundreds of years gold has been buried with rulers, such as Agamemnon and Tutankhamen. Both were wealthy for their time so it is fitting that gold should be the tool of death for those who get in the way of the rich, quite literally. “It was a yellow car,” he said. “A big yellow car. New,” (Fitzgerald pg. 147). Once again yellow finds its way into The Great Gatsby once again, however this time for a more sinister reason, the death of Myrtle