Color White In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the disillusionment of the American Dream through the story of Jay Gatsby's relentless pursuit of wealth, love, and the unattainable ideal. After World War II, the economy was booming, and many were prosperous, happy and free; and the American Dream was more prominent than ever. The Great Gatsby aims to call this era of the “Roaring 20s” into question, as throughout the story, the chasing of the American Dream only results in disappointment and ruin. Fitzgerald exemplifies these disillusionments with the use of colors and inferences to the myths of vegetation. These myths are used repetitively with the cycle of seasons, beginning anew in spring, then fading away with fall. The colors

Originally, the color white represents purity and innocence as if it has not been touched or harmed by any sense of corruption. This color has been closely associated with Daisy who at the beginning of the novel, seems innocent and pure of anything corrupted. When Daisy is first introduced, she with Jordan, “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.”(12). This shows Daisy as an innocent and almost childish character, exempt from all the negative bearings of life. This use of white may allude to the snows of January, maybe with starting a new year, turning a new leaf, or an innocent

The color white is changed to a sort of emptiness and superficiality. In the ending pages of the novel, Nick is at a loss after what ocurred with Gatsby and Daisy.

“When we pulled out into the winter night and the real snow, our snow, began to stretch out beside us and twinkle against the windows, and the dim lights of small Wisconsin stations moved by, a sharp wild brace came suddenly into the air. We drew in deep breaths of it as we walked back from dinner through the cold vestibules, unutterably aware of our identity with this country for one strange hour, before we melted indistinguishably into it again.” (184)

Here, this quote presents a vivid description of a winter night and the narrator's experience of being in a snowy landscape. The focus is on the winter night, the real snow, and the dim lights of small Wisconsin stations. The emphasis on the winter setting creates a sense of coldness, emptiness, and desolation. Just as Nick feels empty after the loss of Gatsby. Winter is often associated with barrenness, as the landscape loses its vibrant colors and is covered in a blanket of white