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Color White In The Great Gatsby Essay

1032 Words5 Pages

The Impact of the Color White in The Great Gatsby Upon seeing the color white, many people think about certain elements that correspond with the shade. The color white is commonly displayed in media to portray righteousness and simplicity but also discrepancy and luxury. People's wealthiness along with physical and mental cleanliness can often be illustrated through the color white. In the novel The Great Gatsby, these themes commonly occur with certain characters being associated with the color white. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, he displays the color white through his characters to mask superficiality with purity to convey the idea that a need for wealth comes with corruption. Fitzgerald illustrates Gatsby as extremely …show more content…

The character Myrtle is revealed to have a desire for money throughout her actions, moreover, Fitzgerald uses white ashes to resemble her false innocence. When Tom takes Nick to meet with Wilson and the woman he is having an affair with, the color white is characterized throughout this scene. Fitzgerald describes Wilson as having a “white ashen dust” covering his suit, although the dust does not cover “his wife” (Fitzgerald 26). This establishes the theme that distorted chastity is represented through the color white. When at a party, Myrtle reveals she only married Wilson because she thought he “knew something about breeding” meaning she only married him because she wanted him to make lots of money and become very wealthy (Fitzgerald 34). She thought he would be able to build himself up in life, but she guessed incorrectly and ended up having a below average life with him. Wilson's suit being covered in white ashes resembles how Myrtle only married him because she wanted money, which in turn made her corrupt to her

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