Two Meanings to Everything

TWO MEANINGS TO EVERYTHING

Symbolism can mean and represent a wide variety of ideas, moments and memories in everyone’s lives. In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, colors, names and objects symbolize different personalities, and ideas of the characters. Some of the symbols are more obvious and easier to pick up on than others.

People say money makes our world go round. This famous saying applies to Fitzgerald’s piece of literature in many aspects. It seems that there were many colors that represented this desire and need for the characters. When Gatsby shows up at Nick Carraway’s house to reunite with Daisy, he comes in wearing “white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold tie.” (Fitzgerald 89). The colors gold and silver both represent money. Gatsby intentially wears colors that show he has gained and earned enough money to impress Daisy. As Daisy and Gatsby get closer, he takes her upstairs to his closet where there he shows her his collection of real English shirts. Daisy is floored but such a sight that “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such-beautiful shirts…” (Fitzgerald 98). When Daisy cried at the sight of the shirts, it symbolized her superficial- ness, as well as her materialistic life. Gatsby’s shirts were real and authentic and Daisy was amazed and speechless at the thought of how much they must be worth. This need of Gatsby’s to impress became a “sickness that drives young men to think that riches can obliterate the past and capture the hearts of the girls of their dreams” (Dictionary of Literary Biography 7). Throughout the entire novel Daisy is continuously seeking money and wealth.

When people think of daisy flowers, the colors yellow, green and white come to mind. The yellow in the middle represents corruption, and in the novel Daisy is one of the most corrupt characters. White represents how she was pure and “an enchanted object” on the outside (TCLC 6). Daisy’s name truly fits her character, in the way that she comes off sweet, but on the inside is morally sullied. The color green can also represents money. The day Gatsby goes to Nick’s to reunite with Daisy, Gatsby sends a gardener over to Nick’s house to cut his grass and give him a green house. When Nick sees that “Mr. Gatsby had sent him over to cut my grass.” he doesn’t really understand why (Fitzgerald 88). It is assumed that because green can represent wealth, that Gatsby wanted Nick’s grass to look nice, clean and worth a large sum of money. The continuous color of green and color of items worth copious amounts of money is prevalent in the novel in a repetitive pattern.

The goals of life, eyes always watching and the need for sophistication were also symbolized in various ways. When Myrtle is with Tom at their apartment in the city, she seems to need to be someone else. On their way into the city she talks about wanting a dog. Many families during those times had dogs as pets, and Myrtle wants to convey that life when she is with Tom. The dog represented Myrtle’s dreams of a real sophisticated city life. Dreaming and setting high standardized goals for yourself is what Gatsby thrived on. The green light that Gatsby looked at every night across the bay was Daisy’s dock light. Gatsby living off his dreams was symbolized by the dock light being green, distant and it was Daisy’s. Toward the end he realizes that “the colossal significance of that light had now vanished…” (Fitzgerald 98). Gatsby’s dreams were crushed and disillusioned. The symbol of eyes was also incorporated