Gatsby's behavior in the story can be summed up concisely in the word delusional. While his intentions …show more content…
Although it is a sure sign of emotional instability, he knows Daisy is attracted to money. "She's got an indiscreet voice,' I remarked. It's full of 'I hesitated. Her voice is full of money,' [Gatsby] said suddenly" (Fitzgerald 127). Gatsby goes to any lengths to make himself "worthy" of Daisy. He involves himself with the Mafia, and with organized crime, making himself enormous sums of wealth. However, this is not honest money, and unlike his outward appearance, he is not living the "American Dream", as it were. The festivities, the extravagant house, and the gleaming automobiles are in fact all lies in the sense that they were bought with dishonesty. This is yet another testament to how Gatsby is hopelessly fixated on Daisy, causing him to make decisions based on whether it will bring her nearer to him. Gatsby's obsession with tangible things is one of many indicators of his reckless desire to astound people in any way …show more content…
He dresses in flashy, eye-catching clothing, with colors that scream, "Notice me!" He has a particular affinity for white; when he first reunites with Daisy he wears a white suit with a silver shirt and gold tie. The color white implies purity and vitality, which is the image Gatsby is trying to give off, because of his delusion that Daisy herself is pure. Even Gatsby's car has a meaningful color being yellow, it is the color of corruption and dishonesty a symbol of how the car was purchased in the first place. To take it even further, automobiles are one of the focal points of the so-called American dream in the 1920's: fast, sleek and fashionable. The yellow in the car suggests that the American dream in itself is in fact a lie, prone to corruption and dishonesty as is anything