The Great Gatsby-Connotations(White)
Close to Godliness: Power and Immorality of the upper class in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Throughout the years, people have associated colors with ideas. These color connotations help us to better understand an author’s point or message. One author who used color imagery in his descriptive writing was F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses a variety of colors symbolically for effect. Throughout his novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the color white to represent the power, Godliness and immorality of the 1920’s upper class..
White is utilized numerous many times mainly to ironically shed light on the immorality of the upper class, which in this case involves Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker and Jay Gatsby. To do this, the author relies on his descriptions. Fitzgerald writes, “They were both in white and their dresses were rippling and fluttering…” using white to describe Daisy and Jordan upon Nick Carraway’s arrival on East Egg (8). This quote is used ironically, because white is normally associated with purity yet these characters are far from pure. The author further emphasizes this when he writes the scene of Daisy’s childhood reminiscence, “Our white girlhood was passed together there. Our beautiful white -” (19). Again the novel describes the women as pure, although the reader is aware that they are careless, upper-class women of the Roaring Twenties. Moreover he writes “…and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm…” where Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s lover, is telling Nick Carraway the story about how she and Tom first met, is another ironic description (36). Of course Tom can be characterized as anything but pure due to his penchant for affairs. This is something he does not mind showing off in public, nor does he mind people knowing.
Another way Fitzgerald uses the color white is to represent power. In doing this, he describes Miss Baker and Daisy’s attire. “As cool as their white dresses and their absence of all desire” is a description about power
Throughout the years, people have associated colors with ideas. These color connotations help us to better understand an author’s point or message. One author who used color imagery in his descriptive writing was F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses a variety of colors symbolically for effect. Throughout his novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the color white to represent the power, Godliness and immorality of the 1920’s upper class..
White is utilized numerous many times mainly to ironically shed light on the immorality of the upper class, which in this case involves Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker and Jay Gatsby. To do this, the author relies on his descriptions. Fitzgerald writes, “They were both in white and their dresses were rippling and fluttering…” using white to describe Daisy and Jordan upon Nick Carraway’s arrival on East Egg (8). This quote is used ironically, because white is normally associated with purity yet these characters are far from pure. The author further emphasizes this when he writes the scene of Daisy’s childhood reminiscence, “Our white girlhood was passed together there. Our beautiful white -” (19). Again the novel describes the women as pure, although the reader is aware that they are careless, upper-class women of the Roaring Twenties. Moreover he writes “…and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm…” where Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s lover, is telling Nick Carraway the story about how she and Tom first met, is another ironic description (36). Of course Tom can be characterized as anything but pure due to his penchant for affairs. This is something he does not mind showing off in public, nor does he mind people knowing.
Another way Fitzgerald uses the color white is to represent power. In doing this, he describes Miss Baker and Daisy’s attire. “As cool as their white dresses and their absence of all desire” is a description about power