Color Motif in The Great Gatsby

Throughout the entire novel, colors are used as symbols representing certain meanings. These include gold, which represents wealth, white, representing femininity, green, representing hope, and gray, representing a lack of the other colors. However, in the book, there are many colors that also appear to mimic some of these. For example, yellow mimics gold and cream mimics white. Fitzgerald's purpose behind using these mimicking colors is because they represent the idea of mimicking itself. In the beginning of the book, Jordan and Daisy, two highly regarded women wear white, however Mrytle, not as highly respected, wears cream. She is trying to be like Daisy, is even jealous of her, but she is not quite the same as Daisy. This is why she wears a cream dress the first time she appears in the book. Similarly, yellow represents new wealth trying to mimic old wealth. Gatsby's yellow car is an example of this. He buys it to flaunt his wealth and try to appear like those who live on East Egg. Another example of this mimicry is the two twins who approach Jordan at one of Gatsby's parties. Fitzgerald describes them as both wearing yellow. Again, this represents the new wealth trying to mimic the old wealth, however it cannot quite be achieved. In The Great Gatsby colors of similarity are used to represent one group of people trying to be like another.