Yellow with Envy

In the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel The Great Gatsby, the relationship between East Egg and West Egg is shown in many different ways, one being the use of color. Specifically, the color most often used to represent this relationship is yellow. The color yellow signifies wealth in all forms, and its meaning changes for each character. The color yellow is an imitation of gold and shows West Egg’s desire to be gold, to be like the East Egg. To characters such as Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom, yellow signifies wealth or the lack thereof. To characters such as Nick, the color yellow can be used to show his desire to belong and his wish to have people, his own people, to call his family. Whether it signifies literal wealth or belonging, the color yellow and variations of it represent what is found to be most valuable to each character.  

The relationship between old money and new money, West Egg and East Egg, is shown through the use of the colors yellow and gold. Yellow is representative of new money, its imitation of old money, its gaudy attention seeking properties. Gold represents old money, class, and sophistication. New money wants to imitate old money and reach their level of status and elegance but does not have the same understanding of class. The imitation of gold shows the desire, in the same way, that Gatsby has to be like Daisy and have her. Gatsby, not coming from old money, does not know that the flamboyant and loud lifestyle is not what she wants. She wishes to have the lavish life of class and sophistication that is given by old money, that is given by gold. Gold is old money, it is lavish and beautiful without the loud and attention seeking qualities that yellow possesses. Gold shows its wealth without effort. As seen when Daisy absentmindedly would give up a something so rich in value that is yet so subtle to the recipient, “‘Go ahead,’ answered Daisy generally, ‘and if you want to take down any addresses here’s my little gold pencil’” (Fitzgerald 105). Daisy’s ‘gold pencil’ signifies her wealth without trying, it’s a small and elegant pencil, one that is not flamboyant. Daisy is better than yellow greed, yellow is gaudy, not quite rich, gold is the yellow of those who come from old money. Each one of these characters desires material wealth in some way, whether it be gaudy and showy wealth in new money or classy and elegant in terms of old money.

Nick wishes not money and gold; he sees the lavish lifestyle those of his comrades’ life and wishes to be a part of that life, to be included by them. He remains a character who never truly belongs in that life, he is continuously out of place but has a desire to belong. As seen here when Nick is looking up at Gatsby’s mansion emitting a bright yellow light “Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was him too, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life” (Fitzgerald 35). Here Nick has become part of the life with Gatsby, he is right in the middle, yet not involved or engaged by his surroundings. Nick who begins a relationship with a wealthy pro golfer does not only wish for her status. Nick seems to fall for his pro golfer girlfriend for his desire to be with her. Nick feels a real connection to Jordan and likes her genuinely. He does not care if she is wealthy but he is aware it is a part of Jordan. Nick is connected to wealth and money but is not obsessive about it. Nick is genuine and cares for Jordan with real emotions “I put my arm around Jordan’s ‘golden shoulder’ and drew her towards me and asked her to dinner” (Fitzgerald 79). Jordan’s golden shoulder represents interest or some sort of goal as Nick is intrigued by her. This intriguing feature develops a perspective of Jordan that is fascinated and yearning for. He wants Jordan, and the romantic chemistry between one another is represented by what he sees in her. Furthermore, Jordan’s ‘golden shoulder’ secures her as a member of wealthy old money; thus making her socially acceptable.

Yellow is attention seeking, it grabbed attention with its gaudy and extreme lavishness.  Yellow is imitating gold and is focussed on being showy and having a lot to show off. The girls in the yellow dresses at Gatsby’s ostentatious West Egg carnival took Jordan’s attention away from Nick: “She held my hand impersonally, as a promise that she’d take care of me in a minute, and gave ear to two girls in twin yellow dresses, who stopped at the foot of the steps” (Fitzgerald 42). The yellow dresses are gaudy and attention-grabbing, they take Jordan’s attention away from Nick and draws her towards them. They try to be classy like gold but new money isn’t class, it is a show. Gatsby’s whole party is a show, one put on to impress Daisy who sees through the charade. Daisy is the original golden girl in the rich white castle.

Yellow and Gold are the two colors of New York City, when Nick crosses the bridge there is a whole new world, “As we crossed the Blackwell‘s Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modest negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in the haughty rivalry. ‘anything can happen now that we’ve slid over this bridge,’ I thought; ‘anything at all….’ Even Gatsby could happen, without a particular wonder” (Fitzgerald 69) a world where blacks can have the same pleasures and luxuries as wealthy whites, one where anything is possible including Gatsby. New York is Yellow, and every variation of it, anything is possible once in the City. New York is rich, there is old money and new money, there is color and life, New York City is alive and this idea of endless opportunity is what makes it possible for Nick to believe Gatsby is real.In The Great Gatsby yellow signifies Gatsby’s wealth but it also shows how all his earning are superficial. Gatsby is from West Egg and has new money, and the conception that new money does not undertand class and respectability can be seen with Gatsby’s gaudy wealth.  The significance of yellow and gold and their symbolic relationship to the two worlds that coincide with one another in the world of new york also symbolize the relationship and struggle between Gatsby and Daisy. Daisy carries a gold pencil and Gatsby has an expensive car. “‘It was a big yellow car,’ he said, ‘big yellow car, new’” (Fitzgerald 139). A large yellow lavish car that is extravagant and ornate. This lavish and eye-catching life is what separates Gatsby and Daisy, the same thing that separates yellow and gold.  Yellow is the color of New York City- it is the color of possibility, as well as desire, the color yellow and all its variations, are symbolic to what is most desired by each character. Gatsby did not understand Daisy was gold, he did not perceive that his yellow lifestyle is not what she wished for, Gatsby built his yellow life for a girl that was made of gold.