Blue: This One’s Up For Grabs

Then there’s the color blue, which we think represents Gatsby’s illusions - his deeply romantic dreams of unreality. We did notice that the color blue is present around Gatsby more so than any other character. His gardens are blue, his chauffeur wears blue, the water separating him from Daisy is his "blue lawn," mingled with the "blue smoke of brittle leaves" in his yard. His transformation into Jay Gatsby is sparked by Cody, who buys him, among other things, a "blue coat." Before you tie this up under one simple label, keep in mind that the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg are also blue, and so is Tom’s car. If blue represents illusions and alternatives to reality, God may be seen as a non-existent dream.

Gatsby

- Blue is used to describe Jay Gatsby’s gardens where people come and go to parties as they please. His “blue” gardens are representative of a fantasyland. Blue represents Gatsby’s dreamland which he thinks is reality.

- “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars”

- “He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it”

- When Dan Cody buys Gatsby a blue coat, among other things, he begins to become more prosperous and wealthy. Maybe in the dream, his success may have been caused by the blue coat, but in reality, it was probably just a coincidence.