Yellow and Gold: Money, Money, Money. Oh, and Death.

First off, we’ve got yellows and golds, which we’re thinking has something to do with…gold (in the cash money sense). Why gold and not green? Because we’re talking about the real stuff, the authentic, traditional, "old money" – not these new-fangled dollar bills. So you’ve got your "yellow cocktail music" playing at Gatsby’s party where the turkeys are "bewitched to dark gold" and Jordan and Nick sit with "two girls in yellow." It seems clear, then, that Gatsby is using these parties to try to fit in with the "old money" crowd. And it doesn’t stop there; when Gatsby is finally going to see Daisy again at Nick’s house, he wears a gold tie. Nick later mentions the "pale gold odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate," which may seem weird (since last we checked, colors didn’t have a smell) until we remember Nick’s description of New York as "a wish out of non-olfactory money." Odor then is associated with gold, and non-odor with money. The difference? Perhaps the same distinction as Daisy’s upper class world and Gatsby’s new-found wealth. While Gatsby buys a yellow car to further promote his facade, he’s really not fooling anyone. Lastly, we’ve got Daisy, who is only called "the golden girl" once Gatsby realizes that her voice, her main feature, is "full of money." Yellow is not just the color of money, but also of destruction. Yellow is the color of the car that runs down Myrtle. The glasses of Eckleburg, looking over the wasteland of America, are yellow. This dual symbolism clearly associates money with destruction; the ash heaps are the filthy result of the decadent lifestyle led by the rich.

 Yellow also represents corruptness. Gatsby's car is yellow, a product of his corrupt dealings, as are the spectacles of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. It's probably not a coincidence that the novel's most impure character is named after a yellow flower. Gold has earned its place among the all time symbols of corruption and greed, although most wouldn't mind having more of it.

Daisy

Like her name suggests, is a flower with white petals and a yellow centre. It kind of shows that Daisy looks innocent and pure on the outside, like her petals, but is rotten on the inside, which is represented by the yellow part of the flower.

She ends up killing Myrtle even though she looks so harmless on the outside.

Jordan

Jordan’s yellow side can be shown through her hair, which is ‘autumn leaf yellow.’

Jordan can also be seen associated with the color of gold.

- “With Jordan’s slender golden arm resting in mine…”

- “I put my arm around Jordan’s golden shoulder…”

George Wilson

Yellow is the colour of depravity

- His house is made of yellow brick. It is the only place strictly referred to as yellow.

“The only building in sight was a small block of yellow brick…”

- The house contains individuals Myrtle and George Wilson, who eventually decided to kill Gatsby on the information presented to him by Tom inside the house, and he displays depravity when he tells Machaelis that “God sees everything”.

“God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me, but you can’t fool God!”

- He actually believed that the billbdrd of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg is some kind of God who could see all the immorality around him. Such as Mrytle. Mrs. Wilson cheating on her husband and even regrets their marriage.

“The only crazy I was was when I married him…”

T.J. Eckleburg

Wilson sees the billboard as something like a God.

- T.J. Eckleburg is wearing yellow glasses, which represents the depravity of his “godliness”.

Each person who lives in the yellow brick house is corrupted and immoral. The billboard of T.J. Eckleburg is related to the Wilson’s home, as George views the billboard as a God . Not surprisingly, T.J. Eckleburg is wearing yellow glasses, representing the depravity of Eckleburg’s “godliness.” Corruption is distinctly represented by yellow, but death is also a key to yellow’s dark symbolism.

Yellow is usually seen around a tragic death.

- Myrtle was killed by Gatsby’s yellow Rolls Royce, in front of her yellow brick house under the yellow spectacled eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg.

- The yellow colour of Gatsby’s car led to his death. If the colour of his car was black, like most of the cars during that time then he wouldn’t have been killed.

- Gatsby is seen walking through ‘yellowing trees’ just before he was murdered. “…but he shook his head and in a moment disappeared among the yellowing trees.”