Symbolism, Sightings, Imagery
White card (Symbol)- Gatsby gets pulled over by a police officer for speeding, but is let off the hook once he shows the officer a white card. The police officer apologizes for pulling him over and Gatsby tells Nick that “[he] was able to do the commissioner a favor once” (Fitzgerald, 68) and he doesn’t get tickets anymore. This card represents corruption and lack of justice in society. Since Gatsby can just wave this card at an officer and he can get away with anything, there is not justice in the system and the police system is corrupted.
Gatsby’s Request of Nick (Sighting)- Gatsby asks Nick, through Jordan Baker, to invite Daisy over for tea at Nick’s bungalow, and then Gatsby will stop by so he can see Daisy once again. This request represents Gatsby’s desire to see Daisy once again after many years. Many things that Gatsby does/owns is all to impress Daisy and hope that she will notice him. For example, the extreme parties Gatsby throws are all so Daisy will hopefully show up and Gatsby can be reunited with his one true love. Gatsby’s Car (Symbol)- One of Gatsby’s cars is described as “a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraces with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns” (Fitzgerald, 64). This car represents Gatsby’s gaudy and extravagant life he lives, and he can take something like a car and turn it into something grand, just like his life. This car also represents the larger vision that Gatsby brings to things. The Color White (Colour Symbolism)- The color white in chapter 4 is mentioned many times, mostly when Jordan Baker is talking about growing up with Daisy. The color white represents purity and innocence in the novel. Jordan says that when Daisy was 18, she used to dress in “white and had a little white roadster” (Fitzgerald, 74), which shows at that age Daisy was very pure and innocent compared to what she has turned into. Daisy’s Name (Symbol)- In the novel, white is used to represent purity, and yellow is used to represent corruption. Daisy’s name connects to this as a daisy is white on the outside and yellow on the inside, showing that Daisy looks innocent on the outside, but on the inside she is somewhat of a gold digger and corrupt. This could also mean that Daisy started off pure as a young adult, which is shown when Jordan says that Daisy always wore white and owned a white roadster as a teenager, but as her life progressed she started becoming corrupt. |
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