Rather, she is inherently born and surrounded by an environment that takes priority in being rich. For instance, Daisy does not realize that she is defined by a corrupt wealthy mindset, as indicated by her voice. The yellow is the consequence within the gold, if one’s indulgences spiral out of control. It is how one character faces wealth and how that individual interacts in this environment that represents the yellow. It merely represents wealth and luxury, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The gold color – true yellow – itself does not have any associations with negativity. It is evident that a change in social class may change one’s attitude. Yet, Eckleburg remains forever stoic and observing. Wilson addresses this billboard, “Oh goad, oh goad”, he pines hopelessly of what the destruction of the yellow has caused in a sense, Myrtle is the color yellow. Yet, as a billboard, he is helpless to take action, perhaps showing that this presence of yellow that taints his lenses is an inevitable and unchangeable aspect of society. Eckleburg observes the desolation in his view, what he sees is a valueless society, devoid of ethics as an outcome of poor judgement and skewed values.
This reflection is a representation of the shallow, dull, bland, and gray. Although the spectacles themselves are not truly yellow, the scene that the billboard is exposed to casts this yellow reflection on the glasses. Eckleburg peers at the barren wasteland known as the Valley of Ashes through yellow spectacles. Otherwise alluded to as the eyes of “God”, Doctor T.J. Overall, the yellow coexists with Myrtle’s change in character and embodies who she has truly become as a result of a social class change. While the yellow light exposes Myrtle as an outcome of corruption, the yellow car truly demonstrates the negativity by introducing the consequence – the backfire of her twisted mindset. As she became more exposed to wealth, her persona transformed from a mask of genuine car and loving wife to a haughty, superficial snob. Her death by an item of the wealthy is an analogy to the corruption that destroyed her as a character.
The materialistic items that she coveted, as represented by Gatsby’s yellow luxurious car, killed her. Her death by Gatsby’s yellow car is a significant metaphor that demonstrates irony: she was killed by what she yearned for. Myrtle immersed herself in her materialism, designating that as her number one priority. This was not some arbitrary light it served to reveal her true self which was nowhere near the faithful wife that Mr. At the time of her death, a yellow light is described to be overhead, casting this specific hue on her lifeless body. The greed and corruption that defines her is a consequence of her affair with Tom, a desperate attempt to mingle with the wealthy class and crawl to a high social standing. Myrtle Wilson epitomizes the very nature of the color.
Various characters in the novel bring out the negative meaning associated with the color yellow, as it follows their actions that parallel with the notion of overindulgence and the detainment of character that brings it. Thus, yellow not only appears among the rich, but also appears in places of desolation perhaps the yellow of Wilson’s house originates from Myrtle Wilson’s greed and corruption. Wilson indicates a sense of depravity and hopelessness, where his life is far from fulfilling. On the other hand, the yellow house of Mr. These parties are far from genuine, and the presence of yellow defines this greed, where individuals make wealth and luxury their number one priority. The “yellow cocktail music,” as well as the two party-goers encountered wearing yellow dresses, accentuate the superficial feeling and attitudes in Gatsby’s parties: the people who attend these parties do so for the sake of status and superiority fulfillment, disregarding the host himself and instead indulging in rumors and gossip. Wilson’s yellow house depicts a sense of hopelessness in a different sense. The growing need for materialism and money serves as a detriment to good character, moral, and values, and the color yellow is omnipresent in every aspect of the rich Jay Gatsby’s glamorous parties are narrated with an overabundance of yellow, and Mr. The high flying society of the East embodies the very essence of greed, corruption, and inevitably, destruction. While gold equates to luxury and wealth in an objective sense, yellow serves to display the corruption, greed, and materialism that prevails among the riches. Thus yellow symbolism not only appears among the rich, but also appears in palces of desolation. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the color yellow is a prevalent hue as it symbolizes the high society.