After World War I, America held great promise in terms of financial and social opportunities for anyone willing to take risks to achieve the “American dream”. However, for some, achieving these dreams or aspirations only robbed them of any real sense of pleasure; their only goal was to get rich quick. In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses color symbolism as a remarkable way to demonstrate thematic and character progression. It's no coincidence that, when first introduced to the reader in the first scene, Daisy and Jordan were wearing white. This scene plays an important role because it is where most of the color symbolism is born. In the same scene, Nick tells us that “the only completely still object in the room was an enormous sofa on which two young women were supported as if on an anchored ball. They were both dressed in white and their robes billowed and flowed as if they had just been brought back inside after a short flight around the house.” White is usually associated with purity and is purposely used so early on to emphasize the irony between Daisy and Jordan's plausible purity and their actual corruption. However, the color white, from the beginning, is used to represent a feeling of buoyancy or floating above. As we progress through the novel, Gatsby mentions that "the rock of the world was firmly founded on the wing of a fairy." Daisy and Jordan seemed to be flying through the air because they are unreal, just like fairies; and they're in white because, as we later learn, wearing white is "an absolute little dream," something as false as Daisy and Jordan. The white daisy embodies what Gatsby seeks to embrace. However, Gatsby knows that the white or pu... middle of paper ... is the scalloped ocean and the abundant blessed islands. "Gatsby begins his rise to greatness when Dan Cody takes him to Duluth and buys for Gatsby "a blue coat, six pairs of white duck pants, and a yachting cap." A blue coat is used because it symbolizes promise and promise. dream that Gatsby is trying to achieve. The color red is shown most significantly when Nick tells us that he “I bought a dozen volumes on banking, credit and investment, and they were on my desk. shelf in red and gold like fresh silver from the Mint, promising to unlock the brilliant secrets that Midas, Morgan and Maecenas knew using the color red." alongside colors such as yellow and white to illustrate a likeness narrow between colors to represent the ugliness of reality Works CitedFitzgerald, Scott The Great Gatsby New York: Scribner.., 2004.