Daisy is seen by Gatsby as being something almost immortal, due to his illusions of her. The imagery used to represent her in "The Great Gatsby" is therefore cosmic imagery; Daisy is the Golden Sun. The sun is essential to life, just as Daisy is essential to Gatsby. Also, the Golden Sun reflects Daisy’s personality. “Golden” emphasises materialism, an important part of the contemporary society. This materialism, and general falseness of the contemporary middle classes is evident at Gatsby’s party. “Introductions were forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings occurred between women who never knew each other’s names.” Daisy is also a very extravagant character, “ here’s my little gold pencil.” Extravagance is also associated with “Golden”.
Gatsby is also associated with cosmic imagery. Fitzgerald represents him with moonlight and starlight, “ it was Mr Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share was his of our local heavens.” This also demonstrates Gatsby’s materialistic character, he doesn’t just want to own Daisy: he wants to own the stars. Moonlight, is far more sinister and mysterious than sunlight. Gatsby himself is a very mysterious character. No one knows the truth about his past, “I hear he killed a man”. Moonlight can also be connected with romance. Gatsby is very romantic: he believed his love for Daisy would last forever, “ I have always loved her”.
As well as being linked with direct images, many of the character in "The Great Gatsby" are portrayed by colours. Daisy is associated with white- a colour that represents purity. Myrtle is described as being vibrant and colourful, “ there was an immediate perceptible vitality about her”. Juxtaposition can be seen here when she is compared with Wilson who is described as being “anaemic” and “dusty”. These colours are useful to the reader to give them an insight on the personalities or the appearances of the characters.
Myrtle and Wilson live in The Valley of Ashes, a grey, dusty, dead area. Myrtle is the only thing there that can be associated with life and vitality. Wilson is associated with death and ghosts. Nick describes myrtle as “ walking through her husband as if he were a ghost”. When she orders him to fetch some chairs he “ mingles immediately with the cement colour of the walls. The Valley of Ashes is used to represent the dark undertones of society. Myrtle is violently killed in The Valley of Ashes when Daisy hits her with Gatsby’s car. Wilson, in shock and heartbroken, shoots Gatsby after mistaking him as the killer, and then shoots himself, “ the holocaust was complete”. These images show the destruction caused by Gatsby’s dream, the “foul dust that floated in the wake of his dreams”.
These images in "The Great Gatsby" are important for emphasis but also to show that everything in the novel is linked. These aid the reader to understand the novel and to interpret the subtle bonds between the characters and settings.
