More specifically it is also the color of envy and money. These are two very prominent themes in the book. In relation to Gatsby, he is envious of Tom since he has something which he can never buy, Daisy. She has a lot of personal significance to Jay and for him to know that she sleeps beside a “no good man” each night infuriates him with envy and motivates him to strive even harder for his goal.
Money, mostly wealth in a general sense, is an important theme too in this book since it is what drives most of the characters to live to the next day; in turn making them materialistic. In Gatsby’s case, he has a great need for his green money since he needs it to impress Daisy with lavish and extravagant parties. There are different specific green elements within Gatsby’s life that depicts his money too, this includes his enormous green lawn, the green ivy growing up on his house and the green leather which covers his car seats. All of these minor green details depict his acquired wealth.
White is a central color in relation to Daisy. She loves to wear white, adores white roses, adores white mansion etc anything white is her passion. In the past and present white has represented innocence and purity. Fitzgerald mentions her gleaming white house, white rooms and Daisy’s white dress. Though Fitzgerald presents two sides to the color white: the traditional sense of the word being pure and innocent and the other as being the empowerment of “whiteness” in terms of race.
Physically speaking Daisy is meant to portray an innocent young woman who is very naïve, pure and joyful with the help of this color. She constantly wears white colors and gives remarks about any white item she sees, like the white roses at Jay’s and Nick’s apartment or Jay’s “white palace”.
The color grey is mostly prominent in relation to the Valley of Ashes where Fitzgerald states that the valley of ashes is “..a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys...and ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud...." (pg23) This color can be seen as the representation of poverty and failure. The characters that live in this area have failed to joined the elite in the society and are instead apart of the lower-class society and live in poverty with no way but further down to go. The color represents colorlessness and the lack of life since the valley of ashes embodies this color. Mainly this color can be linked into George since based on this quote "an ashen dust veiled Wilson's suit and his pale hair...."(pg26) we can state that George personifies the meaning of hopelessness in the book and that from the start there was no hope for George.