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How Does Daisy Buchanan Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

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For millennia, authors have used colors as symbols and we, as a society, have come to associate certain hues with corresponding ideas and emotions. In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald often uses color as a descriptor in order to sway readers’ opinions of characters and situations. Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker are two such characters and Fitzgerald uses color imagery to encourage specific perceptions of them, particularly by portraying Daisy as a seemingly innocent, angelic figure, while depicting Jordan as a liar and a fraud. Though looking at their actions reveals that neither woman is truly blameless, observing Fitzgerald’s color choices can allow us to ascertain who they once were, how others view them, and who they believe …show more content…

Hebrew writers did not sing her praises, and neither does Nick. While she shares the sun-attributes of Daisy in her ‘golden shoulder’ and ‘autumn-leaf yellow of her hair,’ she belongs to the dying day and the season of the declining sun. (Stallman 7-8)
He is in clear agreement here with Nick’s display of Jordan’s corruption and he believes that it is expressed through Nick’s color imagery. This is not, nevertheless, all there is to Jordan. Through her actions, she makes statements about herself that communicate more than words ever could. Nick draws attention to “Jordan's fingers, [which are] powdered white over their tan” (Fitzgerald 116). Jordan’s choice to powder her fingers in an attempt to mask their true color implies that she is not only aware of her undesirable coloration, but that she is actively trying to hide it. Jordan is conscious of her immorality and wants to keep it concealed, which is why she “instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men” (Fitzgerald 57). Jordan views herself as a liar and a fraud; she just hopes that no one else sees what she

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