Jay Gatsby´s Outlook on Life in F. Scott Fitzgerald´s The...

With regards to human nature during the Jazz Age during which he wrote, F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, would most likely agree with the general philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau on human psychology. In a nutshell, the view of Rousseau was simply that man is naturally pure and free, only to be corrupted by society and the outside world. In connecting Fitzgerald’s use of appropriate color symbolism to the two parts of Rousseau’s view, we can see how he (Fitzgerald) is describing the nature of man in general terms through the story of Jay Gatsby. The colors mainly associated with Jay Gatsby throughout the course of the book are white, yellow, and blue, which, in order, represent the progression of his mental state and his†¦show more content†¦A second focal point in the book is the importance of the color yellow. The effects of yellow or golden colored objects in the book highlight the second portion of Rousseau’s ideology, that the natu ral purity is only ruined by the outside world. Examining Gatsby’s character more closely, we can see that he is surrounded by gold references just as Daisy is surrounded by references to white. At the beginning of the book, when Nick is narrating his description of the party, there are two key references to illicit money: the more direct one being â€Å"dark gold† and the more subtle being an implication of this from the order in which the orchestral instruments are named. A black instrument such as an oboe is followed by a golden colored instrument like a saxophone and so on, leading the reader to think that the gold is dark, or as we find later, illicit in nature. This idea of dark gold has a direct correlation to the idea of societal practices tarnishing one’s inner purity. Gatsby, with his pure intentions, moved to the house just across the bay from Daisy, but took up bootlegging to make so much money so he could ostentatiously and deliberately exhibit it t o everyone, with the hopes of catching Daisy’s eye. Eventually however, it was not the money that reunited Gatsby and Daisy, and out of this GatsbyShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1684 Words   |  7 Pagesbetween the central characters of The Great Gatsby, a timeless classic written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, set in a hedonistic summer of 1922 America, and Death of a Salesman, written by American playwright Arthur Miller set in 1949 America. The characterisation of both Willy and Gatsby illustrate that they have similarities, in a way that are considered destitute, with imperfect ethical conduct. 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