Mark Twain called the late 19th century the 'Gilded Age.' By this, he meant that the period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book “The Great Gatsby '' is a story about a man who is constantly chasing a dream yet not seeing the crumbling reality behind it. The illusions and lies are always changing what is supposedly happening. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book “The Great Gatsby people are blind to what they see and only choose what they want to believe. They create dreams of their perfect life yet find it is more gilded than they realize.
The various people brought up in The Great Gatsby are all gilded in a way. Throughout the novel Jay Gatsby is accompanied by the color yellow with his “big yellow car,' he said, 'big yellow car. New'(The Great Gatsby P139). Yellow being mostly related to Gatsby symbolizes materialism, and high social class and is closely seen in the Gilded Age with the image of plated gold that’s rotting on the inside. With this color applied it is shown that Gatsby is “gilded” creating the illusion that he is covered in gold, dressed in expensive clothes, and taught with the best education, looking like Jay Gatsby but in reality, he is still James Gatz on the inside. Gatsby tries to cover everything he has in gold and yellow with his golden tie, golden toilet seat, and even golden music at his parties. Daisy has dressed herself in a “gilded” white dress. Daisy chooses to surround herself with the color white in her house with: “ windows were ajar and gleaming white”(The Great Gatsby P158). Daisy’s name is a white flower making those who meet her feel that she is pure, flawless, and innocent. At first the color white represents purity, flawlessness, and innocence, but in the story on a lower level symbolizes emptiness, superficiality, ruthlessness, and selfishness. Describing Daisy with those traits it reveals that under her gilded white dress purity and beauty, she is actually superficial, hollow, cold, and has a selfish heart inside. Nick also dresses himself in all white to show the people that he is innocent and trustworthy. When Nick gets invited to Gatsby’s party he shows up in a white suit to appear to everyone at the party that he is trustworthy and truthful.
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In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work the man described in “The Great Gatsby '' is not what Nick sees. Nick tends to have a blind eye throughout the story. Nick’s blindness is shown with Doctor T.J Eckelburg’s glasses; “a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose”(The Great Gatsby P23). Nick’s interpretation of the story can not be trusted because it is told in the first person by Nick who blankly states “I am one of the few honest people that I have known”(The Great Gatsby P59) By blankly lying assuming that he is the only honest person makes him a judgemental individual. Nick’s blank and arrogant statement hints that what he says can’t be trusted. He is watching the story unfold through a pair of dirty spectacles. In The Greatness of Gatsby Samuels, Charles Thomas describes Nick as critical understanding and thinking through everyone's actions. “Nick describes more than the experience which he witnesses; he describes the act and consequences of telling about it”(The Greatness of Gatsby P1). Nick needs to give the first impression of being truthful and make the readers question what he is. Nick tries to be as truthful as he can but still fails to avoid judgment. In college people would always come to Nick and talk about their problems, unintentionally letting Nick fall to judgment. Nick’s Perception of Gatsby can not be trusted either because he tends to put him on a pedestal. “there was something gorgeous about him [Gatsby], some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.”(The Great Gatsby P48).
What Gatsy sees with him and Daisy is always walking along the line of reality and dreams. “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams' (The Great Gatsby P74). Gatsby’s dream is to live with Daisy and recreate his old life. With Gatsby tries to chase her “He stretched out his arms towards the [green light] dark water”(the great Gatsby P21). The green light symbolizes that Gatsby is chasing not just money and the american dream but also Daisy and his past with her. Gatsby is chasing the dream (of living a life with a wife and in a big house) but it is only a dream he is chasing. “I did love him once—”(The Great Gatsby 130). Gatsby is constantly chasing after and reaching out to the green light and Daisy while Daisy is pushing him away; “Nothing happened,’ … I waited, and about four o’clock she came to the window and stood there for a minute and then turned out the light” (The Great Gatsby P147). Daisy has turned out the light in their relationship and moved on while Gatsby is chasing after it. “Can’t repeat the past”, “Why of course you can''(The Great Gatsby P110). Gatsby is constantly reaching out and chasing his dream of Daisy. Despite his efforts, Gatsby is unable to create this perfect image of the past. This is shown with Daisy marrying Tom and moving on and choosing security over Gatsby.
The theme of the Gilded Age throughout the novel creates illusions and the perception that everyone is “perfect” yet in reality they are rotting or hollow on the inside. As Mark Twain called the late 19th century the 'Gilded Age” he referred to it as it looked perfect but the american economy and dream were rotting and slowly disappearing. When times get bad people are willing to put blinders up and look through yellow spectacles to see what they want.
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