Blue, Hopes and Dreams

“He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (pg. 180)

Although it is not one of the major colors that makes an appearance throughout the book, blue does come up a number of times, especially in regards to Gatsby and Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. In this case, blue signifies the great vastness of the sky, which was reflected upon Gatsby's enormous lawn, upon which he held his grand parties. Signifying dreams and illusions, this color reflected everything Gatsby envisioned his life would become: materialistic and fake. Often times referred to as blue, these lawns were witnesses to the artificial and meaningless lifestyle held by many of the nouveaux riches that lived during the time the novel takes place.

Even though it symbolizes hopes and aspirations, blue can also represent sadness, especially once you look at the world through the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. This allusion to God got to see the Valley of Ashes, how poorly the people there had to live, and how they had to struggle to get from one day to another. The billboard also witnessed how the rich would drive by this horrible place without giving it as much as a second look, or stopping to reflect on how those poor people had to live and how they were spending their money in completely unnecessary material things. In this case, the blue not only represents the sadness felt by Gatsby after Daisy rejected not only him but everything he had worked for his entire life; but also the sadness that God must have felt upon seeing what the world had become.