Jealousy

Jealousy is a major symbol in The Great Gatsby. It is represented by color imagery, and in this book it is the color green. Green shows the envy, greed and jealousy that make up The Great Gatsby. Money is green, which represents the jealousy of people wanting to be rich to fit in or to impress others. Gatsby is like this because he is jealous that Tom is married to Daisy and he wants to show he's wealthy enough to care for Daisy. Jealousy can also destroy people, as it does in the The Great Gatsby.

Something else that can be represented by jealousy is the green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan's dock. Gatsby was jealous of Tom because he knew that Daisy needed a wealthy man to take care of her. "he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way,and ,far as I was from him.[...] I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light[...]" pg.20 and 21. As Gatsby was getting wealthy, he would always look out toward the green light on Daisy's dock with jealousy and wait for the day he would be good enough for Daisy.

Jealousy causes Jay Gatsby to go to any extent to get what he wants, which is Daisy. When Gatsby, Daisy, Nick, Jordan and Tom go into town to the Plaza Hotel, Gatsby finally breaks. He says,"Just tell him the truth-that you never loved him-and it's all wiped out forever.[...] You never loved him." pg.132. This shows how Gatsby couldn't handle hiding his feeling anymore and showed the true jealousy that he had for Tom. So jealousy plays a big role in The Great Gatsby.

Sources: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald