Indian-American author Fareed Zakaria once stated, Americans have so far put up with inequality because they felt they could change their status. They didn’t mind others being rich, as long as they had a path to move up as well. The American Dream is all about social mobility in a sense – the idea that anyone can make it. The idea of social mobility and the creation of oneself into ones idolized vision of affluence in society is central in the novel The Great Gatsby, as it is pursued religiously by Jay Gatsby, the eccentric millionaire behind lavishly outrageous parties in the 920s era. The Great Gatsby is the story of Jay Gatsby, as told by Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner who travels to Manhattan to begin a career in the bond business. Living adjacent to Gatsbys mansion, Nick becomes curious about his neighbor, finally meeting him as he is invited to one of his famous parties. Here Nick learns that Gatsby is in love with Daisy Buchanan, Nicks cousin and the wife of Tom Buchanan, Nicks colleague from Yale. He also learns that Gatsby and Daisy had once been
in love, but Daisy married Tom while Gatsby was away during the Great War, thus prompting Gatsby to abandon his old identity and amass a fortune in hopes to win her back; ultimately failing to regain her admiration, he falls into utter despair, his life violently extinguished by the end of the novel. In the case of The Great Gatsby, symbolism is heavily demonstrated through the use of the color green. No matter the culture, green insinuates vitality and hope, and conversely, wealth and ambition, much like Gatsby presents in his perusal of his dreams. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the symbolic and repeated use of the color green throughout the novel first exemplifies Gatsbys aspirations to reunite with Daisy, but progresses to symbolize the delusional conviction possessed by Gatsby in his pursuit of his idealized vision; with his failure to reconcile his desires, the symbolism of green collapses, now standing for the unreachable dream that lives inside all people, connecting to Fitzgeralds commentary on the illusion of social mobility.