White Wine

“A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does to the sea.

The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.” (Pg.8)

This passage employs imagery to describe the scene. White and wine are the colors present in the room's decor.  White represents lightness, purity, beauty, innocence, proximity to heaven, and the women are portrayed like naive angels, while wine, strategically found on the floor is quite the contrary. It gives of a burning sensation and connotes hell and sin.  Together they make an important contrast, both in an aesthetic and symbolic way. The walls, ceiling, curtains, and women are all white and frothy, while the floor is smashing wine colored. The juxtaposition of colors works as to represent the strong contrasts found in the society of The Great Gatsby. In a domestic household, for example, we see Daisy’s angelical, feather-light presence, contrasting with Tom’s aggressive, heavy being. There is also Nick and Gatsby's friendship, whose components: Nick's straightforward unambitious ways, and Gatsby's mysterious, shabby existence couldn’t be more different.  White and wine in the same room symbolize the co-existence of extremes in this society, which is one of the important components that make up its memorable personality.