When I first went through and read chapter nine I didn’t see very much symbolism hidden in it, but once I looked it over one thing stood out to me: the color green. Green usually means unstable, randomness, disaster, evil, and money. Even though it’s “a calming effect on the nervous system, a feeling of relaxation, an anti-stress prescription; green creates a reassuring ambience, a feeling of comfort and a link with nature.” After Gatsby’s death Nick is constantly mentioning green, green, green! He states on page 188 that “..the grass on [Gatsby’s] lawn had grown as long as [his].” Shortly before Jay was killed we know that Daisy has decided to stay with Tom so Jay is now “alone” again, when he was killed he was alone, and at his funeral he was “alone” beside Nick and the library guy. Nick had also just lost his girl so I think he might be referring himself and Jay, even though one is more literal, as “as good as dead” or equal/ the same.
Nick then mentions the parties Gatsby would have and the “laughter coming from the garden.” Also how the island used to be “..a fresh, green breast of the new world. It’s trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandering in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams..” So here Nick is talking about the old island: the one just becoming a city and still full of beautiful trees (dreams) but were cut down by the greed of Gatsby to build a house for himself; looking across the bay to Daisy’s house and the green light. Since green symbolizes disaster or evil, knowing that earlier could have foreshadowed Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship because the green lantern was at Daisy’s house and Gatsby would sit outside and longingly stare at it, “[He] believed in the green light.”
