In The Great Gatsby, the black wreath stands for mourning, death, and defeat. The motif of a black wreath appears twice, in chapters 1 and 5. In one instance, Nick makes a joke about a black wheel that resembles a wreath. In the other case, it is an actual wreath placed on a door to signify that the house’s residents are in mourning. Together, these instances emphasize the theme of death and foreshadow the involvement of both Gatsby and Daisy with death, which dominates the novel’s end.

In chapter 1, when Nick is reunited with his cousin Daisy, he extends greetings from relatives or mutual acquaintances in the Midwest where they are from.

“Do they miss me?” she cried ecstatically.

“The whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath ...”

This kind of teasing shows the easy friendship between them, as well as Nick’s playing up to Daisy’s self-centeredness by implying they miss her as much as if she had died. At the same time, this early association of a car with symbols of death foreshadows Daisy’s responsibility for a fatal car accident.

The reference to an actual black wreath in chapter 5 comes as Nick as narrator is describing Gatsby’s house and explaining how he came to own it. The previous owner had become wealthy in the brewery business, but his success did not help him stay healthy. Nick does not explicitly state that the man died; instead, he uses the image of the black wreath to convey that fact.

He went into an immediate decline. His children sold his house with the black wreath still on the door.

This association of the mansion with the death of its owner foreshadows Gatsby’s death. The haste of the man’s children to sell the house soon after he died also suggests how fast Gatsby’s ostensible friends move on after his death.