Seeing the world through green-tinted glasses?

Question

> people thus situated, who have warm imaginations, generally amuse themselves by conjuring up an idol of perfection to which they attach all kinds of merit, probable or improbable. They invest the first face or figure that takes their fancy, with these imagined charms, no matter whether they accord or not, and then fall in love with the image they have created—whilst the delusion under which they labour, makes them see every action of the beloved object under a false light; just as **people wearing green spectacles fancy the whole creation tinged with emerald**. This is, of course, an obvious allusion to the [Emerald City](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_City) in [*The Wonderful Wizard of Oz*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz) by [L. Frank Baum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Frank_Baum). Except that it was written in 1827, a few decades before Baum was born, by [Jane C. Loudon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_C._Loudon), in [*The Mummy!: Or a Tale of the Twenty-Second Century*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mummy!) ([available online](https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/l/loudon/jane/mummy/complete.html#chapter5)). It could be a coincidence, but I wonder. Have other authors suggested people with red glasses seeing a world made or rubies, and people with yellow glasses seeing a world made of citrine? Or was Frank making a reference to Loudon? Or were they both part of a larger movement, and if so is it purely an arbitrary tradition or is it based on some symbolism of emeralds? How does the literary history of green spectacles match that of [rose-colored glasses](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rose-colored_glasses)? (Note that I'm asking why emeralds and not other gems. The association between emeralds and green, and the symbolism of gems as precious and nice-looking, are obvious.)

Answer 1

Great question, in order to answer this, we can look at the example that you have provided, such as looking at the world through rose colored glasses. That is a phrase that is contextually often used to describe a positive view of the world. The usage of emeralds, as they are green, can indicate a "rich" view of the world or in the same context, highlight greed and envy, all which solely depends on the theme of the book and or the sentence preceding that. In the Great Gatsby, the yellow glasses of Doctor T.J Eckleburg represent a "God like" view of the characters in the novel, but also the consumerism that is present in the characters of the novel.