The setting of The Great Gatsby is divided into four major areas: West and East Egg, the valley of ashes, and New York City. West Egg is a representation of people who would not be accepted in East Egg because they are newly rich and are not yet socially adapted to the lifestyle. East Egg is where people who are not strangers to wealth live; therefore, they do not need to be pretentious with there money. Tom and Daisy Buchanan support the East Egg theory because they are accustomed to the lavish lifestyle money offers and are comfortable in their financial situation whereas Gatsby supports the contrasted West Egg where he shows off his money to try and win Daisy’s love. New York City is where affairs, making money through bootlegging, and wild parties thrive. The apartment Tom rents out for his affair with Myrtle is here and is home to characters, such as Owl Eyes, who attend Gatsby’s parties. New York is also where Gatsby made his fortune bootlegging liquor. It is for these reasons that New York symbolizes the decay of the American Dream. The valley of ashes is a grey area between the traditions of the Midwest and the moral decay of the East. George lives in the valley of ashes and works so he and Myrtle can have a better life, but it is in the valley of ashes where Tom and Myrtle have their affair, Daisy kills Myrtle while driving Gatsby’s car, and where George decides to kill Gatsby. Fitzgerald’s idea of using setting to dictate morals is reinforced by the larger contrast between the Midwest and the East coast, the real moral of the novel. Tom, Daisy, Nick, and Gatsby came from the Midwest, and The Great Gatsby was about how they each reacted to life on the East Coast. For Gatsby, the outcome was death, and for Tom and Daisy, there were no consequences because they had money. Nick comes to New York as a bondsman, witnesses all the drama that unfolds during the summer, and heads back to the Midwest, where his familiar traditional life is.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
In chapter one of The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald introduces the story using detailed imagery to create a mood for the book. The narrator, Nick Carraway, just moved to West Egg, Long Island, a neighborhood of up and coming young, wealthy people. While Nick himself isn’t over the top wealthy, he can afford a modest house next door to Gatsby’s mansion. Since he is in New York now, Carraway goes to visit his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan at their posh home across the bay in East Egg. East Egg is a more conservative, old money neighborhood where people who have been inheriting their families money for years live. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald creates a serene mood at the Buchanan household using vast specific details such as…
- 353 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
The Great Gatsby was a phenomenal book that managed to captivate audiences from The Roaring 20s to today's classrooms. From its brilliantly elaborated characters, to its astonishing array of literary elements, The Great Gatsby was nothing short from stunning with its insane denouement. Fitzgerald managed to artfully construct multiple incredible characters utilizing the bases of their names to the etches of their figure. Characters such as Nick bit his tongue and contradicted many of his own supposed morals while Gatsby was entirely alluded upon the idea of Daisy. He manipulated all of his characters in such a chaotic harmony the ending mimicked the intensity and extravagance of an award show. In addition to Fitzgerald's clearly notable novel…
- 219 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
In many novels, two opposing places create the story. In the case of The Great Gatsby by: F. Scott Fitzgerald, two opposing neighborhoods, East Egg and West Egg serve to contrast each other. East Egg being the “old rich” meaning families that come from money and West Egg being the “new rich” meaning families that are first generation wealthy. The contrast of the two areas contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole to show the difference in lifestyle within the upper class and specifically between Gatsby and the Buchanan family.…
- 678 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The humble narrator of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway, owes his steadfast virtues to his midwestern origins. These moral virtues that he learned out west elude, however, him as he becomes entangled in a life of greed, corruption and lies. The promise of monetary gain brought Nick out East, but it was ultimately the dearth of morality and opulent lifestyle that prompted his return to the midwest. The death of Gatsby, a noticeable product of a flawed American dream, is the turning point for Nick, whence he realizes that West Egg does not promote the same values to which he is accustomed. Nick Carraway, transplanted from his midwestern roots to the glitz and glam of West Egg, is perhaps the only honest character in The Great Gatsby.…
- 1181 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
East Egg and West Egg are "identical in contour and separated only by a courtesy bay ... They are not perfect ovals ... but their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual wonder to the gulls that fly overhead. To the wingless a more interesting phenomenon is their dissimilarity in every particular except shape and size."(9) In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald creates different worlds, where many different people live amongst each other. The areas of East Egg and West Egg in Long Island find isolation not just geographically, “separated only by a courtesy bay” (9), but more significantly in the way the two societies contrast. Along with East and West Egg, Fitzgerald creates another symbol where a dark and lifeless community lives: the Valley of Ashes, “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (22,4.) With vivid settings Fitzgerald creates for the audience, the audience is able to connect with the settings at a more personal level and receive more insight about the characters to establish a full understanding of them.…
- 811 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main character, Jay Gatsby, is a rich man originally from North Dakota. Before fighting in World War I, he meets a young girl named Daisy, and the two fall in love. Daisy says she will wait for him, but marries Tom Buchanan and moves to Long Island, New York. This prompts Gatsby to relocate to West Egg in Long Island to be close to Daisy. The narrator, Nick Carraway, reveals that Gatsby acquired his wealth dishonestly and harbors an unhealthy obsession for Daisy. Gatsby’s upbringing as a poor Midwesterner, along with his teenage love for Daisy, motivates his future actions and shapes his character.…
- 832 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In the 1920’s, when this novel takes place, many people were only focused on money. Women wanted to marry into families of men that had wealth that had been passed down for generations, otherwise known as “old money,” and deemed the men of “new money,” newly earned wealth, unworthy. However, they did not take into consideration that the men coming from a poor family that worked very hard to attain their wealth, may have been better suited for them, all because of where they were from, and their social status. In the novel “The Great Gatsby” Fitzgerald decided to make geography determine the social status of the characters. In the novel the characters living in east egg: Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, and Jordan Baker, come from families that’s wealth has been passed down for many generations, also known as “Old money.” On the other hand, Jay Gatsby and Nick Caraway live on West Egg, where the people of “new money” reside. This sets up the contrast between Daisy and Gatsby, showing that they could never be together because of their difference in social status. In the novel Fitzgerald makes it very clear that the people of West Egg do not associate with the people of East Egg because they are too different. After attending one of Gatsby’s many parties at his mansion in west egg, the narrator makes the comment that "[Daisy] was appalled by West Egg... by its raw vigor that chafed... and by the too obtrusive fate that herded its inhabitants along a short-cut from nothing to nothing. She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand." This shows that even though Gatsby now has the money that he lacked when they first loved each other, she can still never love him because he is “new money,” and she is “old money.” Daisy is disgusted by the party because it does not include the elite company that she is used to being around. The fact that wealth and social status have that much of an effect on a person definitely shows how corrupt this…
- 763 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Throughout the entire story, the wealthy people from the upper class hastily spend their money on materialistic goods. Jay Gatsby, who lives in the West Egg, wanted to complete the American dream in hopes that Daisy, who resides in the East Egg, would notice him and his wealth. He hosted weekly parities in which “men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings.” (Fitzgerald, 39) However, the definition of American Dream was fulfilled by “hard work, sacrifice, and perseverance,” (Mantsios, 307) contradicting Gatsby’s way of becoming rich. Another character, Myrtle Wilson, who is part of the lower class and lived in the “valley of ashes” (Fitzgerald, 23), strives to live fancily which leads her to have an affair with Tom Buchanan…
- 170 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
Living in West Egg was less respectable then living in East Egg. The social structure was not of much concern to Gatsby and he paid little attention to etiquette or class. His obsession with Daisy took top priority, and while his intentions were sincere, Gatsby put himself in positions to be made a fool. My God, I believe the mans comingDoesnt he know she doesnt want him?(Fitzgerald.6.109). When invited by the Sloanes, a wealthy couple from East Egg, to eat dinner with them, Gatsby innocently accepts, not realizing it was merely a formality. His pure love for Daisy shows through in all aspects of his life, affecting his judgment and ability to see through those with less than genuine…
- 952 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
"A fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys." Valley of Ashes, a mid-way stopping point between West Egg and New York City. “It excited him,too, that many men had already loved daisy-it increased her value in his eyes.” Gatsby’s house serves as a key symbol of aspiration, reflecting both his success as an American…
- 500 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Gatsby is a very wishful man who only wants to be reunited with Daisy. However, there is a barrier withholding him from getting to her. This barrier is made obvious when the narrator begins to describe Gatsby's past. “However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible clock of his uniform might slip from his shoulders” (Fitzgerald 149). No matter what Gatsby does, he can't change the fact that he is originally from a lesser class and that Daisy would only love him for his wealth. The barrier still remains even though Gatsby gains wealth and rises in social status because of his origins and the type of money he has. Gatsby has 'new money', where as Daisy has 'old money'. Gatsby is internally conflicted because he wants Daisy but his money and past keep them separated. This proves the idea that individuals are separated by money and social standings because Gatsby couldn't have Daisy because of their differences in wealth. This internal struggle with Gatsby shows the authors use of conflict. Another example of this is Myrtles conflict with money. The place where Myrtle lives, The Valley of Ashes, is a desolate and run-down town. Its covered with ash and is very vacant. "The only building in sight was a small block of yellow…
- 1362 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
This example is a clear picture of just what people were like, they were careless in the way that they lived their lives, they had no regard for others, and they just wanted to party day in and day out. Fitzgerald, describing hypocrisy and carelessness in The Great Gatsby, exposed the American society for what it really was, something nobody had done up to this point in literature. As a result of this, Fitzgerald broke away from the norm and leapt over the boundary of being too afraid to try something different, making him the “Lost Generation” writer who had the strongest effect on American…
- 1431 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel relating to his short story of Winter Dreams. The main character is Jay Gatsby. He is a wealthy man who lives in a mansion in West Egg of New York. Nick Carraway is the narrator of the story and is Gatsby’s neighbor. Gatsby is in love with Daisy Buchanan. He will do anything to get her attention again, but it’s difficult because she is married to Tom Buchanan. Tom is very wealthy and powerful. He lives with Daisy on the East Egg side across the bay from Gatsby. The Great Gatsby presents many themes throughout the novel. One of the themes is wealth and how it takes place in society. The location of where the characters live, how Gatsby’s portrays his life and the actions of the characters and…
- 771 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The Great Gatsby is a great book filled with historical factors and references to in the 1920s. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald does a tremendous job shaping how the 1920s would have been in this book. Conversations on WWI, experiences with flappers, prohibitions and bootleggers give us an understanding of how the roaring 1920s was like.…
- 439 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
The East Egg is one of the four important settings in the Great Gatsby. The main distinction in East Egg is the old rich people, who claimed their wealth through inheritance and from ancestors who were among the richest people in the country, and the new rich people. Members of East Egg have become lazy and prejudiced after an easy life away from hard work and indulging in pleasures only. They represent the downfall of the American Dream. People from East Egg tend to be more humble, graceful, and elegant with their riches. They also fit the stereotype of the arrogant and self-absorbed rich people, since they are inconsiderate and cold hearted and use their money to wield influence over others. All of these stereotypes, the good and the bad, characterize the up-tempo lifestyle of New York, which is in stark contrast to the rural, more conservative, atmosphere that Nick dealt with in Minnesota. No one of the East Egg wants to associate with the “new money” (West Egg) now rampant on Long Island due to the fact that they believe the West Egg inhabitants unfit for such a lifestyles they lead. The East egg is described as the more desirable of the two eggs, and as a place of scenic beauty “The white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water”. The East Egg contains the characters of Tom Buchanan and his wife Daisy. Coming from…
- 1513 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays