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Ethnicity In The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby takes place in Long Island, New York, as well as New York City and a segment between the two, known as the “valley of ashes.” Each area represents a different aspect of society during the 1920s. East Egg, the area in which Daisy and Tom live, represents the upper class that comes from established or “old” money. West Egg is home to people such as Gatsby, who have recently become rich. The valley, home to the lower classes, is a filthy, run-down place. New York City is seen as a place for pleasure seeking, where the characters are uninhibited. For example, Tom keeps an apartment here for purposes of carrying out his extramarital affair. Here he is able to go out in public without anyone judging him for being with another woman other than his wife. The inhabitants of East and West Egg have different values and attitudes. East Eggers are viewed as being very elegant, tasteful, and sophisticated, while those of West Egg are seen as gaudy and vulgar (Marchand, 1986). …show more content…

According to Peter Gregg Slater, ethnicity was a huge concern due to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and strict immigration laws. In his essay, “Ethnicity in The Great Gatsby,” he states that concern for differences in ethnicity plays a big part in this novel. Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, is the most judgmental, racist character. He recites passages from Lothrop Stoddard’s The Rising Tide of Color against World White Supremacy, identified by a different title and author (Goddard’s “The Rise of the Colored Empires”). He attacks Gatsby with racist remarks during their confrontation near the end of the novel. During Nick’s visit to his and Daisy’s home, Tom insults his wife by not including her in his identification of the group as being part of the superior branch of the white race. Daisy and Nick do not express negative reactions to these insults (Marchand,

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Gatsby's decision to build his grand mansion in West Egg is a tribute to his own Midwestern upbringing. Nick Caraway says West Egg is "the less fashionable of the two," and describes the way that "the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the

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The next major symbols in The Great Gatsby are the East and West Egg, and the differences between them. Nick and Gatsby live in West Egg. It is not as luxurious as East Egg, Nick describes it as, “the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not little sinister contrast between them” (14). West Egg seems as though it is for the families and people who are newly wealthy, Gatsby for example, or young, as Nick has moved into a small house, with the “consoling proximity of millionaires - all for eighty dollars a month” (14). When comparing West Egg to East Egg, the reader is able to see what each island symbolizes, which helps to create depth in the novel.

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Tom is a racist, sexist, man and Fitzgerald does not hide it. In the beginning of the novel when Nick is over at Tom and Daisy’s home Tom begins to speak to Nick of a book he is reading called ‘The Rise of the Colored Empires’ Tom believes that, “ Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be--will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proven.” ( Fitzgerald 13).

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The novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald exposes the economic traps and social norms of the 1920s in through symbolism context and setting. Set in the 1920s, Jay Gatsby is a character that rose the poverty to millionaire status. He represents the new money during the 1920s. Tom Buchanan symbolizes old wealth. Daisy Buchanan represents a woman who marries for money, not love and regrets it her whole life.

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Gatsby’s dreams and aspirations in life are rather interesting and amazing as he goes about his life in the book. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald helps highlight the social, moral, and political issue that were very present during the 1920’s and today. Gatsby is the focus of the book as before the book began, he was an ex-soldier who came to wealth by some rather illegal ways. Daisy a married woman is his person of interest, who was his ex-lover 5 years before the book started. Gatsby’s actions, and words demonstrate a clear obsession with Daisy that seems to have no end.

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The Great Gatsby is hailed as a great piece of 1920 's fiction due to its detailing of a new, fast paced America, and the way that America affected the population. These affects manifested as traits in people, and further developed into stereotypes. In the post World War 1 America this novel is set in, industry and technology were becoming readily available to the public, cementing these stereotypes into our population as we quickly moved along at a new pace. In The Great Gatsby, these people, actions, and relationships, are represented by the four main characters: Nick, Daisy, Tom, and Jay. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses these characters to symbolize the stereotypical people of a modern America.

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The Great Gatsby contains a story of two men who acted out in very different ways, all because of anger caused by unfaithfulness and murder. Tom is the kind of man who, when he feels like he’s being picked on unfairly, he attacks back immediately. “Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy’s name. “Daisy! Daisy!

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In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald the misperception between appearance versus reality is thoroughly demonstrated throughout the whole novel. We meet certain characters such as Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan who all paint us a vivid picture of what it is like to be living in close geological quarters, but are ranked differently in society. Fitzgerald describes New York as two separated locations, East Egg and West Egg. Although they are geographically close, they differ in respect to morality, happiness and values. These factors are expressed through the characters which overall contribute to the theme of contrast within a society.

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The Great Gatsby is set in New York during the early 1920’s before the Wall Street crash, not long after the first World War. Many of the American soldiers did not get home for a long time after the official end due to them helping to rebuild the rest of the world. As we learn Nick is long home from the war himself before moving in next door to Jay Gatsby on West Egg. Nick’s old friend Tom and cousin Daisy live across the body of water on East Egg, where the ‘old money’ lives. East and West Egg are based on the Great Neck and Port Washington peninsulas on Long Island.

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Color is everywhere. Although color may not seem important, they might have a greater, deeper meaning. Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is set back in the Roaring 20’s, when the economy was booming. A newly rich man named Jay Gatsby is one of the richer people in this time that enjoys his money. He throws overgenerous parties, hoping that the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan, attends.

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The Great Gatsby GEOGRAPHY Throughout the novel, places and settings symbolize the various aspects of the 1920s American society that Fitzgerald depicts. East Egg represents the old aristocracy, West Egg the newly rich, the valley of ashes the moral and social decay of America, and New York City the dissolute, amoral quest for money and pleasure. Additionally, the East is connected to the moral decay and social cynicism of New York, while the West is connected to more traditional social values and ideals. Themes: The American Dream "Whereas the American Dream was once equated with certain principles of freedom, it is now equated with things.

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Arguably one of the most complex works of American Literature, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald displays a satirical United States taking place in the early twenties in New York. The roaring twenties often portrayed a happy time immediately following World War 1 however, it gave off a false feeling of joy and many people were truly unhappy. Even though Nick Carraway shows a realistic image of himself, The Great Gatsby encompasses an illusion created in this time period and portrays this image through the atmosphere surrounding the actions of its characters; it ultimately shows a conflict against reality, identical to that to the early 20th century. The Great Gatsby shows the upper class and their habits, which involved: carelessness,

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The two settings used the most throughout the book is West Egg and the Valley of Ashes. West Egg is the area where all the new money people live, including Gatsby. At Gatsby's house, wild lavish parties are very common. However, everyone who attends those parties don't even know Gatsby, they just come because they want to have fun and not worry about anything. Meanwhile, there's the Valley of Ashes, an area outside of the city which is a gray and dull place where ashes and other waste is dumped.

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