East Vs. West Egg In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

If the settings in this story were bland and boring, would there be as much growth and depth to the characters? Well, not only are the settings essential to describe the characters, but they are also necessary for critical events in the story. The settings in The Great Gatsby bring more depth to the story with foreshadowing and imagery. This essay will talk about how each area of in The great gatsby is vital to the plot and helps build to the end and add character that makes the book an American classic.

East and West Egg are both very similar but simultaneously completely different, and even though they have a similar shape and size, the people who live on the eggs give the two areas their differences. East Egg is considered a “secret society”

Nick and Gatsby were getting lunch, and they ran into Mr. Wolfsheim at a speakeasy. Nick, while talking to Wolfsheim, learns more about Gatsby’s life “‘There’s the kind of man you’d to take home and introduce to your mother and sister” (Fitzgerald 72) Nick also learns about Wolfsheim and how he got his money “‘Who is he, anyhow, an actor?’ ‘No.’ ‘A dentist?’ ‘Meyer Wolfsheim? No, he’s a gambler’” (Fitzgerald 73). In New York City there is an apartment that is “a ‘slice in a long white cake of apartment houses’” (Lehan 92) which shows similarities between the apartment and Tom’s mansion. Myrtle and Tom’s apartment shows how Myrtle likes the idea of spending money even if it does not make sense, like with “the living room is ‘crowded to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it’” (Lehan 92). The whole apartment feels similar to Gatsby’s house with the luxurious furniture and decorations around the apartment. All the money spent shows that Myrtle’s philosophy is that the more money you spend the higher your status will rise and she will be

Nick travels back here after the war before he goes over to West Egg, and after Gatsby’s death he travels back west because “after Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me” (Fitzgerald 176). When he moved back to the Midwest, he saw Tom there he was upset at him because he was one of the main reasons Gatsby was dead. The father of Gatsby went East to see his son's funeral, and while there he showed Nick Gatsby’s notes to become successful. Not in the Midwest but in Kentucky is where Gatsby meets Daisy and they fall in love this is also where Gatsby gets the idea that Daisy is “High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl” (Parkinson 54) and how that makes him think of Daisy's life in an unrealistic light. Because of Gatsby’s view of the house, he starts to see money and wealth as “a source of power” (Parkinson 54) and a tool to be used to gain something or become