1. Geography: The book takes place in four main settings, which are the West Egg, East Egg, New York City, and the Valley of Ashes. Each place represents a different class of the 1920’s American society. The West Egg is where the new money lives, it is a rich community but when compared to the East Egg, “is the less fashionable of the two” (Fitzgerald 9). The people in the West Egg are looked down upon and believed to be inferior to the people in the East Egg, even though both places are rich. New York City can be seen as a place for many of the characters in the book to escape to. Nick says it gives him a “racy, adventurous feel[ing] at night” (Fitzgerald 61). Different characters go to the city for different reasons but are for similar feelings …show more content…
The Valley of Ashes represents the poor and impoverished people in the US. They are the lowest of the low and aren’t respected by anyone in the East or West Egg. It is a dull and sad place where the “men move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (Fitzgerald 27). Nick also describes how everything is covered and made out of ashes, which shows that nothing they have here is valuable and there is little money in the valley. Overall, Fitzgerald is trying to express the different types of classes that were around during the 1920’s. You had the old rich who were the highest of the high, the new rich who varied in the amount of money they had, but they did have a good amount of money but looked down upon by the old rich, and then then the poor class, who lived in the valley of ashes. The larger meaning that this has on the narrative is that how all these characters’ act is based on where they come from. For example, Tom Baker, who lives in the East Egg. He comes from a family of immense wealth and believes he is better than most people. He shows how truly dumb he is when he talks about a book using big words but not really understanding what he’s talking