"Exploring the Differences Between West Egg and East Egg in The Great Gatsby" The setting of F. Scott Fitzgerald's ‘The Great Gatsby’ is 1920’s New York, more specifically the Long Island community of East Egg and West Egg. At the start of the novel, East Egg and West Egg residents are similar on the surface. This is due to the fact that both are communities of wealthy individuals. As the story progresses, clear differences can be seen between East Egg’s “old money” inhabitants and West Egg’s “new money” population.
An opposition between two settings is significantly shown in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, “The Great Gatsby”. The characters in this novel live in either the East or West egg. These two settings represent two distinguishable forces. East Egg is made up of individuals who are born rich, in the other hand, West Egg is known as "new money", which is where people who newly became rich live; their aspiration is to be like the East Egg. The two places in this novel show Jay Gatsby's ambition to become wealthy and win the love of Daisy.
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts two fictional places, East and West Egg, as well as the people who are a part of each society. East Egg represents people in the novel who are born into wealth, also known as old money, whereas the West Egg represents those who have earned their wealth, new money. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel follows the story of Jay Gatsby, a mysterious man from West Egg who throws over the top parties and flaunts his wealth through his material possessions, all to earn the heart of a past lover. F. Scott Fitzgerald contrasts “old money” and “new money” through the character of Jay Gatsby, emphasizing the differences in material possessions, lifestyles, and personal values. F. Scott Fitzgerald differentiates the materialistic possessions of those who live in East and West Egg to highlight the impact of wealth on each society.
Journal Entry #1 The various settings in The Great Gatsby serve to represent a theme or character of the novel. The first chapter introduces the reader to West Egg and East Egg. Nick describes West Egg as the “less fashionable of the two”, even though both sides contain equally enormous amounts of wealth. East Egg represents the social graces and aristocratic values of the old rich, such as the Buchanans who inherited their wealth.
In the novel, there are two cities: East Egg and West Egg. East Egg is home to the wealthy that come from “old money” the families that have always been rich. West Egg is home to the wealthy that come from “new money.” Gatsby and Daisy share different social statuses due to the cities they live in. Daisy comes from East Egg, having a huge mansion and tons of money.
The Sexual Ambiguity of Nick Carraway: Analyzing Homoerotic Undertones Within Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald, within the text of The Great Gatsby, hints at subtle moments of homoeroticism in interactions between Nick Carraway and numerous protagonists in his novel to show the possible normality of these tendencies in everyday culture. Scholars seem to interpret that our narrator in The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway, has homosexual tendencies that are based on his actions within the novel. There are many instances to back up this particular claim, but the most convincing part of the text is Nick’s actions that take place after his interaction with Tom and Myrtle in the city. The scene of Carraway looking at McKnee, clad in underwear,
The people of West Egg were of “new money”. The population in East Egg inherited their families’ riches making them of “old money”. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, the houses owned by Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan depict each one’s personality and how they want to be perceived by others; overall these homes show the need to display one’s social class in the 1920s.
Right? But what is rarely talked about by high-class society is the wealthier they are, the more privilege they gain. Fitzgerald, however, did a remarkable job at portraying this exact matter in The Great Gatsby. The book begins with the narrator, Nick Carraway, introducing himself, and he then begins to describe the layout of the West Egg and East Egg of New York, “their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual confusion to the gulls that fly overhead. to the wingless, a more arresting phenomenon is their dissimilarity in every particular except shape and size.
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.
F Scott Fitzgerald exerts this idea in The Great Gatsby by contrasting East Egg and West Egg. Families that inherited and consumed money, as if it was a prize, settled in East Egg. Their White Georgian mansions “glittered along the water,” to flaunt the fashionable statement of affluence. On the surface, East Egg is seen to portray a traditional and formal lifestyle. The people of East Egg appear to be living a fantasy.
The importance of the East and West conflict in The Great Gatsby is a central theme found throughout the novel, both on a literal and figurative level; the geography of the islands differs along with the personalities and experiences of the inhabitants. Fitzgerald describes West Egg as “less fashionable” (5) and “fashionable East Egg” (5) across the bay; the homes on West Egg are either imitations or small while the homes on East Egg are white and sparkly along the water. These physical differences play into the people who live on the islands and connect the ideas to the geography of America. New money was found in the western part of the US while old money can still be found in the eastern states. Tom and Daisy live on East Egg and Tom dresses
The Great Gatsby Essay F. Scott Fitzgerald was a famous author who wrote the book, The Great Gatsby. His purpose in writing this book was to show the differences between old and new money. Old money meaning people being born into wealthy lifestyles and new money meaning people who were not born with money but gained a lot of wealth. These were separated by two areas called west egg and east egg. This book gives sort of an exclusive look into the luxury and glamour that people think is the life of a person with a high amount of wealth.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby describes the life of Jay Gatsby in the 1920’s. The novel shares his love story and his loneliness. A major question the author raises is how does wealth impact class structure and society? Fitzgerald answers this question through the distinction between “New rich” and “Old rich” and the significance of East and West Egg.
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.
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.
