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Geography In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

900 Words4 Pages

In literature, geography can be deeper than a place; it can also define and develop characters. Thomas C. Foster argues this in his book How to Read Literature Like a Professor and F Scott Fitzgerald's 1987 novel The Great Gatsby gives prime examples of just that. Knowing that geography can define character in literature, East Egg is used to show astonishing wealth while West Egg represents the poor; Gatsby’s party develops the characters and their moral standards through gambling and the rich snobs; Gatsby’s foreignness to East Egg shows the mood of lies and deceitfulness. After Nick’s recent move to New York and meeting new people, he compares West and East eggs to reveal the undesirable and heavenly wealth to characterize East Egg as better. …show more content…

Foster writes that geography shows “emotions” and events good and bad(Foster 174). In other words, Foster means that geography can influence people’s emotions and how they react to different situations. This is seen throughout the novel, as many characters tend to have particular personalities from East and West Egg. Correspondingly, Nick interprets Gatsby's party attendees from West Egg as gamblers while East Egg's residents are rich snobs(Fitzgerald 65-66). This implies that there are different standards from West and East Egg and they act differently in social gatherings. Furthermore, living and growing up in these communities allowed people to grow different roots and morals. Additionally, Nick reads the names of the attendees of Gatsby's party and depicts West Egg names of those coming from new money while those of East Egg come from old money (Fitzgerald 61-62). This depiction implies that people from West and East Egg bring different people with different stereotypes and personalities. This is because people coming from West Egg value their money differently as it was inherited and made differently causing them to spend it differently, like at Gatsby’s party. Nick describes the personalities and attendees from Gatsby;s party to criticize the shortcomings of West and East Egg. Overall Fitzgeral uses Gatsby’s party to develop West and East Egg typical

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