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Settings And Characters In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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F. Scott Fitzgerald has created settings and characters in his novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), to establish his purpose, critiquing the American Dream and it’s corruption, the greed of individuals consumed by their desires and the consequence of illusions as opposed to reality. His creation of locations, East & West Egg and the Valley of Ashes as well as creation of fictional characters, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby aid to achieve these purposes.

Fitzgerald has created settings in order to achieve his purpose. The East and West Eggs are situated in Long Island, New York, in which most of the characters live in. Nick and Gatsby both reside in West Egg, known to be the home of ‘new money’ individuals, as their wealth is more recently acquired through success and business. Tom and Daisy on the other hand, both reside in East Egg, known as the home of ‘old money’ individuals as their wealth and status are inherited from a history of heritage. The use of symbolism conceptualizing ‘old money’ and ‘new money’ enact social barrier between the two, representing class division as Nick comments, those in the East would “flip up their noses like goats at whosoever came near”, while those in the West would have to “fluctuate profitably …show more content…

The Valley of Ashes is set between West Egg and New York City. Depicted as a place of ruin, despair and decay where “Ashes grow like wheat…”, the place represents the upbringing of urbanization and industrialism in the 1920s and its impacts on social and economic inequality. The use of motif of the billboard of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg in the Valley highlights the absence of moral values in society in place of commodification and commercialism, acting as a constant reminder of the lack of an authorial-like figure. Through this, Fitzgerald portrays the broken pursuit of the American Dream, demonstrating his purpose of presenting greed of individuals consumed by their

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