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The Importance Of Houses In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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For centuries houses have been a way to showcase an individual’s social class, lifestyle and personality. The 1920s, during which The Great Gatsby is set, was an era of excess wealth where social position held great importance. F. Scott Fitzgerald extraordinarily represents three distinct social classes, lifestyles and personalities during this time with his descriptions of the houses belonging to Nick, the Buchanans and Gatsby. Nick Carraway’s West Egg house is “a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked” (1.14) much like the man who resides in it. Throughout the novel, Nick acts as more of an observer rather than a participant. He keeps most of his opinions to himself by reserving judgment of those around him. Mr. Carraway’s “weather-beaten cardboard bungalow” (1.7) is also located between two fine houses (one belonging to Gatsby) and is rather out of place in its beautiful location. Nick, new to the world of the fashionably wealthy does not exactly fit in with the crowd he is surrounded by and often feels misplaced. In the novel, Nick …show more content…

Their elaborate mansion located in East Egg effectively showcases their social class, allowing onlookers to realize that they are a family of old money. The Buchanans leave their large French windows “ajar and gleaming” (1.26) leaving the happenings of the home open to the public. The openness of their house is much like the transparency of both Tom and Daisy. Tom puts minimal effort into concealing his affair with Myrtle Wilson from everyone, even going as far as accepting her call in the middle of a dinner party and introducing his lover to Nick. Similarly, Daisy is extremely careless with hiding her feelings for Gatsby in front of Tom. During the conversations where Tom, Daisy and Gatsby are all present, romantic tension between Gatsby and Daisy is prominent and Daisy is unable to control what she says around

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His lifestyle, characterized by indulgence and opulence, starkly contrasts with Gatsby's pursuit of success. Despite their differences, both men harbor insecurities about their social status. Gatsby's new found riches fail to integrate him into the circles of East Egg dominated by old money. As Nick reflects on Gatsby's perpetual outsider status; "It is always disheartening to see things through your eyes after you've made your own adjustments''(Fitzgerald, Chapter 9). This highlights Gatsby's enduring position, as an outsider despite his efforts to belong.

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The novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, who comes to 1920's New York to fulfill the American dream. Instead, he realizes the hollowness behind industrial wealth driven ideals. After Nick gets settled in West Egg, he finds himself in the company of millionaires Daisy, Tom, and Jay Gatsby; all of whom demonstrate either an inability or unwillingness to acting with consideration to those around them. Even Nick, who is meant to be reflective and unbiased, ended up being a morally ambiguous character at best. The one thing contrasting the stories ubiquitous impropriety, is the billboard of T.J. Eckelberg's bespectacled eyes.

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Anum Khan Dr. Ellis Honor English II November 5, 2014 Characterization in The Great Gatsby: Nick Carraway “Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people I have ever known.” (Fitzgerald, 59) Nick Carraway’s judgement of himself being the “most honest person he has ever known” is derived from the fact that he is an outsider to the society of The Eggs and to the thinking of the phony socialites around him. Unlike other characters in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick came to New York as an Everyman, looking for fortune and a better life, much different than those who had everything they needed living while living in The Eggs. Being from the Midwest and not New York creates an unattainable boundary between Nick and the rest of his peers causing him to have dissimilar

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In this passage, Nick is about to move out of East Egg until he notices either his or Gatsby's house; Fitzgerald did not directly state whose house it belonged to. While a reader may assume that Nick is peering at his own house one last time, the color of the steps in front of the house claims otherwise. Gatsby's house always noticeably had white steps as depicted by Fitzgerald, with the white symbolizing the false purity Gatsby and other characters in the novel had always possessed. For example, Daisy is Gatsby's former lover who always wore white, and even had a white car and lived in a red and white house. While this may seem innocent and pure of her at first, she becomes selfish after Gatsby's death and does not bother to attend his funeral.

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In today’s society you are judged on how much money you make and how nice your house or other belongings are. Symbolism is scattered around the novel The Great Gatsby and it is heavily based on the houses that the characters own. In this essay I will be telling you about how a characters house shows their personality and how they live their lives. You’re judged on how much money you make and how you present yourself in social gatherings no matter where you may be.

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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.

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In the time period that The Great Gatsby takes place; the values of a citizen of New York singly depended on the appearance of one another. The difference between West Egg and East Egg became more prominent as ‘old’ money and ‘new’ money. As a citizen of West Egg, Nick Carraway describes it as “the well less fashionable of the two” (14). This indicates that the location of where one lived was a key dictator of the appearance of a person living in the 1920’s. Gatsby was viewed as a less classy man and was classified as impure based on the fact that he lived in West Egg.

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