The Valley Of Ashes In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

In Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, there are many usages of setting to portray themes and ideas. For example, the East Egg is where the “old money” is, while the West Egg is home to the “new money”. These areas both have wealthy and successful people. On the other hand, The Valley of Ashes separates the East and West Eggs from New York City. The Valley of Ashes is the low-income, dump of the city, where everybody is just trying to live another day and earn their way among a society of rich, distinguished people. All three of these settings represent different kinds of people and themes that are prevalent in the novel.

West Egg
From the beginning of the novel, Fitzgerald ties in multiple themes about the US when describing the West Egg.

Sitting right between East and West Egg, this was the place where the nobody's lived. All of the ashes from the burning fireplaces were dumped here and no respect or attention was given to the people who lived there. It was described as “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys”(23). This was the home to George and Myrtle Wilson, the latter of whom was Tom Buchanan's secret love. The Valley of Ashes is a very symbolic place and highlights the losing side of the American dream. George says, “‘I’ve been here too long. I want to get away. My wife and I want to go West”(123). He wants to be successful and move out of town, so he and Myrtle can be happy together. This is the story for many that live in the Valley of Ashes, but they are never able to fulfill their dreams because no one wants them or cares about them, and they are

The East Egg represents the people who had generational wealth. These were people who had plenty of money left over from their prior ancestors. On the other hand, there was the West Egg, which had become wealthy through their own hard work, and getting nothing from the generations before them. At one of Gatsby’s parties, Nick Carraway compares the nature of these two eggs by saying “Instead of rambling, this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity, and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the country-side — East Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gayety”(44). The East and West Eggs represent the 10 percent of the country that actually became richer within the decade. On the other hand, there is the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes represents the reality for the other 90% of America. Maybe not the same type of work, but similar conditions. Nick describes the Valley of Ashes as he “sped along a cobbled slum lined with the dark, undeserted saloons of the faded-gilt nineteen-hundreds”(68). Unlike the parties and the money, people like Mr. Wilson in the Valley of Ashes found themselves hard at work for very little money. While 10% of the US population was partying, the other 90% were working long days with little pay. Fitzgerald uses the differences between East Egg, West Egg, and the Valley of Ashes to