What Does West Egg Represent In The Great Gatsby

Archetypal Lens of The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby uses the settings of East Egg and West Egg to symbolize the different levels of social status. The superior East Egg consists of people who were born into money, while the people of the less fashionable West Egg worked for their money (Fitzgerald 5-6). The division of the upper class through the symbols of the East Egg and West Egg suggests an archetypal reading of the novel. The East and West Egg are islands to the east of New York that are shaped like massive eggs. These strange land formations are shaped identically and only separated by a bay (Fitzgerald 5). The only difference between them is the type of people living there. East Egg is a symbolic place where those who were born into

Tom and Daisy Buchanan live in East Egg in an elaborate Georgian Colonial mansion (Fitzgerald 6). “The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walls and burning gardens-finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run”(Fitzgerald 6). The Buchanans are a great example of a greedy couple who show off their wealth and believe that money can do anything. Daisy was in love with Gatsby before she married Tom, but Gatsby is poor and would not impress her parents (Fitzgerald 76). Daisy only marries Tom because of his wealth and reputation. Tom spends his money in bold ways that he knew would impress Daisy, who simply cares about possessions. “He came down with a hundred people in four private cars, and hired a whole floor of the Seelbach Hotel, and the day before the wedding he gave her a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars” (Fitzgerald 76). When Daisy goes to Gatsby’s house, she views his house and shirt collection and begins

Nick says that West Egg isn’t as glamorous as East Egg, even though they are almost identical. “I lived at West Egg, the-well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them” (Fitzgerald 5). The people of East Egg believe the residents of West Egg are below them and view them as unintelligent (Fitzgerald 102-103). Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway are neighbors who live on the West Egg (Fitzgerald 5). Gatsby’s house is just across the bay from Daisy’s house, which is the reason he bought it (Fitzgerald 78). Gatsby has a massive mansion and holds large parties in an attempt to get Daisy to come to his house (Fitzgerald 78). “... It was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden”(Fitzgerald 5). Even with all of his money, Gatsby still lives on West Egg and will never be enough to satisfy Daisy’s hunger for