What Does West Egg Symbolize In The Great Gatsby

The 1920’s was a time of economic boom and prosperity. The riches and glamour of the time period were idolized by those living then, but many people were not aware of the shadowy side of The Jazz Age. The characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel represent the people of the 1920’s who were surrounded by material items and a surface of artificial happiness. In The Great Gatsby the East and West Eggs, Myrtle’s apartment, and the use of opposing colors, like black and white used throughout the book are all symbols that represent the duality of the time period. In The Great Gatsby, Long Island, New York is composed of two “eggs”: East Egg and West Egg. The people in East Egg come from families who have always had money. They are more lofty, greedy, and mean than people from West Egg. The Buchanans, for example, are a family of East Egg. Tom Buchanan was born from a wealthy family, and Daisy, having family wealth too, married into his money. On the other side of Long Island is West Egg, where Gatsby, Nick, and the Wilsons live. There is also another side of West Egg, known as the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes is where the working class of Manhattan lives.

Colors like green, pink, yellow are used along with colors that oppose each other like black and white. White is the symbol of purity, nobility and perfect. Daisy wears white makeup like most women during 1920’s. Daisy also likes wearing white clothing and accessories like dresses, headbands, and pearls. The color white can also represent all of the bright lights and decorum at the extravagant parties thrown by Gatsby. Black on the other hand, represents death and destruction. The color black connects to the ashes in West Egg, where there is lifelessness. In many cultures, black is used in relation to death because it is a color of mourning. Fitzgerald’s use of dueling colors further enhances the reading