Setting: Great Gatsby
Setting: As it Prevails in The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is a novel of the 1920's, a time of flamboyance, excessiveness,and ambiguity. To fully capture and document this atmosphere, Fitzgerald spent many apage concerned with detail. Such descriptions become a stimulus for the story, setting themood and pace, the tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses. The characters are directlylinked to their location. Indeed in The Great Gatsby, setting dominates the novel. Foremost, Fitzgerald chose to set the novel on the East Coast slightly outside NewYork City in two contrasting rich suburban areas, West Egg and East Egg. As New YorkCity was the place to be and make money in the 1920's, Fitzgerald intently placed hisstory around the heart of the era. Additionally, the anxiety that is supposedly predominantin East Coast cities is also evident. Whenever the characters are in the city, tensions run In turn, the excitement, hype, and activity of the city is countered by the relaxed,lavish countryside where the characters reside. As one gets further away from the citygeographically, the comforts of the surroundings increase linearly. By using physical
Closer to the city yet is West Egg, a still highly comfortable environment for thosewith "new" money. As Nickrecapped, "I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all- Tom and Gatsby,Daisy and Jordan and I, were all westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency incommon which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life. Though Nick's meager dwelling is not of par to the other mansions, he retorted, "It was asmall eye-sore, and it had been overlooked. It is written that, "Thisis a valley of ashes- a fantastic farm were ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills andgrotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smokeand finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumblingthrough the powdery air. " In the Valley of Ashes live the Wilson's, a poor garage owner and his wife. Both holdan air of fantasy in the illusory concept that money can buy happiness. Wilson's surroundings is truly a stark contrast to that of Gatsby's, which Nick claimedwas "a colossal affair by any standard. Thepicture Fitzgerald paints of this region is a grim and desolate one. Here Tom and Daisy Buchanon live in a houseNick chronicled as "More elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red and white GeorgianColonial mansion overlooking the bay. In effect, theValley of Ashes is where the major downfall of the story occurs, the point of no returnwhen Daisy hits Mrs. " In conclusion, Fitzgerald uses setting dominantly to capture the times and reflectthe natures, responsibilities, and classes of the characters in The Great Gatsby. This valley, located between the city and the Eggs, is extremely impoverished. From the "dreamland" of the Eggs, a peaceful escape from the hubbub of the city whereresponsibilities are inconsequential, one finds the antithesis of harsh reality. Describing their home above thegarage Nick recounted, "The interior was unprosperous and bare: the only car visible wasthe dust-covered wreck of a Ford which crouched in a dim corner.
Common topics in this essay:
Valley Ashes,
East Coast,
Gatsby Gatsby,
West Eggers,
Tom Daisy-,
York City,
West Egg,
Wilson Daisy,
Daisy Buchanon,
Daisy Jordan,
valley ashes,
west egg,
east coast,
york city,
east egg,
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Acceptance Essays
