Setting in the Great Gatsby
The settings and backdrops in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, are essential elements to the formation of the characters, symbolic imagery and the overall plot development. Fitzgerald uses East and West Egg communities to portray two separate worlds and two classes of people that are technically the same their status, but fundamentally different in their ideals. The physical geography of the settings is representative of the distance between classes of the East and West Eggers. Every setting connotes a different tone and enhances the imagery of story line. From the wealthy class of the "eggs", the desolate "valley of ashes", to the chaos of Manhattan. The imagery provided by Fitzgerald becomes an important tool in establishing the characters and their story.The separation between the east and the west shows the division between the people who are from each side. Generally, the West Coast represents a more laissez-faire attitude and is seen as the "new" land or world. Many people have dreamt of "going west" in search of a new life or vast treasures in the "wild" lands. Fitzgerald associates these qualities of the West with the characters Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby, who live on the West Egg. On the other side o
The hot weather and the atmosphere of the city often leads to a confrontation. In the case of the confrontation of Tom to Gatsby, the weather is also hot. Gatsby's death is synonymous to the death in autumn. This desolate and wasted land is the "bridge" between the wealth of the Eggs and the chaotic city. f the spectrum lie Tom Buchanan, Daisy, and Jordan Baker. The dresser was garnished with a toilet set of pure dull gold. These characters are associated with a stereotypical East Coast mindset which is more strict, traditional and ancestrally based, as opposed to the "new" and "wild" West. The "valley of ashes" represents the industrial era of that time and the seeming destruction that it created. Gatsby's mansion is designed in an newer European style unlike the Buchanan's more colonial style house and is decorated with gold and lavish items intended to "show off" his wealth. Myrtle and George Wilson are the inhabitants in the "valley of ashes", which is depicted as a wasteland. It depicts "how the other half lives" through Myrtle and George's seemingly pathetic. The houses of both classes are evidence to this fact. The Great Gatsby starts out in the springtime, a time of new growth and beginning. The "valley of ashes is described as " a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat in ridges…where ashes take the form of houses and chimneys". The scene of the city is presented in a confusing manner during hot weather.
Common topics in this essay:
Tom Gatsby,
West Eggers,
East Eggers,
Nick Gatsby's,
Nick Carraway,
Myrtle George's,
East West,
West Egg,
Georgian Colonial,
George Wilson,
valley ashes,
east west,
west egg,
hot weather,
west eggers,
eggers money,
nick carraway,
seasons reflection,
story line,
tom buchanan,
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Acceptance Essays
