Great Gatsby
Candace Dodson The Great Gatsby The four settings in the Great Gatsby can changes the image on the overall plot. Each one of them makes a different tone and enhances the image of the story line. East and West Egg are both wealthy places but, since they are located on opposite sides, their ideals are different. The Valley of Ashes is what everybody looks at as a burned out Hell. Manhattan would be best described as the purgatory on earth. These settings represent the distance between the classes in this time period, from the wealthy class of the East and West “eggs”, the desolate “valley of ashes”, to the chaos of “Manhattan.” The East Egg is one of the four important settings in the Great Gatsby. The main distinction in East Egg is the old rich people, who claimed their wealth through inheritance and from ancestors who were among the richest people in the country, and the new rich people. Members of East Egg have become lazy and prejudiced after an easy life away from hard work and indulging in pleasures only. They represent the downfall of the American Dream. People from East Egg tend to be more humble, graceful, and elegant with their riches. They also fit the stereotype of the arrogant and self-absorbed rich people, since they are inconsiderate and cold hearted and use their money to wield influence over others. All of these stereotypes, the good and the bad, characterize the up-tempo lifestyle of New York, which is in stark contrast to the rural, more conservative, atmosphere that Nick dealt with in Minnesota. No one of the East Egg wants to associate with the “new money” (West Egg) now rampant on Long Island due to the fact that they believe the West Egg inhabitants unfit for such a lifestyles they lead. The East egg is described as the more desirable of the two eggs, and as a place of scenic beauty “The white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water”. The East Egg contains the characters of Tom Buchanan and his wife Daisy. Coming from