In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald the difference between East egg and West egg is that East egg has people who have acquired their wealth through their family and are elitist and close minded where as people in the West egg are financially diverse and self made entrepreneurs. East egg in the novel is represented through its inhabitants like Tom Buchanan and Jordan Baker. Tom Buchanan is the perfect example of how an East egger acquires his wealth as Fitzgerald states that, “His family was enormously wealthy-even in college his freedom with money was a matter of reproach...” (6). This shows us that his family gave him money for college which helped him get an education and therefore he was able to
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s American classic, The Great Gatsby, tells a story of how love and greed lead to death. The narrator of the novel, Nick Carraway, tells of his unusual summer after meeting the main character, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s intense love makes him attempt anything to win the girl of his dreams, Daisy Buchanan. All the love in the world, however, cannot spare Gatsby from his unfortunate yet inevitable death. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald utilizes the contrasting locations of East Egg and West Egg to represent opposing forces vital to the novel.
For example, Dally is one of the poor greasers from the east side of the city, and Bob is a very rich Soc from the west side of the city. Dally, being a greaser from the east side of the city, has very little material wealth. Ponyboy states about all the greasers, “We’re poorer than the Socs and the middle class” (3). What little money Dally has he earns riding in local rodeos. He does not even own a car, but borrows Buck Merill’s when he needs one. In fact, Dally does not even have a permanent home. Ponyboy states that Dally “lived anywhere he could” (105). Therefore, Dally is an underprivileged greaser with little money and few possessions. On the contrary, Bob Sheldon is one of the extremely rich Socs from the west side of the city. Bob has no reason to work because everything he wants is handed to him by his affluent parents. Ponyboy describes the Socs, Bob’s click, as “the jet set, the West-side rich kids” (2). The Socs all seem to drive around in expensive sports cars and wear costly madras clothing, and Bob is no exception. Randy states that Bob’s parents “‘spoiled him rotten’” (116). Unlike Dally, Bob has everything he wants. Money and material things are not a concern. Clearly, financial circumstances set these two
Class identity and social structure was a big thing in the Roaring 20 's. In the Great Gatsby, Long Island was divided into two to three social classes. There is East and West Egg, and then The Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes were where poor people worked, and where Myrtle, a mistress of Tom Buchanan resides. East and West Egg were where old and new money people are. East Egg residents just made tons of money, but still are looked down upon by West Egg residents. West Egg residents had that money for generations. If West Egg residents want to start a new generation with some other rich partner though, where do they stand? Why are the West Egg residents so looked down upon as well by East Egg?
Tom and Daisy Buchanan had the good life and they also had an enormous house. Their social class was high and they were rich because Tom had “bought down a string of polo ponies from Lake Forest,” (Fitzgerald 10). This indicates that he had a vast amount of space to take care of the horses and have a stable to keep the horses. This also identifies that the Buchanans have been living a luxurious life style with “a string of polo ponies” (Fitzgerald 10) and this explains that they can maintain all of the horses tha...
At the start of the song, we are provided with the lines, “And the saints we see Are all made of gold”. These lines work together to provide context to the rest of the song, and explain that the “saints” seen are far from perfect and are only supported by “gold” or wealth. This theme of the people that are “looked up to” being hollowed out by money, is also shared in the opening chapters of “The Great Gatsby” as we are introduced to West Egg and East Egg. Both sides of the bay share a common interest in wealth but the people in East egg were born into fortune, while the people from West Egg marveled across the blue waves, wishing that the roles could be reversed. I think this division between the two cities helps to display the distinction between
The West Egg houses are more recently built and are elaborately decorated, where as the houses in East Egg are still as big but very conservative in architecture. The two neighborhoods represent the division of the upper class at this time in America. During the 1920's, the conservative "old rich" despised the "new rich". A good example of an "old rich" family would be the Rockefellers, where as a "new rich" family would be the Kennedys. The East Egg represents the conservative money of the "old rich".
Fitzgerald’s uses setting to describe how West Egg and East Egg represent new money and old money. West Egg represents the new money and East Egg, the old money. While they seem quite similar at first, because they are expensive places to live. West Egg is described as “the less fashionable of the two, although there is little contrast between them.” But, yet there are many differences. Such as when Nick describes his own house as "an eyesore" that is "squeezed between
To summarise there are many material things that favour different groups of people for many reasons. These differences and inequalities created by material things are what make a community that. This is a common vision throughout the world, not just West Main Street or City Road. In some ways it is much easier to find the similarities than differences between these two streets, although they are unique, what you see socially can be seen on any street. (‘The Street’, 2009, Scene 8)
Firstly, Tom and Gatsby both live opulent lives in Long Island, New York. Tom lives in East Egg, while Gatsby lives in West Egg. East Egg is the area where the old monied, upper-class, and highly respected people live. Whereas, West Egg is a community where the nouveau riche and self-made people
East Egg is home to the more prominent established wealth families. Tom's and Daisy's home is on the East Egg. Their house, a "red and white Georgian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay" with its "wine-colored rug[s]" is just as impressive as Gatsby's house but much more low-key (Fitzgerald 11)(13). East egg and Tom's home represents the established wealth and traditions. Their stable wealth, although lacking the vulgarity of new wealth, is symbolic of their empty future and now purposelessness lives together. The House also has a cold sense to it according to Nick. This sense symbolizes Tom's brutality, and as Perkins's says in his manuscript to Fitzgerald "I would know...Buchanan if I met him and would avoid him," because Tom is so cold and brute (Perkins 199).
...and the upper middle class members mixed in the neighborhood, creating a disturbing mix. West Egg provided a direct confrontation to the establishment that disturbed the rich such as Daisy Buchanan (107). The residents of the city have foreign names like “Joens”, “Muldoon”, and “Eckheart” with uncouth professions such as actors and politicians (63). Epitomizing the qualities of the people and the buildings of West Egg is Jay Gatsby. Gatsby possesses a house designed to imitate royalty. However, Gatsby fills that very house with the risque parties, juxtaposing the old idea of wealth with a new one. The juxtaposition between the two ideas strongly characterizes the West Egg resident.
The novel mirrors the East-West divide of the whole country in the division between West Egg and East Egg. Nick and Gatsby live on West Egg, which means that they have retained their closeness to western values. The Buchanans on the other hand have become Easterners, they represent the corruption of the East.
...East Egg she doesn’t want change even though how much she loved Gatsby at a younger age. “The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God--a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that--and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end”(104). After all the hurdles that Gatsby had to overcome, he turned into a rich and wealthy man. He was able to change his life for the better in such a positive way. Gatsby did not let the setting of living in West Egg, even though Nick said that West Egg was “the less fashionable of the two” (Fitzgerald 5) get in the way of achieving his ambition.
Throughout the whole novel the Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald compares East and West egg by
In both books status is the most significant thing in their society. Okonkwo and Tom 's high ranking in their society, reveals the cultural value of status which causes them to be careless. In The Great Gatsby’ social status is an immensely significant part as it separates geographical locations in the novel but above all, portrays the mentality of citizens belonging to different social class. The characters in the novel are separated by the money that they have and where they work or live. East Egg reflects a higher class society where the people are filthy rich, the author refer to them as “old money”. The people in East Egg are usually well educated and they have some sort of hatred towards the “new money”, which is known as West Egg. The people of West Egg are rich, but have only became rich recently.