West Egg Vs. West Egg In The Great Gatsby

In the novel “The Great Gatsby”, F. Scott Fitzgerald, an American author, shows the idea that the newly developing class rivalry between “old” and “new” money, in West Egg versus East Egg, in the struggle between Gatsby and Tom over Daisy. He develops this claim by first introducing the “valley of ashes” as a picture of absolute desolation and poverty. The valley of ashes symbolizes the moral decay hidden by the embellishment of the Eggs, which suggests that underneath all of the embellishments there is still the ugliness of the valley. Next he uses a simile to describe all the people who (rich people mostly) came to his parties and what it was kind of like, “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and

the champagne and the stars.” Next he uses imagery to help the reader imagine what one of his parties is like, “The moon had risen higher, and floating in the Sound was a triangle of silver scales, trembling a little to the stiff, tiny drip of the banjos on the lawn. Throughout the whole book, the author uses colors for metaphors. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” This shows the use of the color green symbolizing Gatsby’s hope and dreams about Daisy. Fitzgerald’s purpose is to show the rivalry between the two very different societies, east and west egg, even though both own a lot of money and assets. He establishes a bitter tone for all potential readers. This work is significant because it truly shows how crude and mean some people can be, towards others. It also demonstrates Fitzgerald’s outlook on the west and east eggs.
Traditional American values (such as self efficiency and being newly rich but without a social position) are traits of people living in the Midwest, in ‘The Great Gatsby’ represented by West Egg.

West Egg is known as the “new money” society. The people who live here had to work hard to earn their wealth. Two people that are examples of West Egg are Jay Gatsby and Meyer Wolfsheim. “I lived at West Egg, the-well, the least fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them.” In this quote, Nick introduces the difference between the East and the West Egg. Nick realizes that the difference between them is “superficial”. Fitzgerald is attempting to show that the perceptions that the two have on each other is shallow and that there is no actual difference between the two because both have wealthy individuals. “‘You live in West Egg’, she remarked contemptuously ‘I know somebody there’.” Jordan Bakers shows contempt for Nick merely due to the fact he lives in West Egg. This shows further how the East Eggers don’t see the West Eggers as being legitimate because they have not been wealthy their whole lives. “‘Who is this Gatsby anyhow?’ demanded Tom suddenly. ‘Some big bootlegger?’ ‘Where’d you hear that?’ I inquired. ‘I didn’t hear it, I imagined it. A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know.’” This quote furthermore demonstrates the conclusions that the old rich Americans, like Tom, would make about the “newly rich people”, like Gatsby. Tom assumed Gatsby was a bootlegger just based on the fact that he acquired his wealth

recently.
Easterners are those whose fortune is inherited, harboring features of the European aristocracy (like narrow-mindedness or ingratitude.) East Egg is also known as “old money” in ‘The Great Gatsby’. The people who live here did not have to work for their money, because they inherited it and were “naturally” wealthy already. Two people who are examples of this are Daisy and Tom Buchanan. “Instead of rambling this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity, and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the countryside-East Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gayety.” This quote makes it evident to the reader how the people of East Egg (old money) feel about the people of West Egg (new money). The East Eggers feel like they have more of a reason to be wealthy and that the West Eggers don’t deserve it. “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water…” This quote further reinforces the idea of how fancy the East Egg was, and how they loved to show off their riches. Fitzgerald also uses the bay to show the true divide between the West and East Egg.