Gatsby+Setting

Background


 * New beginnings have long been associated in the American mind with movement westward.
 * The history of settlement in America is broadly a history of movement westward.
 * Early settlers from Europe called America 'The New World' and Europe 'The Old World'
 * European pioneers saw America as a chance to begin again
 * The Frontier has this physical reality, but also strong psychological meaning
 * 1893 Turner essay argues that the Frontier represented an American spirit of practical realities and democracy
 * The West, he argued, held the promise of freedom for all

1. East and West

- Similar in appearance between East and West Egg
 * ** East Egg ** || ** West Egg ** || ** The Midwest ** ||
 * P4/5

P6 - Elaborate houses compared to the West - People are more educated; thus, more arrogant P45 || p3 - Less fashionable of the two" Eggs" - Aside from appearance, lifestyle and living standards are dramatically different. p4-6 - West Egg is an imitation of the East Egg

p107

Who lives here? How are they connected? - Gatsby and Nick lives West Egg. - Gatsby and Nick are neighbors and they are both the "new rich". - Daisy is Nick's cousin while Gatsby is in love with Daisy.

Daisy's opinion on the West: -appalled by West: newly rich shows off, raw vigor, loud, drinking,, "short-cut from nothing to nothing", vigor || Connotes an authentic America whose values are old-fashioned yet conservative in their integrity. P3 - Nick is from the Midwest - Decent, well-developed area P175

Gatsby's father personifies the values of the west - integrity, lack of affectation, straight forward good guy. Lacks sophistication which Gatsby craves - is the way he seeks this the key to his downfall? ||

1. Out of the two ‘Eggs’, which is more fashionable and why? - The East Egg is more fashionable. Lifestyle in the East Egg is relatively luxurious because it has developed before West Egg. - Aristocrats live in East Egg while (upper) middle-class people live in West Egg. - Aristocrats tend to stick with traditional ideas and values. 2. What is the rather snobbish relationship between East and West Egg? - Even though people in East Egg look down on people in West Egg, the people in West Egg still wish to have the same lifestyle as people of East Egg, and are very well off compared to the working class servants and Valley of Ashes etc 3. What do you have to pass through to travel between East and West Egg? What might this symbolize? - Valley of the Ashes - It symbolizes the gray area between the East and the West (Mid-West in particular), where decayed and pure American dreams exist together. The Wilsons is a great example: they live there in order to make money (pure American dream), but Myrtle starts to have an affair with Tom Buchanan (decayed American dream). 4. In what ways might West Egg be similar to the ‘Old West’? - Both characters (Nick and Gatsby) are looking for a new start, and west egg represents the frontier search in this way - Melting pot ; Equality and freedom, land of opportunity - People who became rich, such as Gatsby, do not share a good artistic taste which belongs to the old aristocracy. (Gatsby's choice of a pink suit, unawareness of certain faux pas, etc.) 5. What is Fitzgerald saying about America through this setting? - The original American dream has developed - Traditional values have been replaced by consumer culture and materialism - Pointing out the social difference between the West and the East of America - West was less developed and considered less sophisticated and educated than the East. (Herbert Hoover is the first president from the West [1929], while this book was written in 1925)