preview

Importance Of Setting In The Great Gatsby

Good Essays
Open Document

In the novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F.Scott Fitzgerald, appreciating and understanding the settings is key to unlocking the writer’s purpose. There are a few main settings in the novel which give us a perceptive insight into the idea of which the writer is trying to establish. Three of these important settings are West Egg, the Valley of Ashes and New York city. From these crucial settings we understand that Fitzgerald’s purpose in the novel was to convey the shallowness of the American Dream, helping us to understand that pursuit of this elusive target can only lead to a life of unfulfilled wandering, corruption and unhappiness.

Situated in the “less fashionable” West Egg is Mr Jay Gatsby’s mansion, a setting where we unlock knowledge of the …show more content…

Fitzgerald describes the place as, “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens.” It is a desolate setting situated between the glamorous New York city and the fashionable West and East Eggs. This grim place is where the characters Myrtle and George Wilson reside. All the high class people living in West and East Eggs must pass through the Valley of Ashes if they want to get to the grand New York city. This is ironic and cruel to those who live there as they are on the lower side of the class system, most being poverty stricken. They watch those living their carefree lives, coming and going as they please, while they are stuck in the dingy (mediocrity?) , dirty place in between. Myrtle Wilson wants to escape and move herself higher in the class ladder. In order to do this she has an affair with Tom Buchanan. She thinks that if she is with him, he will help to lift her out of her unfulfilling and low class life, so she might live the life of luxury she has always dreamed of. However she never achieves this dream as she is merely a tool that Tom uses to further himself. This setting along with its inhabitants show sus Fitzgerald’s idea of social restrictions and the grim reality that, in most cases, we are bound by the restrictions of social class. Gatsby is the exception to this

Get Access