preview

Pick Two or Three Settings from the Great Gatsby and Explain Their Significance to the Novel.

Decent Essays

Pick two or three settings from The Great Gatsby and explain their significance to the novel. Settings are given in every novel being important as it helps the reader understand the story better. The settings in The Great Gatsby are specifically very significant as it superbly fits with the storyline. The story is set in the early 1920s in New york because it focuses on the society of that time and is particularly focused on the factors such as prohibition of alcohol, the glamour of new york and also the way that Tom, Nick Gatsby and daisy all escape from the mid west, a small minded town, and become successful living the American dream. This is compared to the Valley of ashes, where the lower class lives in struggle. What makes the …show more content…

They both use the city to hide their goings-on from the people they value on Long Island. In the story, there is a distinction between West Egg, where Long Island is located, and East Egg on the other side. The people who live in West Egg are considered to be the recently developed wealthy individuals. Moreover, separated by a long river, on the other side is East Egg where people made of generations of wealth live. However, Fitzgerald tells us, in Nicks point of view, directly that East Egg is the wealthier, more elite of the two. Despite all his money, Gatsby lives in West Egg, suggesting that he has not been able to complete his transformation into a member of the social upper class society. Tom and Daisy are apart of the East Egg society being an example of a typical couple living there being overindulged. We learn that Daisy being a mother is not responsible or mature for her age. She introduces her daughter to her friends for a few minutes and then claims “ momma wanted to show you off.” This shows that Daisy being an East sider has taken a lot for granted, she has a nurse to take care of the daughter instead of being a mother herself. The distance that separates Gatsby from Daisy lies across the span of water between their houses – the very distance between West Egg and East Egg, representing a barrier between the two lovers. Valley of ashes shows the less happier side of the American Dream. Wilson despises the American Dream and has fluffed it, struggling

Get Access