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Political Differences In The Great Gatsby

Decent Essays

The regions of America always had a division due to different attitudes and perspectives of people in said regions-especially in the 1920s. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the author emphasizes the contrast between the mindset of people from the Midwest region and people of the East Coast region. The tension between Midwest and East Coast illustrates the difference of values in American society and perspective. Fitzgerald depicts displays of wealth as more significant to people of the East Coast than in the Midwest. In the exposition, Nick Carraway expresses that his father told him,“‘whenever [he] feels like criticizing someone...just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages [he] had’”(Fitzgerald 1). The author characterizes Nick’s father, a native to the Midwest, as someone who understands that money should not be the defining factor to judge people, because not everyone has grown up with wealth like Nick and his family. In contrast, Fitzgerald describes the East Coast population as people who need to show off their money in order to exhibit their worthiness of attention to others. After Tom “left Chicago”, he goes “East in a fashion that rather took your breath away; for instance, he’d brought down a string of polo ponies from Lake Forest”(Fitzgerald 6). Fitzgerald exaggerates the extent of Tom’s need to show off his money by declaring that it would make others lose their breaths if they saw the amount of luxurious items, such as

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