In Fitzgerald's marvelous work, The Great
Gatsby, setting is absolutely intrinsic to the major elements of the
narrative as it is a steering force in the novel, representing motifs and reflecting
characters:
THE VALLEY OF
ASHES
This wasteland outside New York City is an area of
"grey land and spasm of bleak dust," a dumping ground which represents the corruption of
the Jazz Age in which no concern is given to the by-products of industry. The yellow
spectacles of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, a figure on a billboard, are yellow, symbolic of
corruption.
Like the environment in which he lives, George
Wilson is "a blonde, spiritless man, anaemic and faintly handsome" man whose washed out
blue eyes light up at the approach of Nick and his wealthy friends. Tom, who secretly
is having an affair with his wife Myrtle, treats George with his characteristic
superciliousness.
EAST
EGG
Like Tom and Daisy, East Egg represents wealth. East
Egg is personified as looking down on West Egg. Like the Eastern states of the United
States, East Egg is rather scornful of West Egg, built up by the "new" money. East Egg
represents the established East coast while West Egg represents the Midwest and the
rising wealth of industrial men and farmers alike.
The
corruption of East Egg is exemplified in Tom's brutish behavior and attitudes. He
conducts an illicit affair with Daisy, but his temper rises when he realizes that Jay
Gatsby fies for her attention. Toward Daisy he is cruelly
patriarchal.
WEST EGG
This is
an area constructed by the nouveau riche. Gatsby lives in this
area, an area where the dissolute, criminal, and vulgar attend parties. In this West
Egg, there is an air of corruption.
NEW YORK
CITY
This area is one of corruption and deceit. Just as
there is deceit in Tom and Myrtle as well as some of the other parties, there is
corruption of products that New York sends outside of the city into the
wasteland.
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