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EAST EGG

  • East Egg is located in New York and Nick describes it as “Fashionable East Egg” those who reside in East Egg have inherited they’re money and are most commonly quite wealthy. Because of they’re wealth, they tend to be quite selfish and shallow. Although it was more fashionable Nick stated  “…though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister intrastate between them.” which lets us know as the reader that maybe East Egg isn’t as perfect as we had suspected. Becuase they are old money it means they don’t have to work to earn their wealth making them quite snobby to those who don’t have a life that is luxury like theirs.
  • This Setting helped me understand illusion as the people who live here don’t have to work for their money they just sit back and take it for granted their extravagant housed with their luxury food, clothes and belongings. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. . . .” this shows us that they did take everything for granted and the ‘American Dream’ was all just an illusion to them

WEST EGG

  • West Egg is also located in New York, Nick describes it as “- the less fashionable of the two…” this is where the ‘new money’ people reside and new money mean they have earned they’re money themselves rather than inheriting it from family. It means they have to work for theyre lifestyle. Both Gatsby and Nick live in West Egg. throughout the novel, we learn that those who live in West Egg tend to be more selfless rather than selfish

VALLEY OF ASHES

  • The Valley of Ashes is located between East Egg and West Egg with is a very dark and sad industrial looking place. It got its name from all the smoke and dust floating around giving it the look that its made of ash. In valley of ashes there is a billboard with eyes looking through a pair of yellow rimmed glasses known as Dr. T.J Eckleburg whom plays a big roll in the novel aswell. People who reside in the Valley of ashes are looking for a way to escape. George Wilson a resident of this town work in his shop every day hoping to earn enough money so him and his wife can go East.
  • The Valley of ashes helped me understand illusion because they think of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg as a big firgure who watches over them Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil, they truely believed that he was watching them when infact its just a billboard. Another form of illusion is thee believe if they work hard enough they will get the ‘american dream’ but the work they do most of the time is not paid for so the characters who live in the Valley of Ashes are illuding to the fact that they will get the american dream

NEW YORK CITY

  • Those whom reside in NYC are 2 class people who are living theyre trying to earn enough money to live the ‘American Dream’. At the beginning of the novel when Nick has his first trip there he presents it in a positive manner describing it as having “glowing sunshine,” Upon Nicks second trip to NYC he is once again positive saying “Over the great bridge, with sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up in white heaps and sugar lumps….is always the city seen for the first time, in it’s first wild promise of all the beauty and mystery in the world.” but when he goes again with Tom and Daisy he didnt have as much of a positive look on it. The room they were sitting in “was large and stifling,” and that ” opening the windows admitted only a gust of hot shrubbery from the park.” this showed us that the characters opinions can change very quickly due to theyre encounter and the people they’re with.

 

 

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