Setting Of The Great Gatsby Essay -- essays research papers

The settings and backdrops in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, are essential elements to the formation of the characters, symbolic imagery and the overall plot development. Fitzgerald uses East and West Egg communities to portray two separate worlds and two classes of people that are technically the same their status, but fundamentally different in their ideals. The physical geography of the settings is representative of the distance between classes of the East and West Eggers. Every setting connotes a different tone and enhances the imagery of story line. From the wealthy class of the "eggs", the desolate "valley of ashes", to the chaos of Manhattan. The imagery provided by Fitzgerald becomes an important tool in establishing the characters and their story. The separation between the east and the west shows the division between the people who are from each side. Generally, the West Coast represents a more laissez-faire attitude and is seen as the "new" land or world. Many people have dreamt of "going west" in search of a new life or vast treasures in the "wild" lands. Fitzgerald associates these qualities of the West with the characters Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby, who live on the West Egg. On the other side of the spectrum lie Tom Buchanan, Daisy, and Jordan Baker. These characters are associated with a stereotypical East Coast mindset which is more strict, traditional and ancestrally based, as opposed to the "new" and "wild" West. They resent anything that is unfamiliar to them such as the West Eggers with "new money" and no traditions. The distance and mindset of the East and West are symbolically integrated into the East Egg and West Egg which are representative of the soc ial class of which the characters come from. The physical settings establish the identities of the characters through their wealth and houses. The West Eggers represent the social class of the nouveau riche, people who have made fortunes recently in their generation instead of having inherited wealth. The East Eggers have had money in their blood for many generations and have an established presence in their community. The houses of both classes are evidence to this fact. Gatsby's mansion is designed in an newer European style unlike the Buchanan's more colonial style house and is decorated with... ...nt stage. The Great Gatsby starts out in the springtime, a time of new growth and beginning. The story takes place until the end of summer and beginning of autumn. As spring and summer pass by, steady improvements, it seems, are occurring in Nick and Gatsby's relationship. Gatsby's death is synonymous to the death in autumn. Falling leaves and dying shrubbery coincide with Gatsby's own death. The progression of the story is parallel to the changing of the seasons. The reflection of the tale can be seen through the weather and changing seasons. Fitzgerald uses the setting and seasonal change to create the progression of the characters, symbolism and the plot. The backdrops create the framework that the characters live in and interact. The setting of the story creates all the contrast between East and West, "new money" and "old money" and the social classes. Not only do the physical representations of these differences separate the characters and create their character, but also a more representative division is shown. By using symbolism embedded with actual display of its imagery, Fitzgerald is able to capture both, a symbolic essence and tangents of reality.