Settings:
- Create a map of the settings in the novel either digitally or on a piece of A3 paper. Next to each setting (there should be four in total) list at least two quotes from the novel that described that setting.
Long Island sound =
West Egg: “I lived at West Egg, the– well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them”
“Everyone in West egg is a bootlegger.”
East Egg:
Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glancing at Daisy and then back at me as if he were alert for something more. ‘I’d be a God Damn fool to live anywhere else.”
“Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins..”
Wilson’s garage:
“The interior was unprosperous and bare; the only car visible was the dust-covered wreck of a Ford which crouched in a dim corner.”
Doctor T. J. Eckleburg billboard:
“The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high. ey look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose.”
“Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil”
Valley of ashes:
“About half way between West Egg and New York the motor-road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land.”
“This is a valley of ashes – a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.”
New York:
‘Anything can happen now that we’ve slid over this bridge,’ I thought; ‘anything at all. . . .’ Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder.
Tom and Myrtle’s apartment:
“The apartment was on the top floor – a small living room, a small dining room and a bath.”
2. Each of the settings in the novel comment on an aspect of the American dream. Explain how each of the setting reveal a reality about the American Dream and show this message is reinforced by characters that live in each setting.
West Egg and East Egg represent the difference of money between “old money” and “new money”. East Egg represents the established privileged class whereas West Egg is the self made wealthy residents who worked for their money. As the end of the novel narrows in, the readers begin to wonder if the American Dream is even attainable. It doesn’t matter where you live (West or East egg), everyone fails to fulfil the longing American Dream. Gatsby sacrifices himself for Daisy and suffers the most, all in hope for success with the “dream’. Even though Gatsby reached the standards and gained an attainable amount of wealth, he failed to achieve his goal and become accepted by the upper class. This suggests that the American Dream is unreachable and a lost cause of hope.
Valley of Ashes highlights the false hope the American society has and how the harsh reality reveals the failure of their goals. The bleak transformation of the natural world into a grey ghastly space of land. “Men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” – this snippet of the quote above shows the shocking image of turning regular humans into “ash grey men”. The valley of ashes reveals the dark side of the glamorous lives the American society lives in and a thick coat of ashy texture lies covering reality.
New York City
Gatsby’s desire for attaining the American dream comes off as impossible from Nicks perspective, especially in the large and magnificent New York City. Gatsby tells the readers that American and New York City in general is vital for gaining success in the American dream. These crucial settings are all on the road to success and that it is impossible to live a prosperous life without without having a connection to money.
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