The Symbolism of West Egg and East Egg in The Great Gatsby.
Gatsby, a man wealthy enough to live in East Egg chose to buy an estate and live in West Egg. Gatsby’s dream was not to be able to be wealthy and powerful, but it was to be together with Daisy, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 76).
Jordan belongs to the East Egg social group because of her careless, dishonest ways. She serves as a hint as to the true nature of the people from East Egg. Jordan may also be an indication of the types of people that Gatsby entertains, since she attends his parties.
Living in West Egg are people such as Gatsby who have procured their great wealth status over their lifetime. Known as the nouveaux riches, the residents of West Egg are often looked down upon by the people of East Egg since the “West Eggers” do not hold the traditional values of high-class people.
The action of The Great Gatsby takes place along a corridor stretching from New York City to the suburbs known as West and East Egg. West and East Egg serve as stand-ins for the real life locations of two peninsulas along the northern shore of Long Island. Midway between the Eggs and Manhattan lies the “valley of ashes,” where Myrtle and George Wilson have a run-down garage.
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The society of the mid nineteen-twenties, as depicted by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his novel “The Great Gatsby”, is one of glamorous parties and shallow, superficial and material-based relations. East Egg is home to the more apathetic portion of New York’s elite, which cares only for their money and view the world around them as disposable.
The Great Gatsby symbolizes social disparity in society. Fitzgerald uses colours, objects, the eyes of Dr. T.J Eckleburg, and places, East Egg, West Egg, the Valley of the Ashes to represent abstract ideas and concepts about the division in society.