Skip to main content

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EAST EGG AND WEST EGG

East Egg & West Egg Explained
http://www.subodhbhattarai.blogspot.com
In The Great Gatsby, a novel by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald which is set in Long Island, NY during the Roaring Twenties, specifically summer of 1922; there are two cities that are separated by the Valley of Ashes. These two cities are known as East Egg and West Egg, and there are two different classes of wealth in these cities. They are new wealth against old wealth. The two cities represent the vastly different lifestyles of Daisy and Jay, and sets up the tragic events of the story.
The East Egg is where all the ‘Old Money’ families live. These are old established and extremely wealthy families. Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom are from old money and live in East Egg. The people in East Egg are known for being well educated usually at Ivy League (A league of universities and colleges in the North-Eastern United States that have a reputation for scholastic achievement and social prestige) colleges, such as Yale and Harvard. Whereas, the West Egg, or ‘New Money’, are the people that have recently come into money, mainly due to the economic boom. These people are who have worked hard and earned their own money. They haven’t depended on inheriting money and just worked hard. They have not had Ivy League educations and some of them didn’t even go to college. However, there is this huge gap separating the two classes, symbolized in the book by the bay located between the Eggs. The people in East Egg are seen as corrupt and mean spirited because they have always had money and never had to work for anything. They are more concerned about material things. The people in West Egg are seen as less sophisticated and more innocent about how the elite live their lives. Nick Carraway comes from old money, but decides to live in West Egg.

Throughout the novel, Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters and one of ‘New Money’, tries to reach out and be equal to the Buchanans, one of the old families. However, they always look down upon Gatsby, mainly due to the fact that he is new money and is flashy with his money. This is despite the fact that over the course of the novel, Gatsby is proven to be a better person than the Buchanans. However, Gatsby is blinded by Daisy Buchanan, i.e. the allure of aristocracy, and pays for this with his life.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BBS First Year English Question Paper with Possible Answers (TU 2021)

Post a Comment
Read more

The Etiquette of Freedom - Gary Snyder

  In his essay " The Etiquette of Freedom ," Gary Snyder explores the concept of freedom in relation to nature and culture. He argues that freedom is not simply the absence of constraints (restrictions), but rather the ability to live in harmony with the natural world. This requires a deep understanding of the environment and a willingness to respect its limits. Snyder begins by defining the terms " wild " and " culture ." He argues that " wild " does not mean " untamed " or " uncivilised ," but rather " self-organizing ." A wild system is one that is able to maintain its own equilibrium (balance) without the intervention of humans. Culture, on the other hand, is a human-made system that is designed to meet our needs. Snyder then goes on to discuss the relationship between freedom and culture. He argues that our culture has become increasingly alienated from nature and that this has led to a loss of freedom. We have...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summary and Analysis of My Mother Never Worked

MY MOTHER NEVER WORKED Bonnie Smith - Yackel SYNOPSIS   In the essay “ My Mother Never Worked ,” Bonnie Smith-Yackel recollects the time when she called Social Security to claim her mother’s death benefits. Social Security places Smith-Yackel on hold so they can check their records on her mother, Martha Jerabek Smith . While waiting, she remembers the many things her mother did, and the compassion her mother felt towards her husband and children. When Social Security returns to the phone, they tell Smith-Yackel that she could not receive her mother’s death benefits because her mother never had a wage-earning job. A tremendous amount of irony is used in this essay. The title, in itself, is full of irony; it makes readers curious about the essay’s point and how the author feels about the situation. Smith-Yackel uses the essay to convey her opinion of work. Her thesis is not directly stated; however, she uses detail upon detail to prove her mother did work, just not in the eyes of ...
Post a Comment
Read more