English Literature Essay

* Consider how the aspect of setting is presented in The Great Gatsby. You should consider language, form and structure

In the Great Gatsby, Each of the four important geographical locations in the novel—West Egg, East Egg, the Valley of Ashes, and New York City—corresponds to a particular theme or type of character encountered in the story. West Egg is like Jay Gatsby: full of extravagance, symbolizing the emergence of the new rich alongside the established aristocracy of the 1920’s. East Egg is like the Buchanan’s: wealthy, possessing high social status, and powerful, symbolizing the old upper class that continued to dominate the American social landscape. The Valley of Ashes is like George Wilson: desolate, desperate, and utterly without hope, symbolizing the moral decay of American society hidden by the glittering surface of upper-class extravagance. New York City is simply chaos, an abundant swell of variety and life, associated with the “quality of distortion” that Nick perceives in the East. Setting is extremely important to The Great Gatsby, as it reinforces the themes and character traits that drive the novel’s critical events. Even the weather matches the flow of the plot. Gatsby’s reunion with Daisy begins in a ferocious thunderstorm and reaches its happiest moment which is when Daisy and Gatsby connect again just as the sun comes out. Tom’s confrontation with Gatsby occurs on the hottest day of the summer which represents the passion and tension between the two. Finally, Gatsby’s death occurs just as autumn creeps into the air. The specificity of the settings in The Great Gatsby contributes greatly to the creation of distinct zones in which the conflicting values of various characters are forced to confront each other.
The social setting is among wealthy, educated people, those with a good deal of leisure time and little concern about people who are not in their social group. Nobody’s concerned about politics or spiritual matters however everybody cares about how they are perceived socially. The social climate demands