The various social climbers and ambitious speculators who attend Gatsby's parties evidence the greedy scramble for wealth. The clash between “old money” and “new money” manifests itself in the novel's symbolic geography: East Egg represents the established aristocracy, West Egg the self-made rich.
East Egg is symbolic of class and society in the novel. Most who lived in East Egg had well-known family names in society. They were born into wealth and were already established in society. West Egg was symbolic of wealth and power.
West Egg is home to the nouveau riche, or "New Money." East Egg residents come from generations of familial wealth. The arrogant and spoiled characters, Tom and Daisy, live in East Egg, while Nick and Jay live in West Egg. The Valley of Ashes is reserved for the poorest citizens.
The West Egg represents Gatsby who has new money, The East Egg represents the Buchanans who inherited their money and The Valley of Ashes represents the plight of poor people like George Wilson.
Hope - Gatsby bought a house in West Egg, in the hopes that he would win Daisy back. He did this so that he could look across the bay to the green light at the end of Daisy's dock.
Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins on the evening I drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans.”
East Egg is where the wealthy elite live. The Valley of Ashes separates West Egg from New York City. This location symbolizes moral decay as it's filled with ash from the city's industry, as well as the scene of the crime that takes place at the end of the novel.
East and West Egg are Cow Neck and Great Neck, respectively, two peninsulas of Nassau County that border Manhasset Bay.
Gatsby's house is in West Egg, which Nick, aware he is oversimplifying, describes as 'the less fashionable' of the two, although he adds that the differences between the areas are 'bizarre and not a little sinister'. Although Gatsby's house is huge and lavish, it is tasteless, showing his lack of real sophistication.
East Egg represents the old aristocracy while West Egg, where Gatsby and Nick lives, represent the newly rich and the American Dream (Sparknotes). According to Nick, it is the “least fashionable of the two” which reveals the difference in status between the two places.
While both East and West Egg are wealthy communities, families with inherited wealth, or “old money,” live in the more fashionable East Egg. In West Egg, by contrast, residents whose wealth is new, like Gatsby, conspicuously mimic European aristocracy to appear established.
East Egg is associated with the Buchanans and the monotony of their inherited social position, while West Egg is associated with Gatsby's gaudy mansion and the inner drive behind his self-made fortune.
In the novel, West Egg and its denizens represent the newly rich, while East Egg and its denizens, especially Daisy and Tom, represent the old aristocracy. Fitzgerald portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste.
East Egg represents people who are vulgar and crude, who are also the social elite and old money, while West Egg represents good social values and new money. Nonetheless, both areas are equally dissatisfied with their life, always wanting more and more.
How does Gatsby's party further differentiate East Egg and West Egg? East Eggers who have old generational money and West Eggers have self made money. Why is there surprise over Gatsby's library? The man with the owl glasses is very shocked and surprised to see Gatsby's library holding real books and pages inside.
Nick explains that West Egg is “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.” While readers know that Gatsby's house is huge and opulent, West Egg is considered less fancy because the people who live there, including ...
One family in the East Egg is the Buchanans-Daisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin, and her husband, Tom Buchanan.
In the novel, West Egg and its denizens represent the newly rich, while East Egg and its denizens, especially Daisy and Tom, represent the old aristocracy. Fitzgerald portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste.
The area was the dumping ground of New York. History: The Great Gatsby took place in Long Island, New York. "West Egg" was really the Kings Point end of the Great Neck peninsula. "East Egg" was really the Sands Point end of the Port Washington peninsula.
What does the narrator say is the difference between West Egg and East Egg? It is on Long Island. East egg is where Tom and Daisy live and it is more update and modern. Nick and Gatsby live on West Egg.
The valley of ashes is the land between NYC and West Egg. It symbolizes the working class. A billboard with a pair of bright blue eyes wearing glasses looks over the valley of ashes. They symbolize the wealthy, bright, vibrant life looking down on the working class.
We are told that Gatsby came up from essentially nothing, and that the first time he met Daisy Buchanan, he was “a penniless young man.” His fortune, we are told, was the result of a bootlegging business – he “bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago” and sold illegal alcohol over the counter.
The Valley of Ashes
It represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure.
The valley of ashes is the depressing industrial area of Queens between West Egg and Manhattan. It isn't actually made out of ashes, but seems that way because of how gray and smoke-choked it is.