The Great Gatsby

How does Fitzgerald juxtapose the different regions of America? Does he write more positively about the East or the Midwest?

The Great Gatsby

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In the book The Great Gatsby, East Egg and West Egg are used as metaphors for the East and the Middle West. While the "aristocrats" Tom and Daisy live in East Egg, the newly rich Gatsby lives in West Egg. Even though Gatsby shows off with his wealth and tries to fit in the "aristocratic" society, the fact that he is living in West Egg, shows that the distance between East and West does not become smaller, because West Egg stays the “less fashionable of the two” (p.9, 9).

Most of the settlers, who explored the western country, were Finnish. For that, the “Finnish woman” (p.7, 10) who works for Nick, is another example of the connection between West Egg and the Middle West.

The people living in the West tend to have a very strict and conservative attitude and not to be open for most changes. It was there, where prohibition started.

the East has a closer connection to Europe and orientates itself by European values and qualities.

Source(s)

http://www.ovtg.de/3_arbeit/englisch/gatsby/eastwest.html