Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Eggs.
Some of the themes that are portrayed in The Great Gatsby are the rich and the poor classes. Fitzgerald starts by introducing us with Nick, who ranks between these two groups. Nick first pays a visit to the elite class, East Egg, and starts to get to know their lavish lives which are filled with parties, champagne and secret affairs. Soon after he visits the impoverished side, West Egg, which consists of work, dirt, and some more affairs. Although they think they come from two completely different ends of egg, there are some similarities. With the affair between Tom and Myrtle, these two classes are bound to clash with each other. And when these two groups "come together" will Nick be there to witness it all? Also who will loose the most? The rich? Or the poor?
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I will make one correction here. West Egg is the site of "new money," which we'll see in chapters three and four. Myrtle and Tom live in the Valley of Ashes, which lies between the city and West Egg. According to Matthew Bruccoli, a Fitzgerald scholar, the author based the Valley of Ashes on the Corona dump, outside of NYC.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good posting!
I based my understanding of the Eggs from the qoute Nick says "I lived at West Egg, the--well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the biarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. .... Across the curtesy ba the wite palaces of fashionalbe East Egg glitterd along the water..." (pg. 5)
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that Nick will be there when the two sides clash, that is for sure. His personally is one that is more of a follower rather then a leader, and he will be dragged into it, whether he likes it or not. As for which side will lose more, I am undecided. I think that the west egg will lose more, as the partying atmosphere will tear them apart much faster then the more reserved east egg. They will be too drunk to care, and so will be torn apart more.
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ReplyDeleteI do not know what happened to my post before, I accidently deleted it, but i will repost it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Christian, Nick will definitely be there when these two different worlds collide. There seems to be deep conflict between old money and new money; they seem to avoid eachother and have completely different life styles. The one exception is Nick who floats in the in between. This could be an advantage when it comes to the climax between West and East egg because Nick can see from a less biased view than other characters. As for who will win, I can not come to a conclusion, so time will tell.
Excellent commentaries! Yes, Nick does seem to float between the Eggs... as well as between people.
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