The Great Gatsby Research Paper

Words: 1222
Pages: 5

During the Roaring twenties, social class was an important aspect of society. All different classes were for the most part separated by where people lived. In other words, by no means would anyone from a lower class be caught in an uptown setting. There are a variety of characters in the novel that come from different economic backgrounds. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald successfully uses location to differentiate social status amongst his characters while the weather and seasons of those locations help guide them. Each character helps represent and support the differences of social class and the four main locations, The East Egg, the West Egg, the Valley of Ashes, and New York City. In The Great Gatsby …show more content…
Tom responds to this by hitting Myrtle and breaking her nose. New York City represents a passion for money and inhibited pleasure. West Egg represents dreams while East Egg represents the devastation of reality. Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway both come from the mid-west. The mid-west represents everything that is associated with warmth and home. After leaving the mid-west both Gatsby and Nick move to West Egg which is similar to the mid-west. In contrast, the east represents everything that is shallow and uncaring. Jordan Baker is a prime example of someone who lives a shallow life in East Egg. F. Scott Fitzgerald incorporates color, weather, and seasons into The Great Gatsby. The green light that Gatsby sees every night from Daisy’s dock represents his future with her. “Involuntarily I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald 21). Every night Gatsby reaches out for the green light in hopes that his longed for dream will finally come true. The green light is in East Egg and even though it is barely visible from his West Egg home he looks for it every night and hopes it will some day be his future. Weather guides the characters actions in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby and Daisy reunite with each other in the pouring rain. This represents the awkwardness of seeing each other again. They fall in love again in the fair weather when the