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Fitzgerald’s ability to effectively implement contrasting settings in a novel is fundamental in symbolizing the organization of social strata, establishing major conflicts, and creating a social environment reflecting that of America in the 1920s. The construction of both location and time settings play a pivotal role in endorsing belief and value systems in The Great Gatsby. The 1920s setting contextualizes the tension between the social classes, attributing this to the laws introduced and recent economic prosperity. The juxtaposition of Manhattan and Long Island demonstrates the concern the elite have about their reputation, but only within their social circle. The physically and socially separated towns of East and West Egg promote the belief that old aristocrats are superior to the newly wealthy. The absence of such a setting would result in an ineffective portrayal of these core ideologies that wouldn’t successfully magnify the disparity in the hierarchal class system.
The 1920s setting contextualizes the discrepancy between social classes in The Great Gatsby, introducing certain socioeconomic ideologies that reinforce upper-class supremacy. In 1920, America outlawed the production and sale of alcohol, known as “Prohibition”. Instead of deterring people, a vast underground criminal empire was created to serve this demand, which is how Gatsby makes his fortune – through “bootlegging” and other criminal activities. As their wealth grew, many Americans of the 1920s broke down the traditional class barriers of society as some lower class attempted to overcome these barriers. In The Great Gatsby, Prohibition finances Gatsby’s rise to a new social status, which provokes anxiety among old aristocrats like Tom Buchanan. The historical context of prohibition in The Great Gatsby enables class tension between the old and new money. The 1920s was a decade of economic boom and prosperity for America; with a steady rise in income levels, business growth, construction, and trading on the stock market. Ultimately, the Great Gatsby foregrounds the darker side of this economic prosperity by emphasizing the immorality and corruption beneath all of this. The 1920s period sets the scene for The Great Gatsby to address popular ways of thinking about class by referencing the political and economic position of America in this decade.
In The Great Gatsby, the contrasting settings of Long Island and Manhattan demonstrate the upper class’s disregard for the opinions of the lower class and showcase the immense value put on reputation in elite society. When Manhattan is introduced, Nick notes “a dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms” and “a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl”. Nick later concludes from these observations that in Manhattan “anything can happen now that we’ve slid over this bridge … anything at all”. This depiction of Manhattan as a miscellaneous city, where even the strangest events come as a little surprise, proves to be the perfect environment for Tom Buchanan’s affair with Myrtle. Tom is unashamed of his affair in Manhattan as he is unconcerned about the opinions of those who aren’t upper class seeing his misconduct. However, he is worried about his reputation with the upper class, so much so that he hides Myrtle on the train until they reach the city. He “deferred that much to the sensibilities of those East Eggers who might be on the train” and concealed Myrtle to maintain his respectability and credibility in his old aristocratic social circle. Moreover, Tom’s affair benefits from being in Manhattan as he feels free to cheat on his wife in public, as ‘he turned up in popular restaurants with her and, leaving her at a table, sauntered about, chatting with whomsoever he knew’. Meanwhile, Daisy and Gatsby’s affair in Long Island results in Gatsby having to dismiss all of his household staff as he’s worried that they will tell other East and West Egg residents about it. When Nick inquires ‘I hear you fired all your servants’ – Gatsby simply replies, ‘I wanted somebody who wouldn’t gossip”. Long Island is depicted as a setting where reputation and credibility are highly valued, especially among the elite while Manhattan is symbolic of immorality and carelessness, where actions are considered without any consideration of the consequences.
The segregated settings of West and East Egg in The Great Gatsby demonstrate the high-class society division between the “new” and “old” money, depicting the latter as superior and more prestigious. The geography of the Eggs is the first indicator of this division as they are separated by “a courtesy bay”. However, the eggs are noted to be dissimilar in “every particular except shape and size”. When Nick announces that he lives at West Egg, he notes ‘I lived at West Egg, the – well, the less fashionable of the two’ and contrasts this by noting that “across the courtesy Bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water”. This illuminates the difference between the nouveau riche of West Egg who lack an established social position, and the East Egg people, whose wealth is inherited, and who have been the upper crust of society for generations. The both physical and social separation of the West and East Eggs highlight the social divide between those inheritably rich and those who have worked for their riches.
The setting of the Valley of Ashes portrays the lives of the working class as oppressed, circumscribed, and desolate as well as depicting the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth. The Valley of Ashes is a dumping ground for industrial waste where “ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens” and where “ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys”. To reach Manhattan, affluent Long Island residents must travel through the filth and degradation associated with this location, acting as a stark contrast to the charmed and extravagant lives of the East and West Eggers. This setting is a scathing criticism of the moral decay taking place in society at the time as the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their pleasure. It also illustrates the harrowing effects of consumerism and industrialism in America, promoting the idea that America has lost its morality in the rush to embrace the consumerism and materialism culture. Moreover, the fact that the climatic action of the car crash causing Myrtle’s death is set in the Valley of Ashes reinforces the notion of how the working class is underprivileged and unimportant in the eyes of the rich. In the aftermath of the crash, when speaking with police, Gatsby “spoke as if Daisy’s reaction was the only thing that mattered”, appearing more invested in his standing with Daisy than the loss of Myrtle’s life. This reaction to Myrtle’s passing highlights how the working class who inhabit the Valley of Ashes are disposable and unimportant to the upper class. This relates right back to the theme of immorality and inequality in the Valley of Ashes as this highlights the rich’s attitudes toward the poor, that they are expendable and undeserving of any real sorrow. The setting of the Valley of Ashes provides the perfect environment for this occurrence as the oppressed atmosphere of such a place reinforces how neglectful the rich are, both in their belittling attitudes and economic greed.
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