The Great GatsbySignificance and Use of Setting

Long Island, NY

East Egg, NY

• East Egg is the place where the "old money" lives. • The East Eggers are the aristocrats and have lived

with their money for generations. • There is a specific code of conduct for this group:– Specific manners– Never talk about your money!

• Contempt for so called "new money" people, who could cause the downfall of their society.

• Lower class people were looked down on regardless of current wealth or lifestyle.

West Egg, NY

• The West Eggers are the "new money" that the East Eggers resent.

• Do not behave properly or have the same refined manners as the East Eggers.

• They are all lower and middle class people who have outrageous amounts of money, and spend it in an outrageous or “tacky” manner.

• Money was often earned through emerging businesses—stock market, bootlegging, the movie industry/ Broadway theater

Larger Context: East vs. West

• The people of the East considered the Western United States the barbaric frontier.

• The country was growing out West and it (and West Eggers) was viewed as young and immature.

• The West, however, has a stronger moral compass—old-fashioned values. The East is superficial and easily corrupted.