To realists and Naturalists, the social class in which they resided was as strict as the law. Nobody moved up or down, and they were destined to spend their days living in the social hemispheres chosen for them by destiny at the time of their birth. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, a young man in his early twenties moves to a neighborhood on Long Island New York called West Egg. Once there he soon meets his cousin Daisy and her husband, Tom, who live across the bay in East Egg, the poignantly richer side of the two eggs. He also meets his new neighbor, Jay Gatsby, who is best known for his secret life and massive extravagant parties thrown every weekend like clockwork. Between Nick and many other characters, chaos ensues, complete
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In the beginning Nick perceives of West Egg “as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so… and I was looking at it again through Daisy’s eyes” and for the first time, Nick begins to feel something less than enamored with the area he lives in. Nick begins to see West Egg for what it really is, a place filled with New Money and people who don’t know how to spend it. He very quickly becomes somewhat ashamed of West Egg when he looks at it through Daisy’s lense. Naturalism is expressed here through Nick’s discomfort with Daisy and Tom being there at Gatsby’s party because he knows that West Egg is subpar compared to East Egg. And no matter how hard Nick tries during the party, neither him, nor Gatsby, can seem to truly obtain Tom and Daisy's full praise. In fact, while Daisy is meeting Gatsby’s party guests she only really likes one, “the rest offended her-- and inarguably, because it wasn’t a gesture, but an emotion. She was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented “place”... Appalled by its raw vigor that chafed under the old euphemisms” (Fitzgerald 107). Daisy and Tom alike were appalled by the state of the guests and the party. To them …show more content…
Of course many characters in the novel have a poor view of the valley of ashes, they see it as “grotesque gardens… where ash takes the form of houses and chimneys and rising smoke” (Fitzgerald 23). The valley of Ashes represents the lowest class in society, in which the people live in squalor and are looked down upon by almost everyone else living around that area. Many describe those that live there as “dismal” and “gray”, but one person in particular personifies what it means to live in the valley of Ashes. That person is Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle Wilson is wife to George Wilson, and she is described as “in her middle thirties, and faintly stout.... Her face… contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her,” (Fitzgerald). Myrtle also happens to be Tom’s mistress, but no matter how hard she tries to fit in, she will always be somewhat separate from Tom and his world. When they go out together, she spends his money like she belongs in his social class. But every once in a while, Tom puts her in her place and won’t let her forget that she is definitely not apart of his class. Fitzgerald uses Myrtle and Tom’s relationship to showcase naturalism. Because Tom, who represents East Egg and
In the beginning Nick perceives of West Egg “as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so… and I was looking at it again through Daisy’s eyes” and for the first time, Nick begins to feel something less than enamored with the area he lives in. Nick begins to see West Egg for what it really is, a place filled with New Money and people who don’t know how to spend it. He very quickly becomes somewhat ashamed of West Egg when he looks at it through Daisy’s lense. Naturalism is expressed here through Nick’s discomfort with Daisy and Tom being there at Gatsby’s party because he knows that West Egg is subpar compared to East Egg. And no matter how hard Nick tries during the party, neither him, nor Gatsby, can seem to truly obtain Tom and Daisy's full praise. In fact, while Daisy is meeting Gatsby’s party guests she only really likes one, “the rest offended her-- and inarguably, because it wasn’t a gesture, but an emotion. She was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented “place”... Appalled by its raw vigor that chafed under the old euphemisms” (Fitzgerald 107). Daisy and Tom alike were appalled by the state of the guests and the party. To them …show more content…
Of course many characters in the novel have a poor view of the valley of ashes, they see it as “grotesque gardens… where ash takes the form of houses and chimneys and rising smoke” (Fitzgerald 23). The valley of Ashes represents the lowest class in society, in which the people live in squalor and are looked down upon by almost everyone else living around that area. Many describe those that live there as “dismal” and “gray”, but one person in particular personifies what it means to live in the valley of Ashes. That person is Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle Wilson is wife to George Wilson, and she is described as “in her middle thirties, and faintly stout.... Her face… contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her,” (Fitzgerald). Myrtle also happens to be Tom’s mistress, but no matter how hard she tries to fit in, she will always be somewhat separate from Tom and his world. When they go out together, she spends his money like she belongs in his social class. But every once in a while, Tom puts her in her place and won’t let her forget that she is definitely not apart of his class. Fitzgerald uses Myrtle and Tom’s relationship to showcase naturalism. Because Tom, who represents East Egg and