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The Great Gatsby

The Geography of Desire: By Phoenix Hoffmeyer

The Map

The Middle West

Topic

-This location refers to the midwest of the United States, where life is much more basic and morally correct. The midwest is also less exciting than the east, causing many people, including Nick, to move on to more exciting places.

-The midwest symbolizes innocence and people with good values, people such as Nick's Dad.

"Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."(pg.5)

This quote, said by Nick's Dad, shows his morals and how different they are compared to someone from the east.

New York City

Topic

The city is a place full of crime, dishonesty, and drama. This is shown many times throughout the book. But one case appears on pg.19 where Jordan tells Nick the following,"Tom's got some woman in New York." This is important as Tom is a married man, meaning he goes to the city in order to cheat on his wife. This causes a lot of drama between Tom and Daisy as it seems their marriage is coming to an end. The city also seems to be the complete opposite of the Middlewest, with chaos coming from every where.

Valley Of Ashes

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The Valley of Ashes is a dark and grim location between the city and West Egg. The valley represents death, poverty, and the working class. "This is a valley of ashes-a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air,"(pg.27)Nick describes the valley in a very dark way showing the depression of the people who live and work there.These people can't live the wonderful lives that the rest live. Another thing in the valley is a billboard with the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg staring below, maybe representing the rich watching the poor suffer.

West Egg

West Egg represents the newly rich, these people seem to lack basic moral concepts and are always jealous of the people of East Egg. This because these people have always been rich and are accepted into the lavish life of the East. This is why on pg.26 Gatsby is described looking at a green light on Tom and Daisy's dock. This green light symbolizes jealousy as Gatsby wants to date Daisy, but is undervalued due to living in West Egg.

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East Egg

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East Egg represents old money or people who grew up in heeps of cash. The people in this group include Tom and Daisy. They live lavishly in a old colonial mansion and are well established. They also like to show off their wealth like on pg.12 "I've got a nice place here." This was one of the first things Tom said to Nick when he first arived. Another thing East Egg seems to symbolize is the seperation between Gatsby and Daisy. Gatsby is unable to get with her because he lives in West Egg.

The Atlantic Ocean/Long Island Sound

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These two bodies of water represent the barriers between peoples dreams. This is shown with Gatsby and Daisy, with West Egg and East Egg being seperated by Manhasset Bay located in Long Island Sound. This shows how Gatsby will never able to be with Daisy due to the inevitable barriers that come throughout life.

“If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay,” said Gatsby. “You always have a green light that burns at the end of your dock.”pg.59

There always seems to be some type of water blocking his view of Daisy.

Conclusion

Fitzgerald uses Geography to spread themes subtlely, almost every location means something to the story. He doesn't make every thing extremely obvious and makes the reader really dig in and think about what they think it means. Overall Fitzgerald's approach with geography is very engaging and enjoyable to read.

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