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Wealth In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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There is no better display of the roaring 1920s than the people of New York, who fully embrace the culture scene involving music, partying, fashion, and alcohol. The city has an adventurous feel, especially to outsiders who wish to get in on the excitement and opportunity. However, the luxury and grandeur yearned after is near impossible to come into without the right relations. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses geography in The Great Gatsby to express the idea that one can never truly assimilate into the culture of the elite class.
One of the biggest characteristics setting apart new and old money are the communities and neighborhoods they occupy. In the novel, West Egg and its residents represent the newly rich, such as Gatsby and Nick, while East …show more content…

Midway between West Egg and East Egg, places of immense prosperity, rests the Valley of Ashes, home to the working class. Afflicted and broken-down, the Valley of Ashes is described by Nick as being “bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene…”(Fitzgerald 24). Much of the imagery used to describe this place is meant to show how disconnected the rich are from their source of wealth. The industry boom that makes the Valley of Ashes so impoverished is also enriching and profiting the upper class in East and West Egg. Plagued with soot and ash from factories and smokestacks, the Valley of Ashes is where dreams of attaining the opulence of the upper class come to die. Characters that reside here, such as Myrtle and George Wilson, are pursuing something they hope will bring them out of hardship, but they fail to catch up to their objectives. Myrtle distinguishes her adulterous relationship with Tom as a ticket out of poverty, while George emits “a damp gleam of hope”(Fitzgerald 25) at the idea of getting even a touch of business from Tom. However, because of the emptiness and vanity of the wealthy, these characters are destined to live and die in the Valley of Ashes as the world moves on without a second

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