The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Setting--Long Island

•Located on the southern part of New York

•Suburb of New York City

The Long Island "Gold Coast" is where many of the nation's rich and famous built homes.Gold Coast Homes

Prices

Setting: Long Island

East Egg (based on Manhasset Neck, Long Island)—Represents “old money”

West Egg (based on Great neck, Long Island)—Represents “new money”

Manhasset and Great Neck

Themes The American Dream and its disintegration.

The American dream was originally about:DiscoveryIndividualismThe pursuit of happiness

The American Dream and its disintegration

…with unprecedented prosperity and material excess it became tarnished and left:

Social decayGreedEmpty pursuit of pleasure

Themes Money and the sociology of wealth

Old money vs. new money

How is George Bush Old money? How is Flava New Money?

Old money vs. new money

Old money—aristocratic, inherited wealth, tasteful, elegant, have social graces…but ultimately very shallow people!

Old money vs. new money

New money—vulgar, self-made (rags to riches), showy, tacky…

Symbolism

• Valley of Ashes—between Long Island and NYC, a desolate wasteland used for dumping and burning trash—stands for a moral wasteland

Symbolism

• Green light—at the end of the Buchanan’s dock—represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams

SymbolismThe eyes of T.J. Eckleburg—a pair of eyes on a

billboard ad for an eye doctor…they overlook the Valley and may represent God looking at and judging American society

El Fin