Commentary on The Great Gatsby Essay

Jay Gatsby and the Amazing 1920s

The Great Gatsby is a compelling story of a man and a mogul. This piece of fictional work is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and it takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride. As Fitzgerald writes the story, he only describes a few of the settings in the story, such as: East Egg, West Egg, Valley of Ashes, and New York City. Most of the storys action takes place in both East and west Egg. As the story progresses, more of the Valley of Ashes and New York City are depicted.

The first settings described are East Egg and West Egg. The first of the two is the Eastern half. This setting represents old money, prestige, high social position, which is inherited, not earned, and the people that live in here are exclusive to themselves. The families that stay here live in white palaces that glimmered along the water (Fitzgerald 5). The main representative of this setting is none other than Tom Buchanan. He is described as having a cruel body, arrogant, selfish, and moral values are expressed in different way throughout the book. An affair with Myrtle Wilson shows his arrogance and selfishness due to the fact that he already has a wife. Tom also breaks his secret lovers nose during a fight which occurred because Myrtle talked down to Daisy, Toms wife. Finally, when Gatsby dies Tom takes flight from West Egg and apparently the state of New York, to a place where nobody knows, and takes no blame for any of his or his wifes actions.

The next place is the opposite egg. Jay Gatsby, or James Gatz, is the representative of this setting. Gatsby lives in a mansion that is a factual imitation of some Htel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden (5). Residents of West Egg are represented by new money, and those who chase the American dream. Gatsby represents a self-made man, but also lies and pretends to be someone he is not. He spends too much money on material possessions, such as: his yellow Rolls-Royce, his house, and his attire. He admires all of them more than he should. Gatsby is more than a normal person, he is corrupted by his lies he has told to himself and others, and in the end all his lies cost him his life.

Half-way between New York and the two Eggs, lays the Valley of Ashes.

This place is inhabited by a couple who think they are happy, who go by the names of George and Myrtle Wilson. This is the mistress Tom is consistently with. Myrtle Wilson is described as a woman in her middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some woman can. Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crpe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering (25). George, on the other hand is the exact opposite of his wife. George is said to be a gray, spiritless lump of a man, who does not have the power to realize his own dreams, along with the rest of the men and women in the Valley of Ashes. Not only are the people of this setting considered gray, tired, and worn-out.

Meyer Wolfsheim is the man who single handedly fixed the 1919 World Series of Baseball. He lives in and works in and around New York and other nearby states. Meyer is a man of gambling and looking for any way to make any