The Great Gatsby

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One of the main themes in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is the division of old money and new money. This is seen through the East Egg where old money is seen, and West Egg where new money is. One of the quotes we discussed was "There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired". (Fitzgerald 79). At our table we thought that the pursued could be the East Egg (old money) because the West Egg (new money) is trying to catch up to them. This would make the West Egg the pursuing. We also thought that the West Egg could be the busy. Since they are trying to pursue the East Egg, they are always working hard to get more money. The East Egg could be lazy because they already have the money so they don't have to work at all. 

The mystery surrounding Gatsby disappears as we get to know him as a character. There are many rumors surrounding him, such as "he killed a man" and "he was a German spy". (Fitzgerald 44). However, once we meet Gatsby and he reveals some of his story to Nick, we are able to get a better explanation for his actions. Even though he embodies some of the rumors, such as going to Oxford, we learn that much of what Gatsby does, he does for Daisy. For example, he bought the house in West Egg just to be across from Daisy. He throws elaborate parties hoping that Daisy will come. Throughout the novel I am excited learn more about Gatsby's motivation and to see if Gatsby's attempts to attract Daisy work.

Image result for east egg and west egg

Comments

  1. Alex XuNovember 9, 2019 at 2:25 PM

    I agree, Gatsby was a complete mystery until Chapter 4 when we began to see that Daisy seems to be his sole motive. I feel like his history is still unclear though. Where did he actually grow up? He told Nick that he grew up in the Midwest, in San Francisco, which obviously doesn't seem right. In addition, through what (probably corrupt) means did he get so wealthy? Going forward, Gatsby's past and what happens with Daisy in the present are two of the main things I want to find out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kyle JungNovember 10, 2019 at 5:14 PM

    I like how you talked about that quote and went into detail. At my table, we thought that the tired may be the people who live in the Valley of Ashes, so we said that the best fit for the tired would be Myrtle.

    ReplyDelete

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