East Egg vs. West Egg

The East and West Egg of the Great Gatsby differ greatly. East Egg is full of wealthy people, as is West Egg, but East Egg has many of the "old money" people, such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Tom has had his wealth passed down throughout generations. The East Egg thinks of themselves as a higher class above the West Egg. West Egg is made up of "new money", people who have recently acquired wealth. Jay Gatsby is an example of new money, getting all his money from bootlegging. New money was not as well-respected as old money was back then.

The two Eggs are both determined by money, but one is more moral in the way they earned, and the other is not as respectable. We found this article on the internet about the differences between the East and West Egg.
"In the book The Great Gatsby, East Egg and West Egg are used as metaphors for the East and the Middle West. While the "aristocrats" Tom and Daisy live in East Egg, the newly rich Gatsby lives in West Egg. Even though Gatsby shows off with his wealth and tries to fit in the "aristocratic" society, the fact that he is living in West Egg, shows that the distance between East and West does not become smaller, because West Egg stays the “less fashionable of the two” (http://www.ovtg.de/3_arbeit/englisch/gatsby/eastwest.html)

The Green Light

The Green Light belongs to Daisy Buchanan. It sits at the edge of her pier across the lake in plain sight of Gatsby. He purposely bought his mansion directly in way of the light, so that he could always see her and feel close to her. The light symbolizes the hope and dream of Daisy and Jay's romance blossoming together.


The light symbolizes a great deal throughout the book. Just as in the beginning it seems somewhat distant but still visible, shows the desperate yearning of Gatsby is still alive. He has yet to make his attempt at her, so the dream of her is just as as full as ever. He associates it obviously with Daisy, as in the first chapter he reaches out to it as if to her.

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." (pg.180)

Yet here at the end of the book, we can see that the green light represented more than just Daisy. It symbolized the American Dream, or simply the dreams that others yearn for. Day after day, just like Gatsby, people work endlessly to attain a dream that gets further and further away from them, trying to recreate and live a different way that will never become reality.

Selfish People

In the Great Gatsby, basically everyone except Nick and Jordan are selfish. Gatsby is selfish and wants Daisy only to himself, wanting her to leave her previous life, her husband and child, just to be with him. He does not take into consideration her feelings, only his desire to be with her. He also is selfish with money, doing anything to achieve wealth. He has left his family and anything associated with who he used to be, being very selfish. Daisy is selfish, wanting to have both Tom and Gatsby. She expects them to love her and show her affection when she cannot decide between one or the other. Tom is the same way Daisy is, having an affair with Myrtle, yet expecting Daisy to stay completely faithful to him. He does not devote himself to her and her only, but he wants her to give up Gatsby anyways, even though Gatsby is treating her more fairly. Myrtle is extremely rude and selfish, leaving her kind husband in the dust. Just because he does not have riches like Tom does, she shows him not attention at all. She is selfish, only caring about her own happiness. In this book, no one really considers anyone's feelings except Nick, who is constantly a peacemaker, trying to please everyone. Being selfish causes a lot of controversy in the book, and ties in with jealousy.

Dan Cody

While Dan Cody is not one of the central characters, he influences Gatsby in a great deal before this story began.
Dan Cody was a copper mogul aboard a yacht. While James Gatz was fishing and digging for clams as a reprieve from janitorial work, he noticed an impending storm out in the ocean. He rowed out out to warn him, and Cody took him in now as Jay Gatsby.
While spending time with Dan Cody, Gatsby gained a lot of responisibilities. One of which was looking out for the drunk Dan Cody, which influenced him to not become a drinker.
But on an even bigger scale, Gatsby fell in love with his luxurious wealth. He became motivated to attain that himself, and set new goals for himself. I wonder if this story would even be a story without Dan Cody..?

The Men of Gatsby

The men of Great Gatsby vary a lot. Nick Carraway is meek and innocent, wanting nothing to do with scandal and doesn't give a care about money. He is interested in Jordan but he does not go to the ends of the earth to win her heart. Jay Gatsby, or James Gatz, is the exact opposite of Nick. He is a criminal, selling illegal alcohol, doing whatever it takes to become rich and famous for the woman he loves. He pursues a scandalous affair with Daisy, extremely public and wanting to tell the whole world. Tom Buchanan is wealthy, but not by choice. He has inherited money that has been in the family for many years. He is involved in an affair with Myrtle Wilson, yet he still loves Daisy, and will always love her. It seems the money corrupts them, making them greedy, wanting more, not only in cash, but also in women and possessions. Greed causes them to act irrationally, which proves why Nick is so kind and has such a pure heart.

You-Should-Quit-Love

I honestly am kind of embarrassed for the characters in this book. Sure, "all is fair in love and war" they say, but i think there is just far too much to conquer. Take Daisy's materialistic nature.
Sure she loves Tom, but she loves his money more. She proved that the first time around when she left Gatsby in the dust, and sorry Jay, not much has changed. Gatsby just won't give up on her. He thinks he can throw extravagant parties just so he can waltz in and steal her heart...but his unrequited love for her just doesn't seem enough.

But it isn't Gatsby stuck in oblivion, Tom is right there with him. He hasn't noticed this entire summer the loss of his wife to Mr. Gatsby. He is too concerned with his love, Mrs. Wilson. After the hypocrite Tom chastizes Gatsby for stealing away his wife, he is left with no mistress himself.
Mr. Wilson refuses to give up his love for Mrs. Wilson, and decides to move as far away from Tom as possible. Even though Myrtle is well aware of this predicament, she unhappily refuses to give up Tom. When will the characters realize what they already have is all they're ever going to get?

The Women of Gatsby

The famous women of The Great Gatsby: Jordan Baker, Daisy Buchanan, and Myrtle Wilson. All are beautiful with love interests, and all infatuated with glamor and money. Jordan Baker is a competitive golfer who is friends with Daisy. She meets Nick while visiting Daisy. The two later start dating. "Jordan represents one of the “new women” of the 1920s—cynical, boyish, and self-centered." (spark notes) She deceives others, and isn't "careful" as Nick says while she is driving. During her golf tournament she cheats to win even, showing what kind of a person Jordan is. Jordan is not a bad person, she just is deceitful.
Daisy is Nick's cousin. She loves attention and is amazed by wealth. She once had a relationship with Gatsby, but then wouldn't wait for him and decided to marry Tom. She playfully ignores Tom's affair making her look foolish. "In Fitzgerald’s conception of America in the 1920s, Daisy represents the amoral values of the aristocratic East Egg set." (spark notes) Overall, Daisy is seen as annoying and needy.
Myrtle is Tom's mistress, who is married to Mr. Wilson, whom she is not happy with at all. She is completely head over heels for Tom, telling the story of how she met him like it was the best day of her life. She is only an exciting toy for Tom, and she doesn't realize how he uses her. When she continues yelling "Daisy" in his face, Tom decks her in face, yet she still loves him. She is blinded by her love for him.