in writing the great gatsby, do you think fitzgerald wrote more positively about the east or midwest?

Question

whats your opinion?

Answer 1

Maybe these will help:

"When the early explorers first came to America, escaping the corruption of their old world in search of the promise of a new world, they traveled from east to west. Now, America itself is corrupted, so the characters in The Great Gatsby travel from west to east - in search of wealth and sophistication - leaving the moral values and stability of the west behind. It is this eastern part which is called a "valley of ashes" by Fitzgerald, a place where morals are left out and only superficial, material-driven people can live in peace. Fitzgerald uses this change in direction as a symbol for the deterioration of American ideals and the American Dream, helping to prove that our quest for wealth and sophistication is corrupting our culture, and causing us to live in a wasteland of morals - an ash heap of civilization." (refer to 1st link)

"The road from West Egg to New York City exemplifies decay. It is a 'valley of ashes,' desolate and gray. The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg that overlook the road are a bit of grotesque imagery, looking out on the barren road but not attached to any face or body. They are profoundly unnatural and decaying. The valley in some way represents a hellish underworld. Even in the description of the drawbridge and passing barges it makes a literary illusion to the mythological River Styx. The area also seems to reference Fitzgerald's contemporary, T.S. Eliot, in the creation of a Waste Land. Like Gatsby's reaching toward the green light, the area is representative at the expense of realism, two detached eyes looking over dust and ashes.

Ashes are the predominant image of this chapter. The road is a 'valley of ashes,' while Fitzgerald describes George Wilson as having an 'ashen dust' in his clothes and hair." (refer to 2nd link)

"The division between East and West is a significant theme in The Great Gatsby. The author has projected the historical East/West division of the States on the division of class and society in the 20th century.

The Mid-West, which represents the new territory of hope and the old pioneer spirit, corresponds to West Egg in New York. For Fitzgerald, there was a certain old-fashioned stability resting on the old, unchanging values and close relationships. Some of these values are: honesty, human respect, divinity, idealism, romanticism, faith, ambition, community, and other spiritual values which are all personified in Gatsby.

The novel mirrors the East-West divide of the whole country in the division between West Egg and East Egg. Nick and Gatsby live on West Egg, which means that they have retained their closeness to western values. The Buchanans on the other hand have become Easterners, they represent the corruption of the East.

The main characters, Daisy, Nick, Gatsby, and Tom are all from the Mid-west. While Tom and Daisy Buchanan live an East Egg, being attracted by its glamour, excitement and promise of success, Nick enjoys living on West Egg. He mentions the friendship between Mid-Westerners, who are brought together by their extremely long and cold winters (in contrast to the New York summers' heat).

Nick's neighbor Gatsby is a wealthy person, who spends a lot of money giving parties for strangers only to meet Daisy, the dream of his life. He is seen as representing "new money" because he has no good education and no family background over several generations, he is self-made, invented by himself. For this reason, he is not accepted as being dignified enough to enter the exclusive "old money" upper class.

Tom and Daisy are "old money", rich and from old established families living on East Egg, which the millionaires inhabit. The East symbolizes fashionable life, sophistication, the "modern society" and the land where anything can happen. This is the world of brutality, corruption, carelessness, materialism and failure of emotion. By moving to the East, the Buchanans lose contact with the deeper values. They are superficial, aimless, irresponsible, empty and lonely. They have no desires, their talks are meaningless and their spiritual values are forgotten or dumped.

Another symbol of the East is the Centre of New York. It's the place where Myrtle has her apartment and can meet Tom, where Nick does his work by selling and buying bonds, the place where Gatsby and Tom fight for Daisy and where illegal deals are done.

The Valley of Ashes is a totally different place where Myrtle and Wilson live. It's a depressing locality, far away from the glamour and wealth of the Eggs. You can find this dumping ground half way between West Egg and New York. It's a symbol of the empty existence of the New Yorkers and of the low society, it's the result of the failure of the American Dream. Wilson has no ambition, he's grey, soulless and hopeless. His wife has social ambitions, but she falls by trying to fit into another group. She becomes corrupt like the rich and loses all sense of morality. Myrtle has no success because her failure is unavoidable." (refer to 3rd link)

Answer 2

I believe he wrote negatively about both. Nick is not the most objective narrator! In the end, he runs home to hide away from the East. After all, the midwest was safer. Both are stagnant dead ends, but in different ways. While Nick ran home, Daisy stayed, and look where it got her.