The Great Gatsby Quote Analysis

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East and West eggers have different kinds of money which causes them to act in cruel or odd ways and reflect on the people that have “new money” and “old money” which will result from the American Dream. Symbolically people that are from West Egg are people that recently achieved the American Dream and citizens from East Egg are people that are have received money from past generations that were originally (symbolically) a West Egger. Gatsby is great example of a West Egger; he was once poor but has now achieved the American Dream and has lots of “new money”. Due to the fact that Gatsby was once quite poor, he wants to cover up his past so that he can fit in with all the other rich folk. In order to this Gatsby hosts many lavished parties, …show more content…
What realism! Knew when to stop, too - didn't cut the pages. (Chap.3, Pg.45) From this quote we learn that Gatsby’s library is indeed real but they have never been read due to the fact that they have never been cut, meaning that Gatsby wants to look like an “Oxford man” even though he is really a fraud. What Fitzgerald is trying to say about the American dream is that if one does indeed achieve the dream, then he/she will probably end up using their money and time to cover up their past so that they will feel accepted. The message that Fitzgerald is trying push for East Egg is that money and power passed through the generations makes people cruel and causes destruction. East Egg is filled with people who have always had money which most likely originally came from someone who was once (symbolically) a West Egger. The most important East Eggers in the story are Tom and Daisy, who use their money (the source of their problems) to escape from their problems. Nick comments on this at the end of the story: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made….”(Chap.9,

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