Long Island In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby Final Essay: Prompt #6 “It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonious conception of memory” (F. Scott Fitzgerald). Almost anyone who has read F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby knows that hopes and dreams, especially those of the protagonist Jay Gatsby, play an integral role in the novel’s plot and overall themes. However, these dreams and desires are usually only connected to how they affect the actions and overall life of the dreamer. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the setting of Long Island, the characters Tom and Daisy, and the symbolic green light to convey to the reader how dreams and desires not only affect the dreamer,
First of all, Fitzgerald illustrates how the vibrant setting of Long Island affects the narrator, Nick, as his dreams of money and power lead to a dismissal of certain morals and cause a detachment between himself and his old friends and family. Prior to moving to West Egg, Nick lived a very conservative life in Minnesota, being a part of a respected, upper middle class family. Now however, Nick lives in a place where reputation does not matter as much, a society where he is free to do whatever he wishes without the fear of ruining his family’s reputation, something that will ultimately make him an unreliable narrator. In Long Island, Nick finds that to be respected, one almost has to engage in some form of vice, as best represented when Tom and Myrtle convince Nick to have a drink. Although Nick is wary at first, he realizes that it is a social standard, whether it is East Egg or West Egg, everyone of high class (or who wants to appear to be) drinks. At Tom and Myrtle’s party, Nick recounts how, “I have been drunk just twice in my life and the second time was that afternoon, so everything that happened has a dim hazy cast over it” (Fitzgerald 33). Although this scene
Since they were infants, Tom and Daisy have both lead very comfortable lives as the children of two wealthy and respected families, a prestige that helps make Tom an aggressive antagonist, and Daisy an admired symbol of beauty. As a result of their backgrounds, they do not appear to have anything they may necessarily dream about, as money is no object and they hold a very respectable position within higher society. In spite of this, Tom and Daisy still have dreams, Tom lusts for control over others while Daisy lives her dream of a life of expediency and stability. However, this overall life of privilege has lead to the two to become heinously lazy and greedy. By the end of the plot, Nick becomes so stunned at Tom and Daisy’s carelessness that he does not even want to speak with them, reasoning that, “I couldn't forgive him or like him but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy” (Fitzgerald 187). Although Nick is talking about Tom, it becomes clear throughout the plot that Daisy is just as guilty, while she is not greedy like her womanizing husband, she has an incredible lack of depth and common sense. This shallowness emanated by Tom and Daisy is further fueled by their