THE GREAT SPACES AND PLACES OF

GATSBY

Jonathan Lamkin

Patrick Partain

Konkol ENGL 1102

Geographical Location of the Great Gatsby

THESIS

The Great Gatsby takes place in 1920’s New York and the area

on the north side of Long Island. Throughout the novel, the

characters move to different spaces and places within this area.

The four main spaces that are seen in the novel are East and

West Egg, the Valley of Ashes, and in the urban city itself. These

spaces can be seen as different locations where the story takes

place; essentially, they are sub-settings in the book. These spaces

are kept consistent in their descriptions as Nick recalls his

memories of moving East.

West Egg

Gatsby’s Home

Nick’s Cottage

GATSBY’S MANSIONEast and West Egg are the two major suburban spaces where the majority of the

novel takes place. West Egg is described as “the less fashionable of the two,”

although this is more of a generic opinion as the two sides are somewhat clashing

social rivals (5). The spaces in West Egg are Nick’s cottage and Gatsby’s mansion;

the two are very contrasting in appearance, size, and decoration. Gatsby lives on

this side of the eggs because he does not yet see himself as successful enough to

live on East Egg although he has “a colossal affair by any standard” (5). His house

is “a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one

side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool,

and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” (5).

NICK’S COTTAGE

Nick’s cottage on the other hand is more revealing

of the opinion of West Egg, and is described having

“Finnish tread that shook the kitchen floor” and

having a deserted living room with a defunct clock

on the mantelpiece (84). The spaces here on West

Egg are much emptier and less furnished which

reflects the personalities of the characters that live

there.

East Egg

Buchanan’s Home

BUCHANAN’S MANISON

The only space involved in the novel on East Egg is at Tom Buchanan’s

house. Tom’s house is much like Gatsby’s on the outside, but seems to be

much more decorated with nice furniture on the inside. The main

difference between the two eggs can be seen as the space involved on the

interior of the homes. As seen before, Nick’s and Gatsby’s homes are very

empty on the inside, even at Gatsby’s parties the house is empty with all

the visitors being outside. Tom’s house on the other hand is described as

being “even more elaborate than expected, with a cheerful red-and-white

Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay” (6).

CONTINUED

When Nick first enters the Buchanan’s he walks

through a “high hallway into a bright rosy-colored

space, fragilely bound into the house by French

windows at either end” (8). This description is

contrasting with that of West Egg and is made to be

more vivacious and bright.

Valley of Ashes

Wilson’s Garage

WILSON’S GARAGE

The valley of ashes is one of the major spaces where actions take place in the

novel. The valley of ashes is certainly the lowliest in the social class of the four

spaces. The valley is seen as very empty with very few things going on in it. “A

fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque

gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke

and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already

crumbling through the powdery air” (23). The only building there was divided up

into three parcels with only two being currently occupied. This is where Wilson’s

garage is located and its interior space is described as unprosperous and bare

(25).

Manhattan

Toms Penthouse

TOM’S APARTMENT

The urban city in this novel is somewhat paralleled to East Egg such that it is

always nice weather and very bright in addition to having many similar qualities in

their interior spaces. Nick’s first experience of the city is very positive and he

describes the city as being “so warm and soft, almost pastoral” (28). Tom’s

apartment greatly reflects his lifestyle of the suburbs and is brought into the city,

described as being like a smaller version of his home. “The living room was crowded

to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it, so that to

move about was to stumble continually over scenes of ladies swinging in the gardens

of Versailles” (29). The space here is clearly more claustrophobic than the suburbs

which is typical of urban settings, but is also greatly furnished like the space in his

home on East Egg.

West Egg

East Egg

Valley of Ashes

Manhattan

CONCLUSION

In The Great Gatsby the four places can be seen as a two sets

of contrasting spaces such that the city and valley of ashes are

one pair and the other being East and West Egg. Between the

city and the valley, the city is the bright, exuberant space and

the valley is the dark, empty space. This contrast is similar to

the pair of East and West Egg where East Egg is the lively,

extravagantly filled up space and West Egg is the empty, less

lavish space all of which reflects the different personalities of

the characters in each space.

WORKS CITED

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The

Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996.

Print.