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A man is tested against nature and then tested again by how well he behaves in relation to other men, (46) Richard Lehan stated in The Great Gatsby: The Limits of Wonder. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald tested each of his characters by giving him or her a place in society and seeing how each one would react to his or her surroundings. East Egg and West Egg are the areas where the main characters in this novel lived and through stereotypes of Tom, Daisy, Gatsby and Nick, it is clear what East and West Egg represent. Because of East Eggers old, exclusive money, they seemed to think that they were superior and if any obstacle appeared in their path, they were secure with their money behind them. In Modern Critical Views: F.
Scott Fitzgerald, Harold Bloom states that In Gatsby we see that the charming irresponsibility of the flapper has developed into the criminal amorality of Daisy Buchanan, and that the smug conceit of the Rich Boy has hardened into Tom Buchanan's arrogant cruelty, (74). When Daisy ran over Myrtle Wilson, she and Tom simply disappeared and left Gatsby to deal with the punishment of a crime that he never committed. Toms affair also represented their ideas on morality that as long as he had old money, he could do whatever he wanted. Surrounded from childhood by the artificial security of wealth, accustomed to owning rather than wanting, they lack anxiety or illusion, frustration or fulfillment, (75). West Egg represents western values such as romanticism and capitalism. Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby are typical possessors of new money, who achieved wealth but still are not accepted into the exclusive society of East Egg.
Gatsby was much more of a romantic that Nick was, for he did everything attain massive amounts of wealth, throw huge parties, involve himself in illegal business affairs, and even embark upon an affair in order to win back Daisy. In creating himself, Gatsby had no social or moral context to give his intensity direction, (Lehan 31). With no other life goal than Daisy, Gatsby ended up engaging in immoral activities. Both East Eggers and West Eggers were wealthy, but because of one major difference in their lives, they would not and could not ever understand each other. That difference is the American Dream. Those who possess the necessary means lack the will, motive or capacity to pursue a dream, (Bloom 75).
The rich do not care to detach themselves from the meaningless, materialistic lives that they lead in order to pursue a dream, because everything else they have was handed to them on a silver platter. West Eggers, did not have the necessary means - money to easily follow a dream, but through the American Dream, they rose up from rags to riches because they had the will. Even though money plays a big role in The Great Gatsby, wealth was not Gatsby's American Dream. The thirst for money is a crucial motive in Gatsby (as in Fitzgeralds other novels), and yet none of his major characters are materialists, for money is never their final goal, (74). Money was the element that connected Gatsby to Daisy.
Money for Daisy was an excuse for her to act however she desired. There was no way for their romance to work out if money was such an important ingredient. That is why Daisy gave Gatsby up when Tom revealed to her the origin of Gatsby's wealth (Lehan 76). Nick Carraway was the only character in The Great Gatsby who realized the truth about life.
Nick Carraway, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the variety of life, attains Fitzgeralds mature realization that the protective enchantment of the romantic ideal lies in its remoteness from actuality, (Boom 74). Just like everyone else, Nick too was captivated by the immense wealth of Tom and Daisy. Then, he realized that they were nothing but two of the very rich, who in the end represent nothing but themselves, (78). Nick stated at the end of Gatsby that 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 made... , (Fitzgerald 187 - 188). Nick at first was also impressed by the American Dream and how Gatsby was able to achieve it. But then Nick realized that money was not Gatsby's ultimate goal, and that his ideal was impossible to accomplish because he could not control Daisy.
The desire for Daisy energizes his world, fuels his very being; and when he loses her, romantic possibility is exhausted, a romantic state of mind depleted, (Lehan 73). Nick told us that, he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass, (Fitzgerald 169). At the end of The Great Gatsby, the theme of the corruption of the American dream is apparent that the East does symbolize contemporary decadence and the West does not symbolize the pristine virtues of an earlier America, (Bloom 78). Tom and Daisy ended up running away from a crime and letting Gatsby die as a result.
Gatsby failed to represent the true, legitimate West because he pursued a good, moral dream in an immoral way. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner's, 1925.
Lehan, Richard. The Great Gatsby: The Limits of Wonder. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1995. Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Views: F. Scott Fitzgerald.
New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985.
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