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Victor Duenas Gonzalez

Ms. Storer

English 3 Honors American Literature

March 3, 2020

A Hindrance to Happiness

Thomas Merton once said, “When ambitions end, happiness begins” (“The Thomas Merton

Center at Bellarmine University”). Merton was an influential American Catholic writer who

supported the civil rights movements in the 1900s; thus, he knew of the benefits of peace. F. Scott

Fitzgerald uses his novel The Great Gatsby to teach the reader that prioritizing materialistic goods

over everything else hinders the attainment of joy because discord emerges among people. The

Great Gatsby, narrated by Nick, is the account of a man named Gatsby who builds his wealth in

hopes of retrieving his lost love: Daisy. However, he tragically fails and his life is violently

curtailed by a man just like him, desperate because of love. Through his description of different

settings in the novel, Fitzgerald indicates that social stratification leads to inauthenticity and

detachment in a society.

The author incorporates the settings of West Egg and East Egg to manifest to the audience

the differing social classes present throughout the novel. These differences are evident in the way

that West Egg and East Egg share only one thing in common—their egg shape—and differ in

everything else: “Their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual confusion to the gulls

that fly overhead. To the wingless a more arresting phenomenon is their dissimilarity in every

particular except shape and size” (Fitzgerald 5). The wingless in this context are people limited in

a community due to the existence of class systems. Unlike people who stay on the ground, birds

are not constrained by an inefficient social structure as humans are; instead, they fly freely. Nature,
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represented by the gulls, is free of any social classes because it is not ruled by money. Thus, nature

creates unity as shown by the geographical similarity in “shape and size” of East Egg and West

Egg. Through this explanation of the differences between East Egg and West Egg and his

comparison between nature and humans, the author implies that disunity is caused by men and

their social classes. Class systems inhibit the attainment of complete harmony among the

constituents of society, for the desires of economic success are prioritized over the common good.

This division is visible in the infrastructure of West Egg and East Egg. Nick describes East Egg as

a “bay” with “white palaces of fashionable” houses “along the water” (Fitzgerald 5). The color

white symbolizes purity in this passage. People in East Egg are authentic, or “pure,” because they

do not feign their wealth since they have always been rich, and thus, know how to act as such.

Their houses expressed as palaces, convey the immense wealth that they have. This "true wealth"

is further exemplified in the depiction of Tom’s house: “Their house was even more elaborate than

I expected, a cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay” (Fitzgerald

6). The narrator uses the words “cheerful” and “elaborate” to give a positive tone. By doing this,

he approves Tom’s house. Like all others in East Egg, Tom’s house is American, symmetrical, and

graceful. Conversely, the people in West Egg are not “pure.” This is clear in how Gatsby has built

his wealth but not inherited it. Nick describes Gatsby’s house by stating, “The one on my right

was a colossal affair by any standard—it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel 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. It was Gatsby’s mansion”

(Fitzgerald 5). Gatsby’s house is an “imitation” of the Hotel de Ville Normandy; it is not “pure”

and authentic as the houses in the east with the American architecture. He was also not born into

a wealthy family; he had to work for his success just like many others in West Egg. Gatsby’s
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house—representing the other houses in the West—is an attempt to reveal his acquired money.

This shows how the inhabitants of West Egg boasted their economic well-being. However, they

do not know how to follow the standards of the wealthy. Nick speaks of this when he states that

“West Egg” is “the less fashionable of the two” and it has a “superficial tag to express the

bizarre...contrast between them” (Fitzgerald 5). “East Egg” is “condescending to West Egg”

(Fitzgerald 44). Succinctly, East Egg is superior to West Egg. This distinction is what forms the

differing social classes in the novel: one group are those who are born in wealth and follow the

“standards of the rich”; another group are those who become wealthy and fail to follow the

“standards of the rich”; a third group are those who once wanted to be rich but are poor instead

and have lost all hope. These different situations, lead the characters in the narrative to be

disingenuous.

The change within Gatsby’s house after his death represents the dishonesty present in a

community when its members are separated by vast social dissimilarities and are driven by the

desire to always be wealthy. The author writes of this inauthenticity by describing the change in

attitude of characters who previously associated themselves with Gatsby: after Gatsby died, they

became oblivious of him since they could no longer gain any benefit from him. This insincerity

frustrates Nick. He expresses his vexation by stating, “Next morning I sent the butler to New York

with a letter to Wolfshiem which asked for information and urged him to come out on the next

train. That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it. I was sure he’d start when he saw the

newspapers, just as I was sure there’d be a wire from Daisy before noon—but neither a wire nor

Mr. Wolfshiem arrived, no one arrived except more police and photographers and newspaper men.

When the butler brought back Wolfshiem’s answer I began to have a feeling of defiance, of

scornful solidarity between Gatsby and me against them all” (Fitzgerald 165). The narrator’s tone
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in this quote is justified anger, as conveyed by the words “defiance” and “scornful.” Gatsby has

since an early age been driven by the desire to be monetarily auspicious. This desire was born

when his relationship with Daisy was aborted due to his low economic standing. Eventually, he

was able to grow in wealth; and the wealth did temporarily satisfy Gatsby: a large group of people

visited him and even Daisy came to him. However, it was short-lived because after his death all

forgot him. The absence of visitors represents the void that Gatsby has always had in his heart. He

is insincere towards himself and others. The same is true for those who interacted with him. No

one remembered him once he died because all the relationships were false, all driven by the thirst

for money. It was the difference in social standing between Gatsby and Daisy and Dan Cody (a

rich whom Gatsby worked for at an early age) that led Gatsby to yearn to be like those in East Egg.

Nevertheless, it is not only in West Egg where the lack of honesty is present but also in East Egg.

Tom and Daisy are a prime example of this. In Gatsby’s funeral, the narrator is saddened by their

selfish attitude: “I tried to think about Gatsby then for a moment but he was already too far away

and I could only remember, without resentment, that Daisy hadn’t sent a message or a flower.

Dimly I heard someone murmur ‘Blessed are the dead that the rain falls on,’ and then the owl-eyed

man said ‘Amen to that,’ in a brave voice” (Fitzgerald 174). This passage produces a downhearted

mood through the usage of the words “dead” and “rain.” The reader feels the same disappointment

as Nick because everyone forgot about Gatsby except Nick and owl-eyed; they were the only ones

who had a real relationship with Gatsby. Daisy, who had affection towards Gatsby multiple times

in the book, did not even attempt to be with him at his funeral. Her careless attitude represents how

she and others do things only if there is an economic benefit. Daisy “fell in love” with Jay Gatsby

thinking he had money. Now that Gatsby is dead, she has forgotten him. Her change after Gatsby’s

death shows that she lied to herself and Gatsby. It was the social difference between herself and
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Gatsby that led her to be like that. Daisy is part of the group who is born with wealth and who

knows how to act like a rich person. In contrast, Gatsby gained his wealth and is naïve to the

standards of the weathy. This dissimilarity between them is what allowed Daisy to act the way she

did. Daisy is a representation of East Egg through her attitude of superiority. Accordingly, the lack

of authenticity in East Egg and West Egg is the reason for the pain in the Valley of Ashes.

The Valley of Ashes symbolizes the consequences—dejection and social decay—that

plague a society when it is structured with dichotomous social groups. These negative effects are

portrayed in the description of the Valley of Ashes: “About half way between West Egg and New

York the motor-road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to

shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes—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” (Fitzgerald 23). In this passage, factories

discharge ashes that smothers the Valley of Ashes. During the 1920s (the time period of The Great

Gatsby), factories played a major role in the economic development of the United States due to

the practices of mass production and assembly lines. Industrialists were the ones who attained the

most profit; in contrast, workers suffered many injustices that rendered them necessitous and

gloomy. The factories represent the wealthy because it is through the factories that they gained

their wealth. The landscape and houses represent the people, which are covered by ashes—a

symbol of the unfairness of the rich. The ashes give the Valley of Ashes a desolate appearance due

to its grey color. In the same way, the men are despondent without any passion left to continue

living—their vitality stifled by the unfairness of the industrialists. The Valley of Ashes is populated

by the group of people who once wanted to be like those in East Egg but failed and have lost all
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hope. It is the vast gap between the rich and needy in the novel that make the people in the Valley

of Ashes disheartened. Many consequences arise when a society loses its liveliness: it starts to

break down. Fitzgerald communicates this by writing, “Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls

along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey

men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure

operations from your sight” (Fitzgerald 23). Fitzgerald included this depiction of Valley of Ashes

to describe how it is hidden from the other places in New York, such East Egg and West Egg

because it is poor. This is evident in the last line of the passage where the author describes how

the cloud of ashes “screens” the “ash-grey men.” This is proof that the Valley of Ashes is suffering

from social degradation. Social decay is visible in “both the physical level of everyday life of a

region (abandoned buildings, vacant collapsing houses, streets in poor condition) and on the

emotional state of its inhabitants (narcissism, social anxiety, paranoia). Typically people are

generalized into a vast and generic group called ‘strangers’ and these strangers are often ignored

completely” (“Social Decay”). The chasm between the destitute in the Valley of Ashes and the

prosperous in East Egg and West Egg is the cause of this. The rich do not care for the poor because

if they did, they would have already done something to assist them. The poor are just “strangers”

and are ignored but for convenient manners. When a region suffers from social decay, its demise

is not far off; no one will give their time to revive it nor will anyone give their time to remember

it.

Fitzgerald utilizes different settings throughout the novel to convey the message that class

systems divide people and cause them to be insincere. Harmony and happiness can only be reached

through true freedom. Freedom is not the ability to partake in any activity one whishes at whatever
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time and place because in doing so one becomes chained to one’s desires. Rather, freedom is doing

good for others and oneself. True freedom makes society flourish at all levels.
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Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scribner, 2004.

“Social Decay.” Urban Dictionary, www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Social Decay.

“The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University.” Thomas Merton's Life and Work - Thomas

Merton Center, merton.org/chrono.aspx.