The Great Gatsby Group

Question:

animalluver2
animalluver2
Student
High School - 11th Grade

What character revelation does this quote from The Great Gatsby give:

 "To the wingless a more interesting phenomenon is their  dissimilarity in every particular except shape and size."

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Posted by animalluver2 on Saturday March 7, 2009 at 8:01 PM and tagged with chapter 1, character, east egg, fitzgerald, foreshadow, gatsby, great gatsby, plot, the great gatsby, theme, west egg.

Answers:

  1. ms-charleston-yawp
    ms-charleston-yawp Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    This quote is a direct reference to the main dissimilarity between East Egg and West Egg:  East Egg represents the "old rich" while West Egg represents the "new rich."  This, in fact, is Gatsby's main problem.  Gatsby is stuck in West Egg because he was poor when he was young.  Gatsby gained his money over time through his bootlegging business selling "grain alcohol over the counter" in his "drugstores."  As a result, he is not "allowed" to live in East Egg, so he takes up residence in the most lavish home in West Egg hoping, of course, to impress Daisy.  On the other hand, Daisy and Tom live in East Egg.  Neither Daisy nor Tom know what it is like to live without money.  Neither of them have ever had to work a day in their lives.  East Egg is the land of inherited money, so that is where the two belong.  In effect, this is also the reason why Daisy and Gatsby (no matter how hard he tried to the contrary) could absolutely never be together as a couple.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/great-gatsby/chapter-1-summary-anal...
    http://www.enotes.com/great-gatsby/character-analysis

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    Posted by ms-charleston-yawp on Saturday March 7, 2009 at 10:30 PM