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Gatsby's New York 97414 Views

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Description:

The Great Gatsby is set in and around New York City and Long Island. On the big L.I., there are two areas known as "West Egg" and "East Egg." East Egg is filled with the wealthier, more elite, folks who come from old money. West Egg, on the other hand, is filled with the nouveau riche. Tom and Daisy live in East Egg, while Gatsby and Nick live in West Egg. Class issues ensue.

Author:

Author / Fitzgerald - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Language:

English Language

Subjects:

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Transcript

00:04
Gatsby's New York, a la Shmoop. When you think about Jay Gatsby... and we
00:09
just know you spend a lot of time thinking about him...
00:10
...certain images come to mind. Black tie cocktail parties.
00:14
Fancy cars.
00:16
Gold leaf lined toilet seats.

00:18
Okay, Fitzgerald never mentions the toilet seats, but one can assume.
00:23
And New York. Ah, New York. City of lights... excitement... and homeless people peeing onto
00:25
the sides of buildings.
00:26
Ain't no other place like it. Okay, so technically, most of Gatsby takes
00:30
place on Long Island...
00:31
...with less excitement and considerably less... pee... than in Manhattan.
00:35
But some of the story does venture into the Big Apple...
00:37
...and even the parts that don't still feature that... indescribable, New York mystique.
00:43
Which begs the question -- could The Great Gatsby possibly have been set in any other
00:48
place?
00:49
Would it be even remotely the same story if it was?
00:53
Well, right off the bat you have to rule out anything smaller than a major city.
00:57
In much of small-town America, their idea of a "gala" involves a gathering of residents
00:58
where grilled chicken goes for five dollars a plate...
00:58
... and the biggest celebrity is that guy whose cousin once went streaking down Main
00:58
Street. It was pretty much the same story back in
00:59
Gatsby's day... there just wasn't that big city vibe that gives the story so much of
01:02
its edge. What about the big industrial cities of the
01:11
time, like Pittsburgh or Detroit? Well, okay, they've got that big city feel,
01:17
but...
01:17
...the Roaring Twenties were about a lot more than bustling streets and industry.
01:25
It was about culture. It was about singers singing and flappers... flapping.
01:35
It was about Art Deco, and cinema, and Expressionism and fashion.
01:41
Those Pittsburghians were great at producing steel, but they fell a tad short in the "fashion
01:47
icon" department. Okay, so it has to be a major city with plenty
01:52
of culture. What about Chicago or Los Angeles? While you can certainly get your fill of culture
01:58
in either Chi-town or Lala Land, isn't it a different kind of culture?
01:59
LA has obvious connections with the film industry, and even back in the '20s it was a lot about
02:04
"who do you know" and "what can you do for me?"
02:12
Chicago has the soaring skyscrapers, theatre, and diversity of New York, but it's on a somewhat
02:17
smaller scale. It's sort of "New York Light." What about today's Silicon Valley?
02:23
A hotbed of vibrant new ideas, self-made millionaires and a forward-thinking sensibility?
02:29
Sure sounds like Gatsby's West Egg, does it not?
02:32
Although... he probably would have had less need for snow boots.
02:36
What do you think -- would Gatsby have basically been an entirely different story if set anywhere
02:44
else?
02:48
Or would the differences have been negligible? Shmoop amongst yourselves.
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