The narrator of The Great Gatsby, Nick, lives in West Egg in a small house that is located by the home of Jay Gatsby. Gatsby lives in a gigantic mansion when compared to Nick’s house, and Nick even comments that his house is an eyesore when measured up to the standards set by Gatsby’s palace. Nick also says later in the book that he has “grown to accept West Egg as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so.” However, when Nick looks at West Egg through the eyes of an East Egger like Daisy, he realizes that it’s sad to look at his home, that took so long to get used to from the point of view of an outsider. To discuss the people of West Egg, it’s best when they are compared to those of East Egg.

     Throughout the story, West Egg is said to be less fashionable than East Egg, and even though the two are very similar areas, they are home two completely different societies. West Egg and its population represent the newly rich, while East Egg is full of the older upper class and their money that has been handed down from generation to generation. The people who live in West Egg are presented as vulgar and flashy, while the older residents of East Egg are much more tasteful and elegant than those who live on West Egg. Yet, what the West Eggers lack in taste, they make up for in heart, they are loyal and they care about those around them because they have true feelings. The East Eggers are careless and inconsiderate, because their money eases their minds, so they don’t even worry about hurting others in any way. Above all, West Egg represents idealism and romanticism and East Egg symbolizes materialism.

- JRe