(WEST) EGG

Ø      West Egg is the little town that this book takes place in.  The word egg, which is partly the name of the town, has connections to a very important theme.  It is also mentioned many times throughout the entire book.

Ø      Page 104 – this page introduces us to the real Gatsby’s and his past.  We learn that he is a “son of God” and that he “sprang from his Platonic conception of himself.”  This brings up the idea of the platonic conception that was introduced by Plato.  It is the idea/belief that nothing is truly real and that ideas last forever.  Ideas are the pure forms of our being.  This is connected to the conception of a thought, which brings about Jay Gatsby from James Gatz.  It began with Gatz and he has a thought/idea, which led to the conception of a fertilized egg, which led to the man Jay Gatsby.  Therefore, the name of the town, West EGG, is directly connected to the conception of an egg leading to a new man – Jay Gatsby.

Ø      Mentioned page 8,9,11,27, etc.

Jenny Eckhart