First Paragraph - The Eggs + Valley Of Ashes Flashcards
1
Q
Opening Sentence
A
- At the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to West Egg and East Egg,
2
Q
‘I lived at West Egg, the – well, the less fashionable of the two’
A
- West Egg is where those of new money live, most of the residents don’t have aristocratic breeding or wealthy family connections.
- West Egg is considerably less fancy than East Egg.
3
Q
‘The white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered across the water’
A
- the contrast between East Egg and West Egg shows the massive difference in social class between the two of them.
- West Egg is for the people who are newly rich whereas East Egg is for people born into money, it symbolises class and those raised in wealth such as the Buchanans.
- The symbolism of West Egg and East Egg is used consistently throughout the novel to imply that those who live in West Egg are not as grand or not on the same social level as those from East Egg, they may have similar amounts of money but that means nothing in terms of their status.
4
Q
‘The white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered across the water’
A
- ‘Fashionable’ suggests dressing or appearing in a trendy and popular way, but this appealing surface of East Egg hides the unattractive realities of what goes on with the Buchanans such as their affairs and complacency with life.
- ‘Palaces’ suggest that the houses on East Egg are prestigious just as those who live in palaces are often wealthy so too are those living in East Egg wealthy, and they hold themselves in high status.
5
Q
Valley of Ashes; topic sentence
A
- The Valley of Ashes is an area along from the Eggs, it represents the thin line between those of new money and those who are poor,
6
Q
‘A certain desolate area of land. This is a Valley of Ashes’.
A
- The word choice of ‘desolate’ shows that there is barely anything there and anything that is remaining is run down and poor.
- The Valley of Ashes is symbolism for the moral decay hidden by the extreme wealth of the Eggs, just as ‘ashes’ link to death and decay so too does the ashes in the valley as anything that has ever resided their decays beside poverty and fades to ash.
7
Q
‘A certain desolate area of land. This is a Valley of Ashes’.
A
- It is a place of poverty that is a dumping ground for all the waste produced by the city.
- Symbolically it represents the moral and social decay that results from the pursuit of wealth and riches.
- The rich indulge themselves with no regard for anything but their own pleasure.
8
Q
Conclusive sentence
A
- The symbolism of the Eggs deepens my understanding for the text as it highlights the shallowness of the American upper class because East Egg is just a façade to cover everything that is wrong with America at the time, such as the poverty of the Valley of Ashes and the unbreakable status quo.
