Weather and Geography in The Great Gatsby: Impact on Theme, Character, and Plot

The geography and weather in The Great Gatsby contribute greatly to theme, character, and plot development. There is an important relationship between the geography and the characters social values. The themes and characters can be dictated by geographical locations because the themes are embedded into the environments surrounding the characters. This reinforces character traits and helps to develop the themes. The weather predicts the nature of the novels critical events, driving the plot. All of these factors contribute to creating a physical picture of the social values and the emotions in this novel.

One of the best examples of a geographic location representing a theme is the Valley of Ashes. This desolate valley located between West Egg and New York City represents the reality of the moral decay of society in the 1920s. A product of industrial dumping and a by-product of capitalism, the only poor characters of the novel live here. The ugliness of the valley is hidden behind the facades of West and East Egg.

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The billboard of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg located in the valley accentuates this idea. This billboard contains a faded pair of eyes looking through a faded pair of eyeglasses.

To the characters in the novel, this is a representation of God, or perhaps the lack of God in their lives. It is very clear that Wilson who lives in the valley sees this billboard as God in his life: God knows what youve been doing You may fool me, but you cant fool God! (152).

It could also be perceived as a representation of their faded morals. On the opposite end of the scale, New York City is very chaotic hosting many different immoral acts and uninhibited quests for riches. Nick believes that New York lacks a moral centre like most of the people in the East as Tom can flaunt his affair in public in New York without anyone commenting on the morality.

Many people at the party Nick is attending with Tom and Myrtle even expect it: Theyve been living over that garage for eleven years. Toms the first sweetie she ever had, (36). Nick associates this with the quality of distortion he perceives in the East, because he knows that anywhere else, Tom would have to be more discreet about something so immoral.

The characters can be dictated by where they reside in this novel because all of the geographical locations are associated with an underlying theme as was explained in the last paragraph. West Egg represents the new wealth in the East and East Egg represents the old wealth in the East. West Egg is where all of the people from the West with newly acquired riches live, including Gatsby. West Egg is like Gatsby, full of showy extravagance, symbolizing the new rich appearing outside of the established aristocracy of the 1920s. There is a distinct difference between the new and old aristocracy and the people living in them.

Therefore, their living place said quite a bit about them: I lived at West Egg, the well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them, (10). East Egg represents the old aristocracy, where Tom and Daisy live. East Egg is like the Buchanans, wealthy, possessing high social status, and powerful, symbolizing the old upper class that continued to dominate the American social landscape. The Valley of Ashes is like George Wilson, deserted, desolate, and completely without hope. In this manner, the characters can be dictated by their abode.

The weather in this novel consistently matches the narrative and emotional tones driving the plots critical events. and enforcing character traits. When Daisy and Gatsby are reunited at Nicks house it is thunder storming and pouring rain, which matches the awkward atmosphere and the emotions of the characters. Gatsby is quite embarrassed and having second thoughts: This is a terrible mistake, he said, shaking his head from side to side, a terrible, terrible mistake, (85). By the time they have rekindled the flame they once had, the sun comes out of the clouds. Another example of this is that Toms confrontation with Gatsby occurs on the hottest day of the year.

The heat is intense and irritates everyone, much like the confrontation. The tension created by putting Tom and Gatsby in the same room is mirrored by the weather. The climax of the novel takes place during the climax of the summer. After this, autumn creeps into the air and slowly starts to decay the annual progeny of the summer. This is also when Gatsby is murdered while swimming in his own pool waiting for a call from Daisy after the confrontation. Nick comments that Gatsby himself might not have believed that Daisy was ever going to call: If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream, (153). The death of the summer symbolizes Gatsbys death. The showy landscape of summer cannot go on forever, just like Gatsbys own personal show cannot go on forever, because things and people change, much like the weather.

In conclusion, the physical picture of emotions and social values created by the geography and weather is a major contributor to the development of the novel. Each setting in the novel corresponds to a particular thematic idea or character type building this picture up while the weather manages to mirror the emotions and foreshadow the nature of events in the plot. Therefore, the relationship between geography and social values is important in this novels development because it creates distinct zones in which characters with contradictory ethics are required to confront each other.