The Great Gatsby: Setting

"It was a matter of chance that I should have rented a house in one of the strangest communities in North America. It was on that slender riotous island which extends itself due east of New York and where there are, among other natural curiosities, two unusual formations of land. Twenty miles from the city a pair of enormous eggs, identical in contour and separated only by a courtesy bay." (pg.9) Nick, though he works in downtown New York City, lives in West Egg, the less fashionable of the two. Even though East Egg and West Egg are separated by only a bay, they are completely different. West Egg is the place where the newly wealthy decided to settle down, surrounded by fellow millionaires who are not nearly as conservative as the East Egg. Appearances are key in East Egg, and we find that out from the marriage of Daisy and Tom. They appear to be fine, but he supposedly has a woman in the city and we find out about her feelings for Gatsby. West Egg seems to be filled with flashy people, wealth, and lavish parties.