The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a popular novel that has remained one of the best-known literary works to this day. Set in the 1920s, the story is narrated by Nick Caraway, an easy-going bond salesman who lives next door to Jay Gatsby whom the story revolves around. Jay Gatsby is a man with a mysterious past, who lives in New York and is famous for his extravagant parties and fabulous wealth. The story is set during the summer in which Tom Buchannan, his wife, Daisy, Jordan Baker, (all three from West Egg in Long Island where all the "old rich" live) and Nick's lives intertwine with Gatsby's into a marvelous story of love, crime and lavish Jazz Age debauchery. In The Great Gatsby, the conflict and its resolution, as well as the main character, Mr. Gatsby, are all made possible because of the place and time where the story takes place.
The physical setting of the story has a large effect on the conflict that takes place. The main conflict is Gatsby trying to change himself into what he thinks Daisy wants and the events occurring as he tries to win her back. The different settings are greatly related to the events occurring in the story. As the social setting varies, many other things change like the atmosphere, mood and the themes of the story; examples of this are West Egg, East Egg, the Valley of Ashes, and New York City. For example, East Egg and West Egg are both places in which people of great wealth live but Nick clearly states that East Egg is where the "classier" people live. He says, "Twenty miles from the city a pair of enormous eggs, identical in contour and separated only by...