Political scientists will inform you that there is immense symbolic energy in geographical opposition. Typically it is for apparent historic causes, like East versus West Germany. Different instances, the naming mechanism itself is what carries the symbolic weight. For instance, as a result of North Dakota will get disproportionately fewer vacationers yearly than South Dakota, it has tried to drop the phrase “North” from its title to sound like a hotter, extra nice place. (It may additionally need to have a chat with the Coen brothers about that entire “Fargo” factor.)
The obvious geographical opposition current within the trendy United States is the North versus the South, however America’s east-to-west colonization makes for some fascinating symbolism as nicely. Simply assume East versus West Coast. On the one aspect, you could have the Previous Institution (New England, the puritans, Manhattan, Harvard, Yale) and on the opposite, you could have the Younger Weapons (the frontier, forty-niners, Las Vegas, California, Los Angeles). Sadly for the massive swath of states in between, the time period “Center America” does not have any associations which can be practically this thrilling.
An excellent instance of how this regional symbolism works will be present in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Nice Gatsby. Set on an upper-crusty, 1920’s East Coast, it makes use of geography to assist set up characters and spotlight conflicts. Jay Gatsby, who initially comes from North Dakota (brr!), makes a fortune, reinvents himself, heads to Lengthy Island, and buys a mansion to reconnect together with his misplaced love, Daisy. (Who, by the way in which, has since married an East-Coast millionaire with a level from Yale. How is that for the symbolic trifecta?) Many events and far drunkenness later, Jay and Daisy renew their relationship.
Nonetheless, with out moving into an excessive amount of of a Nice Gatsby abstract, let’s simply say it does not finish nicely. One of many main purple flags Gatsby units off for the East Coast elite is his sketchy schooling. Though he pulls an surprising I am going to-see-your-Yale-and-raise-you-Oxford on Daisy’s husband, filling his home with books and calling everybody “outdated sport,” it seems that Gatsby solely attended the college for 5 months. As established, upper-crusty, and eastward as Oxford could also be, Gatsby clearly hasn’t spent sufficient time to tug off subtle speech or habits.
The opposite huge impediment is Gatsby’s illegitimacy to the East Coast throne. Though he is absurdly wealthy, his wealth is “new” and due to this fact inferior to that of Daisy’s husband. That is mirrored in the truth that Gatsby lives in West Egg and never East Egg, the place Daisy lives: not solely is East Egg the extra respectable neighborhood, however it additionally conjures up the East/West, outdated/new, Manhattan/Hollywood relationship that makes Gatsby look like a fraudulent newcomer. (Which, to be truthful, he’s.)
With all this in thoughts, it is no marvel his character’s intro and outro each depend on the symbolism of that “inexperienced mild” you in all probability bear in mind from one of the crucial well-known Nice Gatsby quotes: trying longingly over the water, Gatsby stretches his arms eastward towards the money-colored mild that emanates from Daisy’s home. Though that is as shut as he’ll ever get to reaching the standing of a Manhattan social elite, the true tragedy is that Gatsby is the final one to understand it.