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East versus West

The Midwestern states and the Eastern states of America are very different and marked by specific values and attitudes.

While in the Mid West you find more traditional values (American values), for example living on one’s own, not needing anyone else and being self-supporting, the East has a closer connection to Europe and orientates itself by European values and qualities.

The West is described as the country of “wide lawns and friendly trees” (p.7,5 ), “prairies” and “lost Swede towns” (p.125,19). There, agriculture is the major economic factor and the landscape is marked by long wheat and corn fields. During winter, the land freezes, they get “real snow” (p.125,13) and the temperatures drops far below 0° C. When you look inside the houses, you see holy wreaths hanging in the windows pointing out the traditions that are followed by the westerners. The people living in the West tend to have a very strict and conservative attitude and not to be open for most changes. It was there, where prohibition started.

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On the other side of the Ohio, the major eastern side stream of the Mississippi, the Eastern states begin. They represent the modern America where the immigrants first arrived in order to start a better life (American Dream). Also, the East is much more densely populated and you find more big cities like New York. The Easterners are said to be open-minded and sophisticated.

In the book The Great Gatsby, East Egg and West Egg are used as metaphors for the East and the Middle West. While the "aristocrats" Tom and Daisy live in East Egg, the newly rich Gatsby lives in West Egg. Even though Gatsby shows off with his wealth and tries to fit in the "aristocratic" society, the fact that he is living in West Egg, shows that the distance between East and West does not become smaller, because West Egg stays the “less fashionable of the two” (p.9, 9).

Most of the settlers, who explored the western country, were Finnish. For that, the “Finnish woman” (p.7, 10) who works for Nick, is another example of the connection between West Egg and the Middle West.

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East versus West

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