New York, New York

Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby unfolds in the city of New York and the surrounding area.  This place is nearly the ideal for a story of this nature.  New York is home to every end of the social spectrum.  It is the home to the richest men and women in the world, and at the same time home to humble working class citizens.  This makes for interaction between such classes, like a highly regarded statesman like Gatsby interacting with a working man like Nick Carraway.  For Nick, the city also provides a large opportunity to spend time with people form both ends of the spectrum.  While spending nights with the upper class of Gatsby and his crowd, he also knows "the other clerks and young bond-salesmen by their first names, and [lunches] with them in dark, crowded restaurants on little pig sausages and mashed potatoes and coffee," (Fitzgerald, 56).  There is also a mere romance about the city of New York in the twenties.  High society thrived in the city at this time, and many believed it was the only setting appropriate for rich people.  It was also the sight where many people believed they needed to go in order to become successful.  This setting is truly the ideal place for a story in this time period, and it adds many dimensions that wouldn't be present in another place.