Final answer:
In The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway moves to the East for a career in finance during the prosperous 1920s, and he likely afforded his move through the opportunities of the era, paralleling F. Scott Fitzgerald's life, who faced financial ups and downs despite his success.
Step-by-step explanation:
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the narrator, Nick Carraway, moves to the East to pursue a career in the finance industry, as opportunities for this industry were booming in the post-World War I era. Affordability of his move is less explicitly detailed, but it can be inferred from the context of the novel and the era it represents, as well as Fitzgerald's own life experiences. Fitzgerald himself experienced financial challenges despite his initial success and lavish lifestyle with his wife Zelda, as reflected in his essay “The Crack-Up.” This parallel suggests that characters such as Nick might have managed their finances in a way similar to Fitzgerald, leveraging the prosperous economic conditions of the 1920s, even if initially running on a tight budget or with some support from family.
The 1920s was a period known for its thriving economy and the establishment of the American Dream—the pursuit of success and upward mobility, which Nick Carraway embodies. Nick's decision to move East is indicative of the spirit of the time, where young men, charged with ambition, relocated to where they saw the most opportunity for growth. By doing so, they took part in the larger narrative of Americans chasing affluence and social standing, themes at the very heart of The Great Gatsby.