THE GREAT GATSBY (F.S.

Fitzgerald)

settings (place) · Long Island

Key Facts and New York City
full title · The Great Gatsby protagonist · Gatsby and/or Nick
author · F. Scott Fitzgerald major conflict · Gatsby has
type of work · Novel amassed a vast fortune in order to win the
affections of the upper-class Daisy Buchanan,
but his mysterious past stands in the way of
genre · Modernist novel, Jazz Age novel, his being accepted by her.
novel of manners rising action · Gatsby’s lavish parties,
language · English Gatsby’s arrangement of a meeting with Daisy
time and place written · 1923–1924, at Nick’s
America and France climax · There are two possible climaxes:
date of first publication · 1925 Gatsby’s reunion with Daisy in Chapters 5–6;
publisher · Charles Scribner’s Sons the confrontation between Gatsby and Tom in
narrator · Nick Carraway; Carraway not only the Plaza Hotel in Chapter 7.
narrates the story but implies that he is the falling action · Daisy’s rejection of Gatsby,
book’s author Myrtle’s death, Gatsby’s murder
point of view · Nick Carraway narrates in themes · The decline of the American dream,
both first and third person, presenting only the spirit of the 1920s, the difference between
what he himself observes. Nick alternates social classes, the role of symbols in the
sections where he presents events objectively, human conception of meaning, the role of the
as they appeared to him at the time, with past in dreams of the future
sections where he gives his own motifs · The connection between events and
interpretations of the story’s meaning and of weather, the connection between
the motivations of the other characters. geographical location and social values,
tone · Nick’s attitudes toward Gatsby and images of time, extravagant parties, the quest
Gatsby’s story are ambivalent and for wealth
contradictory. At times he seems to symbols · The green light on Daisy’s dock,
disapprove of Gatsby’s excesses and the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, the valley
breaches of manners and ethics, but he also of ashes, Gatsby’s parties, East Egg, West
romanticizes and admires Gatsby, describing Egg
the events of the novel in a nostalgic and foreshadowing · The car wreck after
elegiac tone. Gatsby’s party in Chapter 3, Owl Eyes’s
tense · Past comments about the theatricality of Gatsby’s
setting (time) · Summer 1922 life, the mysterious telephone calls Gatsby
receives from Chicago and Philadelphi
 Plot Overview
Nick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota, Gatsby will also be there. After an initially awkward
moves to New York in the summer of 1922 to learn reunion, Gatsby and Daisy reestablish their
about the bond business. He rents a house in the connection. Their love rekindled, they begin an
West Egg district of Long Island, a wealthy but affair.
unfashionable area populated by the new rich, a
group who have made their fortunes too recently to After a short time, Tom grows increasingly
have established social connections and who are suspicious of his wife’s relationship with Gatsby. At
prone to garish displays of wealth. Nick’s next-door a luncheon at the Buchanans’ house, Gatsby
neighbor in West Egg is a mysterious man named stares at Daisy with such undisguised passion that
Jay Gatsby, who lives in a gigantic Gothic mansion Tom realizes Gatsby is in love with her. Though
and throws extravagant parties every Saturday Tom is himself involved in an extramarital affair, he
night. is deeply outraged by the thought that his wife
could be unfaithful to him. He forces the group to
drive into New York City, where he confronts
Nick is unlike the other inhabitants of West Egg— Gatsby in a suite at the Plaza Hotel. Tom asserts
he was educated at Yale and has social that he and Daisy have a history that Gatsby could
connections in East Egg, a fashionable area of never understand, and he announces to his wife
Long Island home to the established upper class. that Gatsby is a criminal—his fortune comes from
Nick drives out to East Egg one evening for dinner bootlegging alcohol and other illegal activities.
with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her Daisy realizes that her allegiance is to Tom, and
husband, Tom, an erstwhile classmate of Nick’s at Tom contemptuously sends her back to East Egg
Yale. Daisy and Tom introduce Nick to Jordan with Gatsby, attempting to prove that Gatsby
Baker, a beautiful, cynical young woman with cannot hurt him.
whom Nick begins a romantic relationship. Nick
also learns a bit about Daisy and Tom’s marriage: When Nick, Jordan, and Tom drive through the
Jordan tells him that Tom has a lover, Myrtle valley of ashes, however, they discover that
Wilson, who lives in the valley of ashes, a gray Gatsby’s car has struck and killed Myrtle, Tom’s
industrial dumping ground between West Egg and lover. They rush back to Long Island, where Nick
New York City. Not long after this revelation, Nick learns from Gatsby that Daisy was driving the car
travels to New York City with Tom and Myrtle. At a when it struck Myrtle, but that Gatsby intends to
vulgar, gaudy party in the apartment that Tom take the blame. The next day, Tom tells Myrtle’s
keeps for the affair, Myrtle begins to taunt Tom husband, George, that Gatsby was the driver of
about Daisy, and Tom responds by breaking her the car. George, who has leapt to the conclusion
nose. that the driver of the car that killed Myrtle must
have been her lover, finds Gatsby in the pool at his
As the summer progresses, Nick eventually mansion and shoots him dead. He then fatally
garners an invitation to one of Gatsby’s legendary shoots himself.
parties. He encounters Jordan Baker at the party,
and they meet Gatsby himself, a surprisingly Nick stages a small funeral for Gatsby, ends his
young man who affects an English accent, has a relationship with Jordan, and moves back to the
remarkable smile, and calls everyone “old sport.” Midwest to escape the disgust he feels for the
Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan alone, and, people surrounding Gatsby’s life and for the
through Jordan, Nick later learns more about his emptiness and moral decay of life among the
mysterious neighbor. Gatsby tells Jordan that he wealthy on the East Coast. Nick reflects that just
knew Daisy in Louisville in 1917 and is deeply in as Gatsby’s dream of Daisy was corrupted by
love with her. He spends many nights staring at money and dishonesty, the American dream of
the green light at the end of her dock, across the happiness and individualism has disintegrated into
bay from his mansion. Gatsby’s extravagant the mere pursuit of wealth. Though Gatsby’s power
lifestyle and wild parties are simply an attempt to to transform his dreams into reality is what makes
impress Daisy. Gatsby now wants Nick to arrange him “great,” Nick reflects that the era of dreaming
a reunion between himself and Daisy, but he is —both Gatsby’s dream and the American dream—
afraid that Daisy will refuse to see him if she is over.
knows that he still loves her. Nick invites Daisy to
have tea at his house, without telling her that
 Character List
Nick Carraway - The novel’s narrator, Nick is a Yale. Powerfully built and hailing from a socially
young man from Minnesota who, after being solid old family, Tom is an arrogant, hypocritical
educated at Yale and fighting in World War I, goes bully. His social attitudes are laced with racism and
to New York City to learn the bond business. sexism, and he never even considers trying to live
Honest, tolerant, and inclined to reserve judgment, up to the moral standard he demands from those
Nick often serves as a confidant for those with around him. He has no moral qualms about his
troubling secrets. After moving to West Egg, a own extramarital affair with Myrtle, but when he
fictional area of Long Island that is home to the begins to suspect Daisy and Gatsby of having an
newly rich, Nick quickly befriends his next-door affair, he becomes outraged and forces a
neighbor, the mysterious Jay Gatsby. As Daisy confrontation.
Buchanan’s cousin, he facilitates the rekindling of
the romance between her and Gatsby. The Great
Gatsby is told entirely through Nick’s eyes; his Jordan Baker - Daisy’s friend, a woman with
thoughts and perceptions shape and color the whom Nick becomes romantically involved during
story. the course of the novel. A competitive golfer,
Jordan represents one of the “new women” of the
Jay Gatsby - The title character and protagonist 1920s—cynical, boyish, and self-centered. Jordan
of the novel, Gatsby is a fabulously wealthy young is beautiful, but also dishonest: she cheated in
man living in a Gothic mansion in West Egg. He is order to win her first golf tournament and
famous for the lavish parties he throws every continually bends the truth.
Saturday night, but no one knows where he comes Myrtle Wilson - Tom’s lover, whose lifeless
from, what he does, or how he maded his fortune. husband George owns a run-down garage in the
As the novel progresses, Nick learns that Gatsby valley of ashes. Myrtle herself possesses a fierce
was born James Gatz on a farm in North Dakota; vitality and desperately looks for a way to improve
working for a millionaire made him dedicate his life her situation. Unfortunately for her, she chooses
to the achievement of wealth. When he met Daisy Tom, who treats her as a mere object of his desire.
while training to be an officer in Louisville, he fell in
love with her. Nick also learns that Gatsby made George Wilson - Myrtle’s husband, the lifeless,
his fortune through criminal activity, as he was exhausted owner of a run-down auto shop at the
willing to do anything to gain the social position he edge of the valley of ashes. George loves and
thought necessary to win Daisy. Nick views Gatsby idealizes Myrtle, and is devastated by her affair
as a deeply flawed man, dishonest and vulgar, with Tom. George is consumed with grief when
whose extraordinary optimism and power to Myrtle is killed. George is comparable to Gatsby in
transform his dreams into reality make him “great” that both are dreamers and both are ruined by
nonetheless. their unrequited love for women who love Tom.
Owl Eyes - The eccentric, bespectacled drunk
Daisy Buchanan - Nick’s cousin, and the woman whom Nick meets at the first party he attends at
Gatsby loves. As a young woman in Louisville Gatsby’s mansion. Nick finds Owl Eyes looking
before the war, Daisy was courted by a number of through Gatsby’s library, astonished that the books
officers, including Gatsby. She fell in love with are real.
Gatsby and promised to wait for him. However, Klipspringer - The shallow freeloader who seems
Daisy harbors a deep need to be loved, and when almost to live at Gatsby’s mansion, taking
a wealthy, powerful young man named Tom advantage of his host’s money. As soon as Gatsby
Buchanan asked her to marry him, Daisy decided dies, Klipspringer disappears—he does not attend
not to wait for Gatsby after all. Now a beautiful the funeral, but he does call Nick about a pair of
socialite, Daisy lives with Tom across from Gatsby tennis shoes that he left at Gatsby’s mansion.
in the fashionable East Egg district of Long Island. Meyer Wolfsheim - Gatsby’s friend, a prominent
She is sardonic and somewhat cynical, and figure in organized crime. Before the events of the
behaves superficially to mask her pain at her novel take place, Wolfsheim helped Gatsby to
husband’s constant infidelity. make his fortune bootlegging illegal liquor. His
continued acquaintance with Gatsby suggests that
Tom Buchanan - Daisy’s immensely wealthy Gatsby is still involved in illegal business.
husband, once a member of Nick’s social club at
 Themes, Motifs & Symbols
social climbers and ambitious speculators who
attend Gatsby’s parties evidence the greedy
scramble for wealth. The clash between “old
Themes money” and “new money” manifests itself in the
Themes are the fundamental and often universal novel’s symbolic geography: East Egg represents
ideas explored in a literary work. the established aristocracy, West Egg the self-
THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM IN made rich. Meyer Wolfshiem and Gatsby’s fortune
THE 1920S symbolize the rise of organized crime and
On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the bootlegging.
thwarted love between a man and a woman. The
main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a
much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its As Fitzgerald saw it (and as Nick explains in
action takes place over a mere few months during Chapter 9), the American dream was originally
the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of
geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, happiness. In the 1920s depicted in the novel,
New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic however, easy money and relaxed social values
meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in have corrupted this dream, especially on the East
particular the disintegration of the American dream Coast. The main plotline of the novel reflects this
in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material assessment, as Gatsby’s dream of loving Daisy is
excess. ruined by the difference in their respective social
statuses, his resorting to crime to make enough
Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed money to impress her, and the rampant
social and moral values, evidenced in its materialism that characterizes her lifestyle.
overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of Additionally, places and objects in The Great
pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to Gatsby have meaning only because characters
decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized instill them with meaning: the eyes of Doctor T. J.
in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Eckleburg best exemplify this idea. In Nick’s mind,
Gatsby throws every Saturday night—resulted the ability to create meaningful symbols constitutes
ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, a central component of the American dream, as
as the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure early Americans invested their new nation with
surpassed more noble goals. When World War I their own ideals and values.
ended in 1918, the generation of young Americans Nick compares the green bulk of America rising
who had fought the war became intensely from the ocean to the green light at the end of
disillusioned, as the brutal carnage that they had Daisy’s dock. Just as Americans have given
just faced made the Victorian social morality of America meaning through their dreams for their
early-twentieth-century America seem like stuffy, own lives, Gatsby instills Daisy with a kind of
empty hypocrisy. The dizzying rise of the stock idealized perfection that she neither deserves nor
market in the aftermath of the war led to a sudden, possesses. Gatsby’s dream is ruined by the
sustained increase in the national wealth and a unworthiness of its object, just as the American
newfound materialism, as people began to spend dream in the 1920s is ruined by the unworthiness
and consume at unprecedented levels. A person of its object—money and pleasure. Like 1920s
from any social background could, potentially, Americans in general, fruitlessly seeking a bygone
make a fortune, but the American aristocracy— era in which their dreams had value, Gatsby longs
families with old wealth—scorned the newly rich to re-create a vanished past—his time in Louisville
industrialists and speculators. Additionally, the with Daisy—but is incapable of doing so. When his
passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, dream crumbles, all that is left for Gatsby to do is
which banned the sale of alcohol, created a die; all Nick can do is move back to Minnesota,
thriving underworld designed to satisfy the where American values have not decayed.
massive demand for bootleg liquor among rich and
poor alike. THE HOLLOWNESS OF THE UPPER CLASS
Fitzgerald positions the characters of The Great One of the major topics explored in The Great
Gatsby as emblems of these social trends. Nick Gatsby is the sociology of wealth, specifically, how
and Gatsby, both of whom fought in World War I, the newly minted millionaires of the 1920s differ
exhibit the newfound cosmopolitanism and from and relate to the old aristocracy of the
cynicism that resulted from the war. The various country’s richest families. In the novel, West Egg
and its denizens represent the newly rich, while
East Egg and its denizens, especially Daisy and WEATHER
Tom, represent the old aristocracy. Fitzgerald As in much of Shakespeare’s work, the weather in
portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, The Great Gatsby unfailingly matches the
ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and emotional and narrative tone of the story. Gatsby
taste. Gatsby, for example, lives in a monstrously and Daisy’s reunion begins amid a pouring rain,
ornate mansion, wears a pink suit, drives a Rolls- proving awkward and melancholy; their love
Royce, and does not pick up on subtle social reawakens just as the sun begins to come out.
signals, such as the insincerity of the Sloanes’ Gatsby’s climactic confrontation with Tom occurs
invitation to lunch. In contrast, the old aristocracy on the hottest day of the summer, under the
possesses grace, taste, subtlety, and elegance, scorching sun (like the fatal encounter between
epitomized by the Buchanans’ tasteful home and Mercutio and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet). Wilson
the flowing white dresses of Daisy and Jordan kills Gatsby on the first day of autumn, as Gatsby
Baker. floats in his pool despite a palpable chill in the air
—a symbolic attempt to stop time and restore his
What the old aristocracy possesses in taste, relationship with Daisy to the way it was five years
however, it seems to lack in heart, as the East before, in 1917.
Eggers prove themselves careless, inconsiderate
bullies who are so used to money’s ability to ease
their minds that they never worry about hurting Symbols
others. The Buchanans exemplify this stereotype Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and
when, at the end of the novel, they simply move to colors used to represent abstract ideas or
a new house far away rather than condescend to concepts.
attend Gatsby’s funeral. Gatsby, on the other hand,
whose recent wealth derives from criminal activity, THE GREEN LIGHT
has a sincere and loyal heart, remaining outside Situated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock and
Daisy’s window until four in the morning in Chapter barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg lawn, the
7 simply to make sure that Tom does not hurt her. green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams
Ironically, Gatsby’s good qualities (loyalty and love) for the future. Gatsby associates it with Daisy, and
lead to his death, as he takes the blame for killing in Chapter 1 he reaches toward it in the darkness
Myrtle rather than letting Daisy be punished, and as a guiding light to lead him to his goal. Because
the Buchanans’ bad qualities (fickleness and Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is broadly associated with
selfishness) allow them to remove themselves the American dream, the green light also
from the tragedy not only physically but symbolizes that more generalized ideal. In Chapter
psychologically. 9, Nick compares the green light to how America,
rising out of the ocean, must have looked to early
Motifs settlers of the new nation.
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and
literary devices that can help to develop and inform THE VALLEY OF ASHES
the text’s major themes. First introduced in Chapter 2, the valley of ashes
between West Egg and New York City consists of
GEOGRAPHY a long stretch of desolate land created by the
Throughout the novel, places and settings dumping of industrial ashes. It represents the
epitomize the various aspects of the 1920s moral and social decay that results from the
American society that Fitzgerald depicts. East Egg uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge
represents the old aristocracy, West Egg the newly themselves with regard for nothing but their own
rich, the valley of ashes the moral and social pleasure. The valley of ashes also symbolizes the
decay of America, and New York City the plight of the poor, like George Wilson, who live
uninhibited, amoral quest for money and pleasure. among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a
Additionally, the East is connected to the moral result.
decay and social cynicism of New York, while the
West (including Midwestern and northern areas THE EYES OF DOCTOR T. J. ECKLEBURG
such as Minnesota) is connected to more The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of
traditional social values and ideals. Nick’s analysis fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old
in Chapter 9 of the story he has related reveals his advertising billboard over the valley of ashes. They
sensitivity to this dichotomy: though it is set in the may represent God staring down upon and judging
East, the story is really one of the West, as it tells American society as a moral wasteland, though
how people originally from west of the the novel never makes this point explicitly. Instead,
Appalachians (as all of the main characters are) throughout the novel, Fitzgerald suggests that
react to the pace and style of life on the East symbols only have meaning because characters
Coast. instill them with meaning. The connection between
the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg and God exists
only in George Wilson’s grief-stricken mind. This process by which people invest objects with
lack of concrete significance contributes to the meaning. Nick explores these ideas in Chapter 8,
unsettling nature of the image. Thus, the eyes also when he imagines Gatsby’s final thoughts as a
come to represent the essential meaninglessness depressed consideration of the emptiness of
of the world and the arbitrariness of the mental symbols and dreams.