The Great GatsbyBy F. Scott Fitzgerald

Ms. Palmer

Summary

“The Great Gatsby is the story of eccentric millionaire Jay Gatsby as told by Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner who lives on Long Island but works in Manhattan. Gatsby’s enormous mansion is adjacent to Carraway’s modest home, and Carraway becomes curious about his neighbor after being invited to one of his famous parties.  Nick soon learns that Gatsby is in love Daisy Buchanan, Nick’s cousin and the wife of one Tom Buchanan, an acquaintance of Nick’s from Yale. Buchanan takes his old friend for a day in the city, where Nick learns that Buchanan has a kept woman, Myrtle, the wife of a long island mechanic.      Gatsby sends a message through he and Nick’s mutual friend, professional golfer Jordan Baker, insisting that Nick plan a “chance” meeting for Gatsby and Daisy. Nick learns that Gatsby, Jay Gatz at the time, and Daisy had once been in love, but Daisy married Tom while Gatsby was in Europe during the Great War.  In the aftermath of this, Jay Gatz abandoned his old identity, becoming Jay Gatsby and amassing a fortune with the help of notorious criminal Meyer Wolfsheim.  Gatsby chose the site of his house in Long Island because it was across the bay from Daisy’s house, from which a green light could be seen at night.   

Summary taken from Smith, Nicole. "Short Summary of “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald."Article Myriad. N.p., 6 Dec. 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

Summary Continued

   Nick manages to get Gatsby and Daisy together, and while the meeting is awkward at first, Gatsby soon relaxes and invites Nick and Daisy back to his mansion.  Gatsby and Daisy begin to see each other secretly with some frequency.  Nick and Gatsby also become close, as Nick is one of the only people who continues to support Gatsby despite the myriad rumors that circulate around the man.  Buchanan eventually confronts Gatsby in Manhattan about the affair, and the two argue at length about who it is that Daisy genuinely loves. Daisy claims to love both of them, but she decides to return to Long Island with Gatsby, not her husband.  Daisy drives Gatsby’s car, but she accidentally kills a woman on the side of the road, and then speeds off.  It turns out that this woman is Buchanan’s girlfriend Myrtle—she had only run out to see the car because she thought it was Buchanan’s.      Myrtle’s husband blames Buchanan for the death, but Buchanan informs him that it was Gatsby’s car that killed the woman. The mechanic goes to Gatsby’s house, where he shoots Gatsby and then himself. Daisy refuses to confess to her crime, and only a few people, including Gatsby’s father Henry, show up for Gatsby’s funeral.”

Summary taken from Smith, Nicole. "Short Summary of “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald."Article Myriad. N.p., 6 Dec. 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

Setting

• Takes place in Long Island, New York City• Takes place in 1920s

Tone

• “Nick’s attitudes toward Gatsby and Gatsby’s story are ambivalent and contradictory. At times he seems to disapprove of Gatsby’s excesses and breaches of manners and ethics, but he also romanticizes and admires Gatsby, describing the events of the novel in a nostalgic and elegiac tone.” Tone summary taken from "The Great Gatsby." SparkNotes. SparkNotes,

n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

Themes

• Love• Tom and Daisy, Jay and Daisy, Nick and Jordan, Wilson and Mrs.

Wilson• Wealth• Fancy cars, large parties, large houses

• Isolation• Everyone in the novel ends up alone

besides Daisy and Tom…but they are forced to stay together

Symbols

• Green light – represents the American Dream, the light is placed on Daisy’s dock because to have her is his dream,

• T.J. Eckleburg eyes – symbolize how life in the 1920s was all about making money, the eyes represent corruption: the poster still remains in the Valley of Ashes

• Parties – Gatsby throws a party every week while hoping Daisy will notice him

Quote and Meaning 1

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…And then one fine morning—So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

“These words conclude the novel and find Nick returning to the theme of the significance of the past to dreams of the future, here represented by the green light. He focuses on the struggle of human beings to achieve their goals by both transcending and re-creating the past. Yet humans prove themselves unable to move beyond the past: in the metaphoric language used here, the current draws them backward as they row forward toward the green light. This past functions as the source of their ideas about the future (epitomized by Gatsby’s desire to re-create 1917 in his affair with Daisy) and they cannot escape it as they continue to struggle to transform their dreams into reality. While they never lose their optimism (“tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther . . .”), they expend all of their energy in pursuit of a goal that moves ever farther away. This apt metaphor characterizes both Gatsby’s struggle and the American dream itself. Nick’s words register neither blind approval nor cynical disillusionment but rather the respectful melancholy that he ultimately brings to his study of Gatsby’s life.”

Analyzed quote taken from "The Great Gatsby - Quotes Explained." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

Character Analysis – Nick Carraway

Nick Carraway is the narrator of the entire novel, the protagonist of his own plot, and the moral judge of the events that surround him. He is a practical and conservative young man who turns thirty during the course of the story. Raised in a small town in the Midwest, he believes his hometown to be stifling and decides to move to the East Coast to learn the bond business. He hopes to find a sense of identity and freedom in New York. He rents a small bungalow out from the city on a fashionable island known as West Egg. His next door neighbor is Jay Gatsby, and his distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan, lives across the bay with her husband, Tom, on the more fashionable and wealthy island of East Egg. Nick plays an important role in the main plot of the novel, for he is responsible for reuniting Gatsby and Daisy.

During the course of the novel, the naïve and innocent Nick becomes totally disillusioned with the lifestyle of the wealthy on the East Coast. For most of the book, he is disgusted by Gatsby, with his wild parties, ostentatious dress and manners, and his shady business dealings. He is horrified when he meets Meyer Wolfsheim, a racketeer and business associates of Gatsby, who wears human molars as cuff links and who fixed the World Series. He feels shame for Jordan Baker for her incurable lying and cheating, both on and off the golf course. He is shocked that Tom has a mistress to whom he wants to introduce Nick and horrified that he hits her in the face, breaking her nose. His greatest disillusionment, however, comes with Daisy. He sees her shallowness and carelessness and knows that she is trifling with Gatsby. More shocking is the fact that she hits and kills Myrtle while driving Gatsby’s car and does not even bother to stop; she then willingly lets Gatsby take the blame for the accident. When Gatsby is killed, he is appalled that Daisy does not even bother to telephone or send flowers to the funeral. It is not surprising that in the end he judges Gatsby to be worth more than the whole bunch of the Buchanans and their wealthy friends.

Character Analysis taken from "TheBestNotes on The Great Gatsby". TheBestNotes.com. 20 April 2015. 11 May 2008.

Character Analysis Continued – Nick Carraway

Nick Carraway does indeed find his identity on the East Coast. At first he is hesitant to take a stand or to judge those with whom he comes into contact; however, as the novel progresses, he begins to find everything about New York disgusting. He realizes that he has no desire to marry the likes of Jordan Baker, or live the careless, purposeless lifestyle of the Buchanan’s, or be associated with immoral characters like Meyer Wolfsheim. As a result, on his thirtieth birthday, Nick realizes that his place in the world is in the Midwest, a symbol of morality and conservatism. In an orderly fashion, he fulfills his personal responsibilities in the East, including an explanation to Jordan of his feelings for her. He then returns to live in his small hometown and marry his old girlfriend, who has faithfully waited for him. As a result, Nick’s plot ends as a comedy, for he has found himself and his place in life; he has also matured enough to make wise, moral judgements.

Character Analysis taken from "TheBestNotes on The Great Gatsby. TheBestNotes.com. 20 April 2015. 11

May 2008.