The Great Gatsby
By 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
Character Analysis taken from "TheBestNotes on The Great
friends.
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.