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Description edit
The exemplary novel of the Jazz Age, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, The Great Gatsby (1925), stands as the supreme achievement of his career.The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties in West Egg, Long Island, at a time... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters/People edit
- Jay Gatsby: He was born into a poor family and from a very young age was intent on improving himself. He left for WWI and while staying abroad, met a rich young woman who he shortly later fell in love with. After leaving, hi
- Nick Carraway: Narrator who lives next door to Gatsby. Nick Carraway, having graduated from Yale and fought in World War I, has returned home to begin a career. He is restless and has decided to move to New York to learn the bond business. The novel opens early in the summer of 1922 in West Egg, Long Island, where Nick has rented a house. He is Daisy Buchanan's cousin and is "new money."
- Daisy: Daisy is Jay's sweetheart. He got rich for her.
- Mrs. Wilson: cheater
- Jay Gatsby: The protagonist who gives his name to the story. Gatsby is "new money" who has moved from the Midwest to the East Coast. His desire for the American Dream makes his life one of mystery and intrigue that West as well as East Egg are fascinated by.
- Fitzgerald: Add a description of this character.
- Myrtle Wilson: Myrtle Wilson, Tom's mistress, lives in a section of Long Island known as the Valley of Ashes, where Myrtle's husband, George Wilson, owns a run-down garage. Painted on a large billboard nearby is a fading advertisement for an ophthalmologist: a set of huge eyes looking through a pair of glasses. Myrtle herself possesses a fierce vitality and desperately looks for a way to improve her situation. Unfortunately for her, she chooses Tom, who treats her as a mere object of his desire.
- Mr. Wolfshiem
- Jordan Baker: Nick's friend and lover. She's a famous golfer.
- George
- Pammy Buchanan: The Buchanans' three-year-old daughter. She spends so little time with her parents. She is mainly taken care of by the nurse.
- Daisy Buchanan: Married to Tom, Daisy belongs to "old money" and lives on East Egg.
- Henry C. Gatz: Gatsby's somewhat estranged father in North Dakota.
- Zelda
- Klipspringer
- Miss Baker
- James Gatz
- Dan Cody: An adventurer who was Gatsby's mentor as a youth.
- Catherine: Mrytle's sister.
- Michaelis: Owner of a coffee shop next to George Wilson's garage
- Mr Sloane: Friend of Tom Buchanan.
- Mrs Mckee: Wife of Chester McKee. The McKees attend the party at Tom Buchanan's apartment in New York City.
- George Wilson: George Wilson, owns a garage, married to Myrtle, Tom's mistress.
- Jordan Baker: Friend of Daisy, whom she wants Nick to date. A professional golf player, which helps describe her physically and emotionally. Nick and Jordan date for a short while, but in the end can't stand to be with her anymore.
- Tom Buchanan: Daisy Buchanan's husband who also belongs to "old money." Tom Buchanan does not really love his wife or his mistress is Myrtle Wilson. He has an apartment he shares with Myrtle in the city. Myrtle is not his first mistress. He has had multiple though-out the years, which is why he and Daisy are continuously changing locations.
- Meyer Wolfshiem: He is an acquaintance of Gatsby. He was the one who fixed the 1919 Baseball World Series. Member of the mob, and most famous for his cuff links made from human molars.
Quotes edit
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“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
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“And it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well.”
Nick Carraway -
“He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself.”
Nick Carraway about Gatsby -
“That’s my Middle West . . . the street lamps and sleigh bells in the frosty dark. . . . I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all—Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life.”
Nick Carraway -
“Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”
Nick on himself -
“With every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room.”
Nick about Gatsby and Daisy -
“That’s my Middle West . . . the street lamps and sleigh bells in the frosty dark. . . . I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all—Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life.”
Nick Carraway -
“The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.”
Nick Carraway -
“"There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired."”
Nick Carraway -
“And I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties, there isn't any privacy.”
Jordan -
“You're a rotten driver, either you ought to be more careful or you oughtn't to drive at all." "I am careful." "No, you're not." "Well, other people are." "What's that got to do with it?" "They'll keep out of my way. It takes two to make an accident.”
Nick, Jordan -
“I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
Daisy -
“Suppose you meet someone just as careless as yourself?" "I hope I never will.”
Nick, Jordan -
“I'm thirty. I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor.”
Nick Carraway -
“No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man can store up his ghostly heart.”
-
“My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor's lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires--all for eighty dollars a month.”
-
“He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”
-
“One thing's sure and nothing's surer- the rich get richer and the poor get...children.”
Setting & Locations edit
- Jordan
- New York City
- Chicago
- America
- Long Island
- France
- West Egg
- Manhattan
- Europe
- Myrtle
- Montenegro
- Biloxi
- United States
- Louisville
- Belmont
- England
- West and East Egg (Long Island, NY): West and East Egg, on the northern shore of Long Island, are thought to be disguised versions of Great Neck and Manor Haven/Sands Point, both famous in the Jazz Age for wealth and luxury. Far enough outside the bustle of New York City, here the wealthy could have their space and waterfront views. By and by came the nouveau riche, which is quintessentially what Gatsby represents to Tom. So while Tom and Daisy live on the fashionable, old money east side of the Long Island Sound, Gatsby lives across the bay.
- New York: Although as decadent, fast and urban in 1922 as it is in the modern context, New York City in Gatsby is a secondary setting. It is the place where businessmen meet and where Nick works. It's also where the rich go when bored to entertain themselves with shopping, affairs or simple hedonism. New York City also represents a version of the American Dream. It is a place of enormous possibility, wealth, hope – and corruption.
- Louisville, Kentucky: Situated on the Ohio River, Louisville is the largest city in Kentucky and the hometown of Daisy and Jordan. It is also where Daisy and Gatsby meet in 1917 when he is a soldier and she a debutante helping out with the Red Cross.
- Valley of Ashes: The anithesis of life in East and West Egg, the Valley consists of smoky air, piles of ashes, railroad lines and a few scattered businesses; a buffer between the wealth of Nassau and Suffolk Counties and the densely populated Brooklyn and Queens areas located just across the East River from New York City.
First Sentence edit
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
Glossary edit
- Ectoplasm: A gel-like material which supposedly helps to summon spirits.
- Denizen: Inhabitant.
- Meritricious: Tawdry, gaudy.
- Bootlegger: Distiller and/or distributor of illegal alcoholic drinks
- Chartreuse: Green-coloured, strong French liqueur
- Duster: Long, buttonless overcoat worn when travelling in open cars
- Hash: Stew
- Hydroplane: Motorboat, usually for racing
- Mint Julep: Cocktail made with mint, bourbon, sugar and water
- Oculist: Optician
- Rotogravure: Printing system using cylindrical press
- Sauterne: Sweet white wine
- Teutonic: Characteristically German
Themes & Symbolism edit
- The Green Light: The green light symbolizes Gatsby's longing for Daisy.
- The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg: The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg symbolize God looking down on the small town and watching the sins of its residents.
- The Defunct Clock: The defunct clock is used as a metaphor for Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship, it no longer functions, and belongs to the past. “Luckily the clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure of his head, whereupon he turned and caught it with trembling fingers, and set it back in place.”
Errata edit
Dan Cody's yacht could not have been threatened by tides from Lake Superior.
There is mention of a news-stand on the lower level and the cold waiting room on the lower level of the Pennsylvania Station. There isn't any lower level at that station.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in National Endowment for the Arts The Big Read Books. (authoritative list)
This is book 18 of 96 in Newsweek's Top 100 Books: The Meta-List. (authoritative list)
Preceded by One Hundred Years of Solitude, and followed by Catch-22.
This book is in Penguin Modern Classics. (edition-based publisher list)
This book is in Time Magazine's 10 Greatest Books of All Time. (authoritative list)
This is book 2 of 93 in Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: The Board's List. (authoritative list)
Preceded by Ulysses, and followed by A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
This is book 13 of 98 in Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: Reader's List. (authoritative list)
Preceded by Catch-22, and followed by Dune.
This is book 699 of 1271 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
Preceded by Mrs. Dalloway, and followed by The Counterfeiters.
This is book 43 of 196 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)
Preceded by Watership Down, and followed by The Count of Monte Cristo.
This is book 25 of 113 in Book Smart Reading List. (community list)
Preceded by Invisible Man, and followed by Cold Mountain.
This book is in TIME Magazine Top 100 English-Language Novels. (community list)
This is book 12 of 96 in Waterstone's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
Preceded by Wild Swans, and followed by Lord of the Flies.
This is book 22 of 95 in Telegraph Top 100 Books, 2008. (authoritative list)
Preceded by Gone With the Wind, and followed by Bleak House.
This is book 20 of 91 in The Novel 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels of All Time, 2004. (authoritative list)
Preceded by One Hundred Years of Solitude, and followed by To the Lighthouse.
This is book 29 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2010). (authoritative list)
Preceded by The Giver, and followed by The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
This is book 1 of 214 in Best English-Language Fiction of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
Followed by 1984.
This book is in Short Books. (community list)
This book is in Best Books of All Time. (community list)
This is book 31 of 194 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2010). (authoritative list)
Preceded by The Hunger Games, and followed by Water for Elephants.
This book is in 100 One-Night Reads: A Book Lover's Guide. (authoritative list)
This book is in Book Lover's Cook Book, The. (authoritative list)
This book is in 100 Fantabulous Book Challenge. (community list)
This is book 32 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2011). (authoritative list)
Preceded by My Sister's Keeper, and followed by The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
This book is in Penguin's Top 100 Classics. (authoritative list)
This book is in Top American Novels of All Times. (community list)
This is book 46 of 99 in Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century. (authoritative list)
Preceded by Under Satan's Sun, and followed by The Joke.
This is book 22 of 100 in 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction. (authoritative list)
Preceded by A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and followed by The Ambassadors.
This is book 2 of 37 in First Edition Library. (edition-based publisher list)
Preceded by For Whom the Bell Tolls, and followed by Go Tell It on the Mountain.
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This is book 33 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2011). (authoritative list)
Preceded by Eat, Pray, Love, and followed by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
This is book 1 of 96 in The Art of Manliness' Essential Man’s Library. (authoritative list)
Followed by The Prince.
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons
Country: United States
Publication Date: April 10, 1925
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 218
Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons
Country: United States
Publication Date: April 10, 1925
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 218
Awards edit
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PS3511.19G7
- Dewey: 813.54
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Movie Connections edit
- The Great Gatsby (1974) (IMDb): Staring Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, Bruce Dern, and Karen Black
- The Great Gatsby (2012) (IMDb): Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan
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