Set in the Jazz Age of 1920s America, The Great Gatsby is about mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his love for beautiful Daisy Buchanan.
The novel explores themes of love, idealism, nostalgia, and betrayal. If you’re looking for a quick summary, video summary, or analysis of The Great Gatsby, look no further.
This blog post will give you everything you need to understand Fitzgerald’s classic novel.
The Great Gatsby Quotes With Page Numbers
The Great Gatsby Summary
The story is told from the point of view of Nick Carraway, a graduate of Yale University who hails from the Midwest.
Following World War I, he relocated to New York City to begin a career in the bond industry. He flashes back to his summer in the East two years later.
Nick moves to Long Island’s fictional community of West Egg in the spring of 1922 to live among the newly rich’s huge mansions.
His cousin Daisy and her gruff, insanely wealthy husband Tom Buchanan reside on the more sophisticated East Egg across the bay.
Nick meets Daisy’s friend Jordan Baker, a famous golfer, at their house for dinner early in the summer and learns that Tom has a lover in New York City.
Daisy tells Nick she is sad in private. He sees his neighbor, Jay Gatsby, standing alone in the dark and reaching out to a green light at Tom and Daisy’s dock as he returns to his West Egg home.
A few days later, Tom presents Nick to his girlfriend, Myrtle Wilson. After first meeting at George’s auto shop, they go to Tom and Myrtle’s Manhattan apartment.
Myrtle’s sister and a few close friends also come. By the end of the night, everyone is very drunk, and Tom, in an argument, punches Myrtle in the face when she speaks about Daisy.
As the summer passes, Nick gets used to the sounds and lights of Gatsby’s Saturday night parties, when the famous and newly rich come to enjoy his well-stocked bar and jazz ensemble.
Gatsby invites Nick to one of these parties, where he meets Jordan and spends the evening with her.
All of the visitors seem to have pessimistic speculations about Gatsby’s history, and he is startled by the host’s seeming absence.
Nick and he eventually cross paths. The guy next to him at the table introduces himself as Gatsby. Gatsby vanishes and asks to talk to Jordan in private.
Jordan is blown away by what he told her upon her return, but she has no choice but to keep it a secret from Nick.
Nick starts dating Jordan Baker and gets to know Gatsby during the summer. Gatsby tries to put an end to the rumors about him. He tells Nick that he comes from a very rich family. He also tells him that he went to Oxford and was a “war hero.”
Nick is suspicious of this. After that, during lunch, he meets Meyer Wolfsheim, Gatsby’s financial partner and the one responsible for fixing the World Series in 1919.
Jordan Baker, Nick’s cousin, informs him over tea that Gatsby had confessed to her during the party that he and Nick’s cousin Daisy had been in love almost five years previously in Louisville.
But Gatsby had left to fight in the war and that she had married Tom Buchanan. He adds that Gatsby bought his West Egg house to be across the bay from her.
After that, at Gatsby’s request, Nick agrees to ask Daisy to his house so he can see her. Soon after, he invites them both over for tea, and Daisy is shocked to see Gatsby again after nearly five years.
After a tense first half an hour together, Nick leaves the meeting to give them some space. When he comes back, they seem to have made up. Daisy visits Gatsby’s huge house next door, where he shows her its stunning chambers.
As time passes, Tom discovers Daisy’s Gatsby connection. Despite disliking the situation, he and his wife attend one of Gatsby’s parties. Daisy hates the party and the stupidity of the new-money people at West Egg.
After the party, Gatsby expresses his disappointment to Nick and tells him he wants Daisy to lie to Tom and say she never loved him so they can get married as if no time has gone.
After that, Gatsby stops throwing crazy parties, and Daisy visits him in the afternoons. On a scorching day, Nick shows up for lunch at the Buchanans’ house, where Gatsby and Jordan are also attending.
After Tom hears Daisy give Gatsby a heartfelt remark in the dining room, Daisy insists on taking a trip into town. Daisy and Gatsby leave in Tom’s blue coupe while Tom drives Jordan and Nick in Gatsby’s garish yellow automobile.
Tom stops for gas at George Wilson’s shop and learns that Wilson and his wife, Myrtle, want to move and head west as soon as they can save up enough money.
This news shakes Tom, and he heads to Manhattan to meet Daisy and Gatsby. Tom talks to Gatsby directly about his relationship with Daisy.
Although Daisy tries to calm them down, Gatsby claims that she has never loved Tom and always loved him. Amid an increasingly heated argument, during which Daisy threatens to leave Tom,
Tom reveals the results of his inquiry into Gatsby’s affairs, including the fact that Gatsby made his fortune through criminal activities, such as selling illegal alcohol to drugstores in Chicago with Wolfsheim after Prohibition was established.
Although Gatsby insists otherwise, it’s clear that Daisy is no longer committed to helping him.
As she and Gatsby leave, Daisy takes the wheel of his automobile. Myrtle, distraught after an intense argument with her husband, ran into the street in front of Gatsby’s automobile, mistaking it for Tom, and was tragically murdered in the collision.
Daisy drives frightened, but witnesses see what happened. Following them closely, Tom stops when he hears the noise and realizes what’s happening.
He is devastated when he discovers his mistress dead in Wilson’s garage. Wilson claims he hit her, but Tom denies it and heads to East Egg. Nick finds Gatsby hidden in the yard as he returns to the Buchanans’ East Egg home.
Gatsby discovers that Daisy is behind the wheel, but he promises to lie and say it is him if his automobile is ever found.
To protect Daisy from Tom’s possible assault, Nick promises to wait outside her house.
The next morning, Nick visits a sad Gatsby at his home. Nick tells him to go because he is worried his automobile will be tracked.
He declines, and later that night, he reveals to Nick that he is from a poor agricultural family and that he met Daisy in Louisville while in the service but could not marry her because of their financial situation. After the war, he started making his amazing fortune through criminal activity, as Tom discovered.
Nick reluctantly heads off to work while Gatsby waits patiently for a call from Daisy. Later that day, George Wilson visits East Egg and learns from Tom that Gatsby is responsible for his wife’s death.
When Wilson arrives at the mansion, he discovers Gatsby relaxing in the pool. Wilson kills Gatsby and then shoots himself.
The Buchanans eventually decide to leave Long Island. Nick plans Gatsby’s funeral, but he is the only one to show up, along with Gatsby’s father.
Jordan Baker tells Nick she’s engaged to another man, and Nick leaves her.
Nick decides to move back to the Midwest, where he was raised, after spending time on the East Coast and becoming disillusioned with his experiences there.
The Great Gatsby Analysis
“The Great Gatsby” is a quintessential novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that unfolds the story of an intriguing millionaire, Jay Gatsby.
He embarks on a journey to reclaim love from his past and seeks the quintessential American Dream during the 1920s in Long Island.
The narrative’s underlying themes encapsulate ambition, class disparity, the contrast between appearances relative to reality, and nostalgia.
A few key features of this narrative are highlighted as follows:
- Centralizing around the character of Jay Gatsby, the novel extensively explores his infatuation with the past. This is evident in his constant attempts to regain his former love, representing his pursuit of the American Dream.
- “The Great Gatsby,” by its narration and setting, offers a vivid portrayal of class differences, particularly in 1920s America. Gatsby’s opulent lifestyle starkly contrasts the less affluent sections of society, bringing the social divide into the limelight.
- An important theme in the narrative is the disparity between appearances and reality. This comes to the fore starkly in the character of Gatsby, who is filled with loneliness and longing despite appearing as the embodiment of success and wealth. This dichotomy puts forth a critique of the superficially glamorous but morally hollow society of the time.
- Ambition is another essential theme in this classic novel. While ostensibly a tale of individual aspiration, “The Great Gatsby” subtly critiques the dark side of ambition when it is driven by materialism and devoid of moral considerations. Gatsby’s ambition drives him to great wealth but also separates him from those he cares about, ultimately leading to his downfall.
- Fitzgerald’s narrative also delves into materialism, symbolized by the cars in the novel. The automobiles serve as metaphors for the characters’ wealth and material obsession, mirroring the larger societal trends of 1920s America.
- The role of foreshadowing is significant in the novel as it hints at Gatsby’s ultimate destiny. For instance, the illuminated green light at the end of Daisy’s dock represents Gatsby’s hope and dreams and foreshadows his tragic end.