The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional towns of West Egg and East Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession with the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan. Considered to be Fitzgerald's magnum opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream.[1][2]
Fitzgeraldâinspired by the parties he had attended while visiting Long Island's North Shoreâbegan planning the novel in 1923, desiring to produce, in his words, 'something newâsomething extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.'[3] Progress was slow, with Fitzgerald completing his first draft following a move to the French Riviera in 1924. His editor, Maxwell Perkins, felt the book was vague and persuaded the author to revise over the following winter. Fitzgerald was repeatedly ambivalent about the book's title and he considered a variety of alternatives, including titles that referred to the Roman character Trimalchio; the title he was last documented to have desired was Under the Red, White, and Blue.
First published by Scribner's in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews and sold poorly; in its first year, the book sold only 20,000 copies. Fitzgerald died in 1940, believing himself to be a failure and his work forgotten. However, the novel experienced a revival during World War II, and became a part of American high school curricula and numerous stage and film adaptations in the following decades. Today, The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary classic and a contender for the title 'Great American Novel.'
Historical context[edit]
Set on the prosperous Long Island of 1922, The Great Gatsby provides a critical social history of America during the Roaring Twenties within its fictional narrative. That era, known for widespread economic prosperity, the development of jazz music, flapper culture, new technologies in communication (motion pictures, broadcast radio, recorded music) forging a genuine mass culture, and bootlegging, along with other criminal activity, is plausibly depicted in Fitzgerald's novel. Fitzgerald uses many of these societal developments of the 1920s to build Gatsby's stories, from many of the simple details like automobiles to broader themes like Fitzgerald's discreet allusions to the organized crime culture which was the source of Gatsby's fortune.[4] Fitzgerald depicts the garish society of the Roaring Twenties by placing the book's plotline within the historical context of the era.[5]
Fitzgerald's visits to Long Island's North Shore and his experience attending parties at mansions inspired The Great Gatsby's setting. Today, there are a number of theories as to which mansion was the inspiration for the book. One possibility is Land's End, a notable Gold Coast Mansion where Fitzgerald may have attended a party.[6] Many of the events in Fitzgerald's early life are reflected throughout The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald was a young man from Minnesota, and, like Nick, who went to Yale, he was educated at an Ivy League school, Princeton. Fitzgerald is also similar to Jay Gatsby in that he fell in love while stationed far from home in the military and fell into a life of decadence trying to prove himself to the girl he loved. Fitzgerald became a second lieutenant and was stationed at Camp Sheridan in Montgomery, Alabama. There he met and fell in love with a wild 17-year-old beauty named Zelda Sayre. Zelda finally agreed to marry him, but her preference for wealth, fun, and leisure led her to delay their wedding until he could prove a success.[7] Like Nick in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald found this new lifestyle seductive and exciting, and, like Gatsby, he had always idolized the very rich.[7] In many ways, The Great Gatsby represents Fitzgerald's attempt to confront his conflicted feelings about the Jazz Age. Like Gatsby, Fitzgerald was driven by his love for a woman who symbolized everything he wanted, even as she led him toward everything he despised.[7]
In her book Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and the Invention of The Great Gatsby (2013), Sarah Churchwell speculates that parts of the ending of The Great Gatsby were based on the Hall-Mills Case.[8] Based on her forensic search for clues, she asserts that the two victims in the Hall-Mills murder case inspired the characters who were murdered in The Great Gatsby.[9]
Plot summary[edit]
In the summer of 1922, Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate from the Midwest and veteran of the Great War âwho serves as the novel's narratorâtakes a job in New York as a bond salesman. He rents a small house on Long Island, in the fictional village of West Egg, next door to the lavish mansion of Jay Gatsby, a mysterious multi-millionaire who holds extravagant parties but does not participate in them. Nick drives around the bay to East Egg for dinner at the home of his beautiful cousin, Daisy Fay Buchanan, and her husband, Tom, a college acquaintance of Nick's. They introduce Nick to Jordan Baker, an attractive, cynical young golfer. She reveals to Nick that Tom has a mistress, Myrtle Wilson, who lives in the 'valley of ashes,'[10] an industrial dumping ground between West Egg and New York City. Not long after this revelation, Nick travels to New York City with Tom to a garage owned by Myrtle's husband George Wilson, before heading to an apartment that Tom uses like a hotel room for Myrtle, as well as other women with whom he also sleeps. At Tom's New York apartment, a vulgar and bizarre party takes place. It ends with Tom physically abusing Myrtle, breaking her nose in the process, after she says Daisy's name several times, which makes him angry.
The Plaza Hotel in the early 1920s
Nick eventually receives an invitation to one of Gatsby's parties. Nick encounters Jordan Baker at the party and they meet Gatsby himself, an aloof and surprisingly young man who recognizes Nick because they were in the same division in the Great War. Through Jordan, Nick later learns that Gatsby knew Daisy through a purely chance meeting in 1917 when Daisy and her friends were doing volunteer service work with young officers headed to Europe. From their brief meetings and casual encounters at that time, Gatsby became (and still is) deeply in love with Daisy. Gatsby had hoped that his wild parties would attract an unsuspecting Daisy, who lived across the bay, to appear at his doorstep and allow him to present himself as a man of wealth and position.
Having developed a budding friendship with Nick, Gatsby uses him to arrange a reunion between himself and Daisy. Nick invites Daisy to have tea at his house without telling her that Gatsby will also be there. After an initially awkward reunion, Gatsby takes Nick and Daisy to his large mansion in an attempt to show Daisy his wealth and sophistication. Daisy, Nick and Gatsby spend the day enjoying all the activities Gatsby can provide and Nick realizes Daisy is still in love with Gatsby. Soon, the two begin an affair. At a luncheon at the Buchanan estate, Daisy speaks to Gatsby with such undisguised intimacy that Tom realizes their affair. Though Tom is himself an adulterer, he is outraged by his wife's infidelity. The group decides to drive to the Plaza Hotel, where Tom confronts Gatsby in his suite, asserting that he and Daisy have a history that Gatsby could never understand. In addition to that, he announces to his wife that Gatsby is a criminal whose fortune comes from bootlegging alcohol and other illegal activities. Daisy decides to stay with Tom, and Tom contemptuously sends her back to East Egg with Gatsby, attempting to prove that Gatsby cannot hurt him.
On the way back, Gatsby's car strikes and kills Tom's mistress, Myrtle. Nick later learns that Daisy, not Gatsby himself, was driving the car at the time of the accident. George falsely concludes that the driver of the yellow car is the secret lover he suspects his wife had. George learns from Tom that the yellow car is Jay Gatsby's. He fatally shoots Gatsby at his pool, and then turns the gun on himself. Nick organizes a funeral for Gatsby, but only one of Gatsby's party-goers and his estranged father, Henry Gatz, attend. None of Gatsby's business associates come nor does Daisy. Nick runs into Tom in New York and learns it was Tom who told George the yellow car belonged to Gatsby, and gave him Gatsby's address. Disillusioned with the East, Nick moves back to the Midwest, having decided not to tell Tom that it was Daisy behind the wheel of the car that killed Myrtle.
Major characters[edit]
Writing and production[edit]
The now-demolished Beacon Towers served as an inspiration for Gatsby's home.
Oheka Castle was another North Shore inspiration for the novel's setting.
Fitzgerald began planning his third novel in June 1922,[4] but it was interrupted by production of his play, The Vegetable, in the summer and fall.[20] The play failed miserably, and Fitzgerald worked that winter on magazine stories struggling to pay his debt caused by the production.[21][22] The stories were, in his words, 'all trash and it nearly broke my heart,'[22] although included among those stories was 'Winter Dreams,' which Fitzgerald later described as 'a sort of first draft of the Gatsby idea.'[23]
After the birth of their only child, Frances Scott 'Scottie' Fitzgerald, the Fitzgeralds moved to Great Neck, New York, on Long Island, in October 1922. The town was used as the scene of The Great Gatsby.[24] Fitzgerald's neighbors in Great Neck included such prominent and newly wealthy New Yorkers as writer Ring Lardner, actor Lew Fields, and comedian Ed Wynn.[4] These figures were all considered to be 'new money,' unlike those who came from Manhasset Neck or Cow Neck Peninsulaâplaces that were home to many of New York's wealthiest established families, and which sat across the bay from Great Neck. This real-life juxtaposition gave Fitzgerald his idea for 'West Egg' and 'East Egg.' In this novel, Great Neck (King's Point) became the 'new money' peninsula of West Egg and Port Washington (Sands Point) the old-money East Egg.[25] Several mansions in the area served as inspiration for Gatsby's home, such as Oheka Castle[26] and Beacon Towers, since demolished.[27]
By mid-1923, Fitzgerald had written 18,000 words for his novel,[28] but discarded most of his new story as a false start. Some of it, however, resurfaced in the 1924 short story 'Absolution.'[4][29]
Perk every level new vegas. Work on The Great Gatsby began in earnest in April 1924. Fitzgerald wrote in his ledger, 'Out of woods at last and starting novel.'[22] He decided to make a departure from the writing process of his previous novels and told Perkins that the novel was to be a 'consciously artistic achievement'[30] and a 'purely creative workânot trashy imaginings as in my stories but the sustained imagination of a sincere and yet radiant world.'[31] He added later, during editing, that he felt 'an enormous power in me now, more than I've ever had.'[32] Soon after this burst of inspiration, work slowed while the Fitzgeralds made a move to the French Riviera, where a serious crisis in their relationship soon developed.[22] By August, however, Fitzgerald was hard at work and completed what he believed to be his final manuscript in October, sending the book to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, and agent, Harold Ober, on October 30.[22] The Fitzgeralds then moved to Rome for the winter.[33] Fitzgerald made revisions through the winter after Perkins informed him in a November letter that the character of Gatsby was 'somewhat vague' and Gatsby's wealth and business, respectively, needed 'the suggestion of an explanation' and should be 'adumbrated.'[34]
Content after a few rounds of revision, Fitzgerald returned the final batch of revised galleys in the middle of February 1925.[35] Fitzgerald's revisions included an extensive rewriting of Chapter VI and VIII.[22] Despite this, he refused an offer of $10,000 for the serial rights in order not to delay the book's publication.[22] He had received a $3,939 advance in 1923[36] and $1,981.25 upon publication.[37]
Cover art[edit]
The cover of the first printing of The Great Gatsby is among the most celebrated pieces of art in American literature.[38] It depicts disembodied eyes and a mouth over a blue skyline, with images of naked women reflected in the irises. A little-known artist named Francis Cugat was commissioned to illustrate the book while Fitzgerald was in the midst of writing it.[38] The cover was completed before the novel; Fitzgerald was so enamored with it that he told his publisher he had 'written it into' the novel.[38] Fitzgerald's remarks about incorporating the painting into the novel led to the interpretation that the eyes are reminiscent of those of fictional optometrist Dr. T. J. Eckleburg[39] (depicted on a faded commercial billboard near George Wilson's auto repair shop), which Fitzgerald described as 'blue and giganticâtheir retinas[note 2] are one yard high. They look out of no face, but instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose.' Although this passage has some resemblance to the painting, a closer explanation can be found in the description of Daisy Buchanan as the 'girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs.'[38]Ernest Hemingway wrote in A Moveable Feast that when Fitzgerald lent him a copy of The Great Gatsby to read, he immediately disliked the cover, but 'Scott told me not to be put off by it, that it had to do with a billboard along a highway in Long Island that was important in the story. He said he had liked the jacket and now he didn't like it.'[40]
Title[edit]
Fitzgerald had difficulty choosing a title for his novel and entertained many choices before reluctantly choosing The Great Gatsby,[41] a title inspired by Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes.[42] Previously he had shifted between Gatsby, Among Ash-Heaps and Millionaires, Trimalchio,[41]Trimalchio in West Egg,[43]On the Road to West Egg,[43]Under the Red, White, and Blue,[41]The Gold-Hatted Gatsby,[41][43] and The High-Bouncing Lover.[41][43] The titles The Gold-Hatted Gatsby and The High-Bouncing Lover came from Fitzgerald's epigraph for the novel, one which he wrote himself under the pen name of Thomas Parke D'Invilliers.[44] He initially preferred titles referencing Trimalchio, the crude parvenu in Petronius's Satyricon, and even refers to Gatsby as Trimalchio once in the novel: 'It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday nightâand, as obscurely as it had begun, his career as Trimalchio was over.'[45] Unlike Gatsby's spectacular parties, Trimalchio participated in the audacious and libidinous orgies he hosted but, according to Tony Tanner's introduction to the Penguin edition, there are subtle similarities between the two.[46]
In November 1924, Fitzgerald wrote to Perkins that 'I have now decided to stick to the title I put on the book .. Trimalchio in West Egg,'[47] but was eventually persuaded that the reference was too obscure and that people would not be able to pronounce it.[48] His wife, Zelda, and Perkins both expressed their preference for The Great Gatsby and the next month Fitzgerald agreed.[49] A month before publication, after a final review of the proofs, he asked if it would be possible to re-title it Trimalchio or Gold-Hatted Gatsby but Perkins advised against it. On March 19, 1925,[50] Fitzgerald expressed intense enthusiasm for the title Under the Red, White and Blue, but it was at that stage too late to change.[51][52]The Great Gatsby was published on April 10, 1925.[53] Fitzgerald remarked that 'the title is only fair, rather bad than good.'[54]
Early drafts of the novel have been published under the title Trimalchio: An Early Version of The Great Gatsby.[55][56] A notable difference between the Trimalchio draft and The Great Gatsby is a less complete failure of Gatsby's dream in Trimalchio. Another difference is that the argument between Tom Buchanan and Gatsby is more even,[57] although Daisy still returns to Tom.
Themes[edit]
Sarah Churchwell sees The Great Gatsby as a 'cautionary tale of the decadent downside of the American dream.'[58] The story deals with the limits and realities of America's ideals of social and class mobility, and the inevitably hopeless lower class aspirations to rise above the station(s) of their birth. The book in stark relief through the narrator, Nick Carraway, observes that: '.. a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.'[59] Using elements of irony and tragic ending, it also delves into themes of excesses of the rich and recklessness of youth.[60][61]
Journalist Nick Gillespie sees The Great Gatsby as a story of the underlying permanence of class differences, even 'in the face of a modern economy based not on status and inherited position but on innovation and an ability to meet ever-changing consumer needs.'[62] This interpretation asserts that The Great Gatsby captures the American experience because it is a story about change and those who resist it, whether the change comes in the form of a new wave of immigrants (Southern Europeans in the early 20th century, Latin Americans today), the nouveau riche, or successful minorities. Americans from the 1920s to the 21st century have plenty of experience with changing economic and social circumstances. As Gillespie states, 'While the specific terms of the equation are always changing, it's easy to see echoes of Gatsby's basic conflict between established sources of economic and cultural power and upstarts in virtually all aspects of American society.'[62] Because this can be seen throughout American history, readers are able to relate to The Great Gatsby, which has lent the novel an enduring popularity.[62]
Later critical writings on The Great Gatsby, following the novel's revival, focus in particular on Fitzgerald's disillusionment with the American Dreamâlife, liberty and the pursuit of happinessâin the context of the hedonistic Jazz Age, a name for the era which Fitzgerald said he had coined. In 1970, Roger Pearson published 'Gatsby: False prophet of the American Dream,' in which he states that Fitzgerald 'has come to be associated with this concept of the AMERICAN Dream more than any other writer of the twentieth century.'[63] Pearson goes on to suggest that Gatsby's failure to realize the American dream demonstrates that it no longer exists except in the minds of those as materialistic as Gatsby. He concludes that the American dream pursued by Gatsby 'is, in reality, a nightmare,' bringing nothing but discontent and disillusionment to those who chase it as they realize that it is unsustainable and ultimately unattainable.
It has been many years and its been on my mind. And so is everyone else. Im sure others do as well. The stomping land download. But its gone. If anything, please update your game again.
In addition to exploring the trials and tribulations of achieving the great American dream during the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby explores societal gender expectations as a theme, exemplifying in Daisy Buchanan's character the marginalization of women in the East Egg social class that Fitzgerald depicts. As an upper-class white woman living in East Egg during this time period, Daisy must adhere to certain societal expectations, including but certainly not limited to actively filling the role of dutiful wife, mother, keeper of the house, and charming socialite. As the reader finds in the novel, many of Daisy's choices, ultimately culminating in the tragedy of the plot and misery for all those involved, can be at least partly attributed to her prescribed role as a 'beautiful little fool' who is completely reliant on her husband for financial and societal security. For instance, one could argue that Daisy's ultimate decision to remain with her husband despite her feelings for Gatsby can be attributed to the status, security, and comfort that her marriage to Tom Buchanan provides. Additionally, the theme of the female familial role within The Great Gatsby goes hand in hand with that of the ideal family unit associated with the great American dreamâa dream that goes unrealized for Gatsby and Daisy in Fitzgerald's prose.[64]
21st-century criticism of Gatsby seeks to place the novel and its characters in historical context almost 100 years after its original publication, showing that Gatsby is still largely influential culturally and academically. For example, it has been argued that Jay Gatsby and The Great Gatsby can be viewed as the personification and representation of human-caused climate change, as 'Gatsbyâs life depends on many human-centered, selfish endeavors' which are 'in some part responsible for Earthâs current ecological crisis.'[65]
Symbolism[edit]
The green light that shines at the end of the dock of Daisy's house across the Sound from Gatsby's house is frequently mentioned in the background of the plot. It has variously been interpreted as a symbol of Gatsby's longing for Daisy and, more broadly, of the American dream.[66]
Reception[edit]
The Great Gatsby was published by Charles Scribner's Sons on April 10, 1925. Fitzgerald called Perkins on the day of publication to monitor reviews: 'Any news?'[22] 'Sales situation doubtful,' read a wire from Perkins on April 20, '[but] excellent reviews.' Fitzgerald responded on April 24, saying the cable 'depressed' him, closing the letter with 'Yours in great depression.'[67] Fitzgerald had hoped the novel would be a great commercial success, perhaps selling as many as 75,000 copies.[67] By October, when the original sale had run its course, the book had sold fewer than 20,000 copies.[22][61][67] Despite this, Scribner's continually kept the book in print; they carried the original edition on their trade list until 1946, by which time Gatsby was in print in three other forms and the original edition was no longer needed.[22] Fitzgerald received letters of praise from contemporaries T. S. Eliot, Edith Wharton, and Willa Cather regarding the novel; however, this was private opinion, and Fitzgerald feverishly demanded the public recognition of reviewers and readers.[22]
The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews from literary critics of the day. Generally the most effusive of the positive reviews was Edwin Clark of The New York Times, who felt the novel was 'A curious book, a mystical, glamourous [sic] story of today.'[68] Similarly, Lillian C. Ford of the Los Angeles Times wrote, '[the novel] leaves the reader in a mood of chastened wonder,' calling the book 'a revelation of life' and 'a work of art.'[69]The New York Post called the book 'fascinating .. His style fairly scintillates, and with a genuine brilliance; he writes surely and soundly.'[70] The New York Herald Tribune was less impressed, referring to The Great Gatsby as 'purely ephemeral phenomenon, but it contains some of the nicest little touches of contemporary observation you could imagine-so light, so delicate, so sharp .. a literary lemon meringue.'[71] In The Chicago Daily Tribune, H. L. Mencken called the book 'in form no more than a glorified anecdote, and not too probable at that,' while praising the book's 'careful and brilliant finish.'[72]
Several writers felt that the novel left much to be desired following Fitzgerald's previous works and promptly criticized him. Harvey Eagleton of The Dallas Morning News believed the novel signaled the end of Fitzgerald's success: 'One finishes Great Gatsby with a feeling of regret, not for the fate of the people in the book, but for Mr. Fitzgerald.'[73] John McClure of The Times-Picayune said that the book was unconvincing, writing, 'Even in conception and construction, The Great Gatsby seems a little raw.'[74] Ralph Coghlan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch felt the book lacked what made Fitzgerald's earlier novels endearing and called the book 'a minor performance .. At the moment, its author seems a bit bored and tired and cynical.'[75] Ruth Snyder of New York Evening World called the book's style 'painfully forced,' noting that the editors of the paper were 'quite convinced after reading The Great Gatsby that Mr. Fitzgerald is not one of the great American writers of to-day.'[76] The reviews struck Fitzgerald as completely missing the point: 'All the reviews, even the most enthusiastic, not one had the slightest idea what the book was about.'[22]
Fitzgerald's goal was to produce a literary work which would truly prove himself as a writer,[77] and Gatsby did not have the commercial success of his two previous novels, This Side of Paradise and The Beautiful and Damned. Although the novel went through two initial printings, some of these copies remained unsold years later.[78] Fitzgerald himself blamed poor sales on the fact that women tended to be the main audience for novels during this time, and Gatsby did not contain an admirable female character.[78] According to his own ledger, now made available online by University of South Carolina's Thomas Cooper library, he earned only $2,000 from the book.[79] Although 1926 brought Owen Davis' stage adaption and the Paramount-issued silent film version, both of which brought in money for the author, Fitzgerald still felt the novel fell short of the recognition he hoped for and, most importantly, would not propel him to becoming a serious novelist in the public eye.[22] For several years afterward, the general public believed The Great Gatsby to be nothing more than a nostalgic period piece.[22]
Controversy[edit]
Like many of Fitzgerald's works, The Great Gatsby has been accused of displaying anti-Semitism through the use of Jewish stereotypes.[80] The book describes Meyer Wolfsheim as 'a small, flat-nosed Jew,' with 'tiny eyes' and 'two fine growths of hair' in his nostrils, while his nose is described as 'expressive,' 'tragic,' and able to 'flash..indignantly.'[81] A dishonest and corrupt profiteer who assisted Gatsby's bootlegging operations and spearheaded the Black Sox scandal, Wolfsheim has also been seen as representing the Jewish miser stereotype. Richard Levy, author of Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution, claims that Wolfsheim 'pointedly connected Jewishness and crookedness.'[81] In a 1947 article for Commentary, Milton Hindus, an assistant professor of humanities at the University of Chicago, stated that while believed the book was 'excellent' on balance, Wolfsheim 'is easily its most obnoxious character,' and 'the novel reads very much like an anti-Semitic document.' Hindus argued that the Jewish stereotypes displayed by Wolfsheim was typical of the time period in which the novel was written and set, and that any anti-Semitism was of the 'habitual, customary, 'harmless,' unpolitical variety.'[81]
In the 2013 film adaptation of the book, director Baz Luhrmann admitted that the ethnic stereotypes were problematic for casting Wolfsheim's part. The role eventually went to Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan, but David Denby noted in The New Yorker that 'the gangster's name remains Wolfsheim and Tom later refers to him as 'that kike.' '[81] A 2015 article by Arthur Krystal agreed with Hindus' assessment that Fitzgerald's use of Jewish caricatures was not driven by malice and merely reflected commonly-held beliefs of his time. He notes the accounts of Frances Kroll, a Jewish woman and secretary to Fitzgerald, who claimed that Fitzgerald was hurt by accusations of anti-Semitism and responded to critiques of Wolfsheim by claiming that he merely 'fulfilled a function in the story and had nothing to do with race or religion.'[80] This claim is further supported by evidence that Wolfsheim was based on real-life Jewish gambler Arnold Rothstein.[80]
Legacy and modern analysis[edit]
In 1940, Fitzgerald suffered a third and fatal heart attack, and died believing his work forgotten.[82] His obituary in The New York Times mentioned Gatsby as Fitzgerald 'at his best.'[83] A strong appreciation for the book had developed in underground circles; future writers Edward Newhouse and Budd Schulberg were deeply affected by it and John O'Hara showed the book's influence.[84] The republication of Gatsby in Edmund Wilson's edition of The Last Tycoon in 1941 produced an outburst of comment, with the general consensus expressing the sentiment that the book was an enduring work of fiction.[22]
In 1942, a group of publishing executives created the Council on Books in Wartime. The Council's purpose was to distribute paperback books to soldiers fighting in the Second World War. The Great Gatsby was one of these books. The books proved to be 'as popular as pin-up girls' among the soldiers, according to the Saturday Evening Post's contemporary report.[85] 155,000 copies of Gatsby were distributed to soldiers overseas.[86]
By 1944, full-length articles on Fitzgerald's works were being published, and the following year, 'the opinion that Gatsby was merely a period piece had almost entirely disappeared.'[22] This revival was paved by interest shown by literary critic Edmund Wilson, who was Fitzgerald's friend.[87] In 1951, Arthur Mizener published The Far Side of Paradise, a biography of Fitzgerald.[88] He emphasized The Great Gatsby's positive reception by literary critics, which may have influenced public opinion and renewed interest in it.[89]
By 1960, the book was steadily selling 50,000 copies per year, and renewed interest led by now The New York Times editorialist Mizener to proclaim the novel 'a classic of twentieth-century American fiction.'[22]The Great Gatsby has sold over 25 million copies worldwide as of 2013, annually sells an additional 500,000 copies, and is Scribner's most popular title; in 2013, the e-book alone sold 185,000 copies.[82]
Scribner's copyright will expire on January 1, 2021, when all works published in 1925 enter the public domain in the United States.
Adaptations[edit]
Cover of the first edition of Gatsby il magnifico, The Great Gatsby's Italian-language edition, as published by Mondadori in 1936.
Ballet[edit]
Computer games[edit]
Film and television[edit]
The Great Gatsby has resulted in a number of film and television adaptations:
Literature[edit]
Opera[edit]
The New York Metropolitan Opera commissioned John Harbison to compose an operatic treatment of the novel to commemorate the 25th anniversary of James Levine's debut. The work, called The Great Gatsby, premiered on December 20, 1999.[103]
Radio[edit]
Theater[edit]
See also[edit]Notes[edit]
References[edit]
Bibliography[edit]
Further reading[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Great_Gatsby&oldid=903264930'
The Great Gatsby is a 2013 romanticdrama film based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel of the same name. The film was co-written and directed by Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the eponymous Jay Gatsby, with Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Debicki.[4]Jay-Z served as executive producer. Production began in 2011 and took place in Australia, with a $105 million net production budget. The film follows the life and times of millionaire Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio) and his neighbor Nick Carraway (Maguire), who recounts his encounter with Gatsby at the height of the Roaring Twenties on Long Island.
The film polarized critics, receiving both praise and criticism for its acting performances, soundtrack, visual style, and direction. Audiences responded more positively[5] and Fitzgerald's granddaughter praised the film, stating 'Scott would have been proud.'[6] As of 2017, it is Luhrmann's highest-grossing film, grossing over $353 million worldwide.[7] At the 86th Academy Awards, the film won in both of its nominated categories: Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.
Plot[edit]
In December 1929, Nick Carraway, a World War I veteran, is receiving treatment at a psychiatric hospital. He talks about Jay Gatsby, the most hopeful man he had ever met. Nick's doctor suggests that he write his thoughts down, since writing is Nick's passion. Nick then begins to catalog the events to his doctor.
In the summer of 1922, Nick moves from the Midwest to New York after abandoning writing. He rents a small groundskeeper's cottage in the North Shore village of West Egg, next to the mansion of Gatsby, a mysterious business magnate who often holds extravagant parties. Nick has dinner with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her husband, Tom; Daisy plays matchmaker between Nick and another guest, Jordan Baker. When Nick returns home, he sees Gatsby standing on the harbor, reaching towards a green light coming from the Buchanan dock.
Jordan tells Nick that Tom has a mistress who lives in the 'Valley of Ashes', an industrial dumping site between West Egg and the City. Tom takes Nick there, stopping at a garage owned by George and Myrtle Wilson, Tom's mistress.
Nick receives an invitation to one of Gatsby's parties. Upon arrival, Nick learns he is the only one to receive an invitation and none of the guests have ever met Gatsby. Nick encounters Jordan, and both meet Gatsby. Gatsby later takes Nick to Manhattan for lunch. On the way, Gatsby tells Nick he is an Oxford graduate and war hero from a wealthy Midwestern family. They go to a speakeasy, where Gatsby introduces Nick to his business partner, Meyer Wolfsheim.
Jordan tells Nick how US Army Captain Gatsby started a relationship with Daisy in 1917, just before the US entered the war, and is still in love with her; he throws parties in the hope that Daisy might attend. Gatsby asks Nick to invite Daisy to tea. After an awkward reunion, Gatsby and Daisy begin an affair. Gatsby is dismayed when Daisy wants to run away with him, preferring that she get a proper divorce. He asks Nick and Jordan to accompany him to the Buchanan home, where he and Daisy plan to tell Tom that Daisy is leaving him. During the luncheon, Tom becomes suspicious of Gatsby and Daisy, but Daisy stops Gatsby from revealing anything to Tom and suggests they all go to the Plaza Hotel. Tom drives Nick and Jordan in Gatsby's car, while Gatsby drives Daisy in Tom's car. Tom stops for gas at George's garage, where George tells him that he and Myrtle are moving and that he suspects Myrtle is unfaithful.
At the Plaza, Gatsby tells Tom of his affair with Daisy. Tom accuses Gatsby of having never attended Oxford and having made his fortune through bootlegging with mobsters. Daisy says she loves Gatsby but cannot bring herself to say she never loved Tom. Eventually, both Gatsby and Daisy leave. After fighting with George over her infidelity, Myrtle runs into the street and is fatally struck by Gatsby's car after mistaking it for Tom's. After learning about Myrtle's death, Tom tells George that the car belongs to Gatsby and that he suspects Gatsby was Myrtle's lover. Nick deduces Daisy was driving when the accident happened. Nick overhears Daisy accepting Tom's promise to take care of everything, but he does not tell Gatsby. Gatsby admits to Nick that he was born penniless; his real name is James Gatz, and he had asked Daisy to wait for him until he had made something of himself after the war; instead, she married Tom, âAmerica's Wealthiest Bachelorâ, just seven months after the war ended.
The next day, Gatsby hears the phone ringing and thinks it is Daisy. Before he can answer it, he is shot and killed by a vengeful George, who then commits suicide. Nick is the only person other than reporters, to attend Gatsby's funeral, as Daisy and Tom are leaving New York. The media paints Gatsby as Myrtle's lover and killer, with this false and negative image of Gatsby's life and death infuriating Nick; at the top of stairs at Gatsby's mansion, he yells at them and kicks the press reporters out of the house . Disgusted with both the city and its inhabitants, Nick leaves after taking a final walk through Gatsby's deserted mansion and reflecting on Gatsby's ability to hope. In the sanatorium, Nick finishes typing his memoir, titling it The Great Gatsby.
Cast[edit]
Production[edit]Development[edit]
Prior to this version, there had already been an opera and numerous other dramatic adaptations of F. Scott Fitzgerald's acclaimed 1925 novel of the same name.[8] In December 2008, Variety reported that this film adaptation was to be made with Baz Luhrmann as director.
Luhrmann stated that he planned it to be more up-to-date due to its theme of criticizing the often irresponsible lifestyles of wealthy people.[9] To commit to the project, in September 2010 Luhrmann moved with his family from Australia to Chelsea in Lower Manhattan, where he had intended to film The Great Gatsby.[10] While Luhrmann was at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2011, he told The Hollywood Reporter that he had been workshopping The Great Gatsby in 3D, though he had not yet decided whether to shoot in the format.[11] In late January 2011, Luhrmann showed doubt about staying on board with the project,[12] before deciding to stay.
In 2010, it was reported that the film was being set up by Sony Pictures Entertainment[13] but by 2011, Warner Bros. was close to acquiring a deal to finance and take worldwide distribution of The Great Gatsby.[14]
Casting[edit]
From left to right: Joel Edgerton, director Baz Luhrmann, Elizabeth Debicki, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, and producer and designer Catherine Martin at the premiere of The Great Gatsby in Sydney, May 22, 2013
Luhrmann said the results from the movie's workshop process of auditioning actors for roles in The Great Gatsby had been 'very encouraging' to him. Leonardo DiCaprio was cast first, in the title role of Jay Gatsby. It is the second time Luhrmann and DiCaprio worked together; DiCaprio costarred in Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996). Tobey Maguire was cast to play Nick Carraway.[15] Reports linked Amanda Seyfried to the lead role of Daisy Buchanan, in October 2010.[16] The next month Deadline Hollywood reported that Luhrmann had been auditioning numerous actresses, including Seyfried, Keira Knightley, Rebecca Hall, Blake Lively, Abbie Cornish, Michelle Williams and Scarlett Johansson, as well as considering Natalie Portman, for Daisy.[13] Soon afterward, with her commitment to Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo (2011), Johansson pulled out.[17]
On November 15, Luhrmann announced that Carey Mulligan had been cast to play Daisy after reading for the part on 2 November in New York.[15] She got the role shortly after Luhrmann showed her audition footage to Sony Pictures Entertainment executives Amy Pascal and Doug Belgrad, who were impressed by the actress' command of the character.[15] Mulligan burst into tears after learning of her casting via a phone call from Luhrmann, who informed her of his decision while she was on the red carpet at an event in New York. Luhrmann said: 'I was privileged to explore the character with some of the world's most talented actresses, each one bringing their own particular interpretation, all of which were legitimate and exciting. However, specific to this particular production of The Great Gatsby, I was thrilled to pick up the phone an hour ago to the young Oscar-nominated British actress Carey Mulligan and say to her: 'Hello, Daisy Buchanan.'[15]
In April 2011, Ben Affleck was in talks about playing the role of Tom Buchanan but had to pass due to a scheduling conflict with Argo (2012).[18]Bradley Cooper had previously lobbied for the part[19] and Luke Evans was a major contender.[20] In May, Joel Edgerton was confirmed in the part of Tom.[19]Isla Fisher was cast to play Myrtle Wilson.[21] Australian newcomer Elizabeth Debicki won the part of Jordan Baker.[22][23]
While casting for the supporting role of Jordan, the filmmaker said the character must be 'as thoroughly examined as Daisy, for this production, for this time', adding, 'It's like Olivier's Hamlet was the right Hamlet for his time. Who would Hamlet be today? Same with a Jordan or a Daisy'.[24] In June 2011, Jason Clarke was cast as George B. Wilson.[25] Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan makes a cameo appearance as Meyer Wolfshiem; this was his first Hollywood role.[26]
Screenplay[edit]
Breanne L. Healman noted five key changes made in the novel's plot: Nick Carraway is writing from a sanitarium, having checked himself in some time after the summer with Gatsby; he flirts with Jordan Baker but, unlike what happens in the novel, he's 'too smitten with Gatsby to notice her'; Gatsby himself makes a grand entrance, whereas in the novel a few hours pass as they talk before Carraway realizes who he is; some of the racism or anti-Semitism has been toned down or removed; finally, Gatsby dies thinking his pursuit of Daisy was successful.[27]
Filming[edit]
St Patrick's Seminary in Manly, New South Wales was used as Gatsby's mansion. Palm trees had to be digitally removed in post-production to convey a faithfulness to the Long Island setting.[28]
The Great Gatsby was planned to be filmed in the New York City area where the novel is set, starting in June 2011.[10] The director instead opted to shoot principal photography in Sydney. Filming began on September 5, 2011, at Fox Studios Australia and finished on December 22, 2011, with additional shots filmed in January 2012.[29][30] The film was shot with Red Epic digital cameras and Zeiss Ultra Prime lenses.[31] The 'Valley of Ashes', the desolate land located between West Egg and New York was shot in Balmain, New South Wales and Manly Business School in Manlyâknown as Saint Patrick's Seminaryâdoubled as Gatsby's mansion. Nick's house was located in Centennial Park.[28]
Sets[edit]
Beacon Towers in 1922, during the period that Fitzgerald would have known it
In creating the background scenery for the world depicted in the film, designer Catherine Martin stated that the team styled the interior sets of Jay Gatsby's mansion with gilded opulence, in a style that blended establishment taste with Art Deco.[32] The long-destroyed Beacon Towers, thought by scholars to have partially inspired Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby estate, was used as a main inspiration for Gatsby's home in the film.[32][33] The filming for the exterior of Jay Gatsby's mansion was the college building of the International College of Management, Sydney,[34] Some inspiration was also drawn from other Gold Coast, Long Island, mansions, including Oheka Castle and La Selva Mansion.[35] Features evoking the Long Island mansions were added in post-production.[35]
Inspiration for the Buchanan estate came from Old Westbury Gardens in Old Westbury, New York.
The inspiration for the film version of the Buchanan estate came from Old Westbury Gardens.[32] The mansion exterior was built on a soundstage, with digital enhancements added.[35] The interior sets for the Buchanan mansion were inspired by the style of Hollywood Regency.[32]
The home of Nick Carraway was conceived as an intimate cottage, in contrast with the grandeur of the neighboring Gatsby mansion. Objects chosen adhered to a central theme of what the designers saw as classic Long Island. The architecture conjures American Arts and Crafts, with Gustav Stickley-type furnishings inside and an Adirondack-style swing out.[35]
The opening scene was filmed from Rivendell Child, Adolescent and Family Unit in Concord, Sydney, only a few kilometres from Sydney 2000 Olympic Stadium.
Costumes[edit]
Many apparel designers were approached in collaboration of the film's costumes. The Great Gatsby achieved the iconic 1920s look by altering pieces from the Prada and Miu Miu fashion archives. Martin also collaborated with Brooks Brothers for the costumes worn by the male cast members and extras. Tiffany & Co. provided the jewelry for the film. Catherine Martin and Miuccia Prada were behind the wardrobe and worked closely together to create pieces with 'the European flair that was emerging amongst the aristocratic East Coast crowds in the 1920s'.[citation needed]
Costume historians of the period, however, said that the costumes were not authentic, but instead modernized the 1920s-era fashions to look more like modern fashions. Most prominently, the women were clothed to emphasize their breasts, such as Daisy's push-up bra, in contrast to the flat-chested fashions of the era. While the book was set in 1922, the movie included fashions from the entire decade of the 1920s and even the 1930s. Many of the fashions from archives were concepts from runways and fashion magazines that were never worn by women in real life. Martin says that she took the styles of the 1920s and made them sexier and was trying to interpret 1920s styles for a modern audience. Alice Jurow, of the Art Deco Society of California, said that she loved the movie, but most of their members prefer more period-perfect films. The men's costumes were more authentic, except that the pants were too tight.[36]
Release and marketing[edit]
Originally scheduled for a December 25, 2012 release, on August 6, 2012, it was reported that the film was being moved to a summer 2013 release date.[37] In September 2012, this date was confirmed to be May 10, 2013. The film opened the 66th Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2013,[38] shortly following its wide release in RealD 3D and 2D formats.[citation needed]
The first trailer for The Great Gatsby was released on May 22, 2012,[39] almost a year before the film's release. Songs featured in various trailers include: 'No Church in the Wild' by Jay-Z and Kanye West; a cover of U2's 'Love Is Blindness' performed by Jack White; a cover of The Turtles' 'Happy Together' by the band Filter; a cover of Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black' performed by André 3000 and Beyoncé; 'Young and Beautiful' performed by Lana Del Rey; and two songs, 'Bedroom Hymns' and 'Over the Love', performed by Florence and the Machine.[40]
On April 15, 2013, Brooks Brothers premiered 'The Gatsby Collection', a line of men's clothing, shoes and accessories 'inspired by the costumes designed by Catherine Martin for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby'. According to Fashion Weekly, 'The looks weren't simply based on 1920s style: the new duds were designed based on the brand's actual archives [..] Brooks Brothers was one of the initial arbiters of Gatsby-era look. The actual costumes, designed by Catherine Martin, will be on display in select Brooks Brothers boutiques.'[41][42]
On April 17, 2013, Tiffany & Co. unveiled windows at its Fifth Avenue flagship store 'inspired by' Luhrmann's film and created in collaboration with Luhrmann and costumer Catherine Martin. The jewelry store also premiered 'The Great Gatsby Collection' line of jewelry designed in anticipation of the film. The collection comprises 7 pieces: a brooch, a headpiece (both reportedly based on archival Tiffany designs), a necklace and four different rings, including one in platinum with a 5.25-carat diamond, priced at US$875,000.[43][44][45]
Soundtrack[edit]
Released on May 7, the film's soundtrack is also available in a deluxe edition; a Target exclusive release also features three extra tracks.[40] The film score was executive-produced by Jay-Z[46] and The Bullitts.[47]
Penned by Lana Del Rey and the film's director, Baz Luhrmann, the song 'Young and Beautiful' was released to contemporary hit radio as a single, and was used as the film's buzz single.[48] A snippet of the track appeared in the official trailer for the film and played during the scene where the characters portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan express their romantic feelings for one another.[49]Hip hop magazine Rap-Up called the single 'haunting',[48] while MTV called it 'somber-sounding'.[49] The track performed by Florence and the Machine, 'Over the Love', references the 'green light' symbol from the novel in its lyrics.[46] Chris Payne of Billboard praised Beyoncé and André 3000's cover of 'Back to Black', made unique with a downtempoEDM wobble.[46]The xx recorded 'Together' for the film, with Jamie Smith telling MTV that the band's contribution to the soundtrack sounds like 'despair',[50] and revealing that it utilizes a 60-piece orchestra.
Speaking of his goals for the movie's musical backdrop, Baz Luhrmann expressed his desire to blend the music of the Jazz Age, associated with the 1922 setting of the story, with a modern spin. Much like his modern twists applied in Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet, Baz uses the movie's music not as a background, but instead prominently in the foreground, which takes on a character of its own.[51]
Reception[edit]Box office[edit]
The Great Gatsby grossed $144.8 million in North America, and $208.8 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $353.6 million.[3] Calculating in all expenses, Deadline Hollywood estimated that the film made a profit of $58.6 million.[52]
In North America, The Great Gatsby earned US$19.4 million on its opening Friday, including US$3.25 million from Thursday night and midnight shows.[53] It went on to finish in second place, behind Iron Man 3, during its opening weekend, with US$51.1 million.[54] This was the sixth-largest opening weekend for a film that did not debut in first place,[55] the second largest opening weekend for a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio behind Inception,[56] and Luhrmann's highest-grossing movie.[57]
Critical response[edit]
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 48% based on 283 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, 'While certainly ambitiousâand every bit as visually dazzling as one might expectâBaz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby emphasizes visual splendor at the expense of its source material's vibrant heart.'[58]Metacritic gives the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on reviews from 45 critics, indicating 'mixed or average reviews'.[59] Audiences polled by the market research firm CinemaScore gave an average grade of 'B' on an A+ to F scale.[53]
Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal felt the elaborate production designs were a misfire and likened the film to the Roaring Twenties themselves as Fitzgerald envisioned and criticized them, stating that what is 'intractably wrong with the film is that there's no reality to heighten; it's a spectacle in search of a soul.'[60] The Chicago Reader review felt 'Luhrmann is exactly the wrong person to adapt such a delicately rendered story, and his 3D feature plays like a ghastly Roaring 20s blowout at a sorority house.'[61] In The Atlantic, Christopher Orr observed that 'The problem is that when the movie is entertaining it's not Gatsby, and when it's Gatsby it's not entertaining.'[62]
The positive reviews included A. O. Scott of The New York Times, who felt the adaptation was 'a lot of fun' and 'less a conventional movie adaptation than a splashy, trashy opera, a wayward, lavishly theatrical celebration of the emotional and material extravagance that Fitzgerald surveyed with fascinated ambivalence'; Scott advised 'the best way to enjoy the film is to put aside whatever literary agenda you are tempted to bring with you.'[63]Ty Burr of The Boston Globe reserved special praise for DiCaprio's performance, saying 'magnificent is the only word to describe this performance â the best movie Gatsby by far, superhuman in his charm and connections, the host of revels beyond imagining, and at his heart an insecure fraud whose hopes are pinned to a woman.'[64]
The Scene Magazine gave the movie a 'B-' rating, and praised the actors' performances, in particular saying that 'the stand-out actor is Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan doing an excellent job of showing the character's gruffness, despite the one-dimensionality given to him'.[65] A granddaughter of Fitzgerald praised the style and music of the film.[66]
Tobey Maguire's role as Nick was given mixed reviews from critics, with Philip French of The Guardian calling him 'miscast or misdirected;'[67] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post saying 'Tobey Maguire is his usual recessive presence, barely registering as either a dynamic part of the events he describes or their watchful witness;'[68] and Elizabeth Weitzman of The New York Daily News saying despite 'the wry-observational skills needed for Nick's Midwestern decency', the character is 'directed toward a wide-eyed, one-note performance'.[69] Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail was more positive of Maguire's character, saying 'our narrator, [is] prone to his occasionally purple rhetoric. But that imposed conceit, the image of a talented depressive writing from inside the bauble of his imagination, seems to validate his inflated prose and, better yet, lets us re-appreciate its inherent poetry.'[70]
Accolades[edit]
See also[edit]
Other film adaptations of The Great Gatsby include:
References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Great_Gatsby_(2013_film)&oldid=900444921'
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Want more deets? We've also got a complete Online Course about The Great Gatsby, with three weeks worth of readings and activities to make sure you know your stuff.
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Let's play a game called Free Association. When we say the words 'Roaring Twenties,' what are the first things that pop into your head? Go for it. We'll wait here for you.
Cool? Let's check out your list. Maybe you came up with something like this:
If you're looking at that list and thinking, Sweet!, you're in luck. Published in 1925, The Great Gatsby is set in New York City and Long Island during the Prohibition era (remember, the Prohibition era was a time in which alcohol was illegal, no matter how old you were â yowsa). Flappers? It's got them. Parties? You bet? Cool cars? Absolutelyâbut more on that in a minute or jump ahead to our Great Gatsby summary.
The problem is, author F. Scott Fitzgerald didn't see the Jazz Age as all about hip music and sparkly clothes. He associated the entire period with materialism ('I want things! Lots of things!') and immorality. For many of the post-World War I era's newly wealthy, materialism and immortality were the name of the game. The novel's star is Jay Gatsby, a young, rich man in love with a society girl from his past. A girl who, as it happens, is married to someone else.
Do we smell a Twilight-esque love triangle approaching?
And that's not the only reason why Gatsby still feels fresh today. The novel's very title has become a kind of buzzword for periods of excess and fake luxury. The economic collapse of 2008 brought back distant and unwelcome memories of the stock market crash of 1929, casting the boom times of the 1990s and early 2000s as the modern-day version of the Roaring Twenties.
In both cases, though, unsustainable boom times led to devastating crashes with profound cultural consequences. In the 1920s, it had been a bubble in stocks that brought easy prosperity, while in our own time the bubble had been in the housing market. In both times, easy money meant that many people could begin to dream of living out their days like Jay Gatsby, with life as just one grand party in a seersucker suit. But as that vision of easy luxury crashed and burned (in both 1929 and 2008), newfound hard times required a redefinition of the American Dream.
And while Gatsby is a work of fiction, Fitzgerald's real life contains some suspicious similarities. (Gulp.) Narrator Nick Carraway is both mesmerized and disgusted by Gatsby's extravagant lifestyle, just as Fitzgerald claimed to feel about the 'Jazz Age' excesses that he himself adopted. As an Ivy League educated, middle-class Midwesterner, Fitzgerald (like Nick) saw through the shallow materialism of the era. But (like Gatsby) Fitzgerald came back from World War I and fell in love with a wealthy southern socialite â Zelda Sayre.
The Great Gatsby is swaddled in Fitzgerald's simultaneous embrace of and disdain for 1920s luxury. Since Fitzgerald did indeed partake in the Jazz Age's decadent high life, it's not surprising that the details of the setting and characters make The Great Gatsbya sort of time capsule of the 1920s. Gatsby is taught all over the world partly because it's a history lesson and novel all rolled into one delicious wrap of intrigue.
Mmmmmâ¦intrigue.
The Great Gatsby is a delightful concoction of Real Housewives, a never-ending Academy Awards after-party, and HBO's Sopranos. Shake over ice, add a twist of jazz, a spritz of adultery, and a little pink umbrellaâ¦and you've got yourself a 5 o'clock beverage that, given the 1920s setting, you wouldn't be allowed to drink.
The one thing all these shows and Gatsby have in common is the notion of the American Dream. The Dream has seen its ups and downs. But from immigration (certainly not a modern concern, right?) to the Depression (we wouldn't know anything about that), the American Dream has always meant the same thing: it's all about the Benjamins, baby.
Yet Gatsby reminds us that the dollars aren't always enough. As we learned from Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, you can put on the dress, but you still aren't going to know which fork to use. Especially if you're bootlegging to make the money for the dress. Even when they have the cash, newly made millionaires are still knocking at the door for the accepted elite to let them in. If the concept of the nouveau riche (the newly rich) has gone by the wayside, the barriers to the upper echelon (education, background) certainly haven't.
So there you have it. There's more to the Gatsby cocktail than sex, lies, and organized crime. Although those are there, too, which, as far as reading the book goes, is kind of a motivation in itself.
Maybe youâve just finished The Great Gatsby and need some guidance for unpacking its complex themes and symbols. Or maybe itâs been awhile since you last read this novel, so you need a refresher on its plot and characters. Or maybe youâre in the middle of reading it and want to double check that youâre not missing the important stuff. Whatever you need - weâve got you covered with this comprehensive summary of one of the great American novels of all time!
Not only does this complete The Great Gatsby summary provide a detailed synopsis of the plot, but itâll also give you: capsule descriptions for the bookâs major characters, short explanations of most important themes, as well as links to in-depth articles about these and other topics.
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Quick Note on Our Citations
Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text.
The Great Gatsby Summary: The Full Plot
Our narrator, Nick Carraway, moves to the East Coast to work as a bond trader in Manhattan. He rents a small house in West Egg, a nouveau riche town in Long Island. In East Egg, the next town over, where old money people live, Nick reconnects with his cousin Daisy Buchanan, her husband Tom, and meets their friend Jordan Baker.
Tom takes Nick to meet his mistress, Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle is married to George Wilson, who runs a gas station in a gross and dirty neighborhood in Queens. Tom, Nick, and Myrtle go to Manhattan, where she hosts a small party that ends with Tom punching her in the face.
Nick meets his next-door neighbor, Jay Gatsby, a very rich man who lives in a giant mansion and throws wildly extravagant parties every weekend, and who is a mysterious person no one knows much about.
Gatsby takes Nick to lunch and introduces him to his business partner - a gangster named Meyer Wolfshiem.
Nick starts a relationship with Jordan. Through her, Nick finds out that Gatsby and Daisy were in love five years ago, and that Gatsby would like to see her again.
Nick arranges for Daisy to come over to his house so that Gatsby can âaccidentallyâ drop by. Daisy and Gatsby start having an affair.
Tom and Daisy come to one of Gatsbyâs parties. Daisy is disgusted by the ostentatiously vulgar display of wealth, and Tom immediately sees that Gatsbyâs money most likely comes from crime.
We learn that Gatsby was born into a poor farming family as James Gatz. He has always been extremely ambitious, creating the Jay Gatsby persona as a way of transforming himself into a successful self-made man - the ideal of the American Dream.
Nick, Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and Jordan get together for lunch. At this lunch, Daisy and Gatsby are planning to tell Tom that she is leaving him. Gatsby suddenly feels uncomfortable doing this in Tomâs house, and Daisy suggests going to Manhattan instead.
In Manhattan, the five of them get a suite at the Plaza Hotel where many secrets come out. Gatsby reveals that Daisy is in love with him. Tom in turn reveals that Gatsby is a bootlegger, and is probably engaged in other criminal activities as well. Gatsby demands that Daisy renounce Tom entirely, and say that she has never loved him. Daisy canât bring herself to say this because it isnât true, crushing Gatsbyâs dream and obsession. Itâs clear that their relationship is over and that Daisy has chosen to stay with Tom.
That evening, Daisy and Gatsby drive home in his car, with Daisy behind the wheel. When they drive by the Wilson gas station, Myrtle runs out to the car because she thinks itâs Tom driving by. Daisy hits and kills her, driving off without stopping.
Nick, Jordan, and Tom investigate the accident. Tom tells George Wilson that the car that struck Myrtle belongs to Gatsby, and George decides that Gatsby must also be Myrtleâs lover.
That night, Gatsby decides to take the blame for the accident. He is still waiting for Daisy to change her mind and come back to him, but she and Tom skip town the next day. Nick breaks up with Jordan because she is completely unconcerned about Myrtleâs death.
Gatsby tells Nick some more of his story. As an officer in the army, he met and fell in love with Daisy, but after a month had to ship out to fight in WWI. Two years later, before he could get home, she married Tom. Gatsby has been obsessed with getting Daisy back since he shipped out to fight five years earlier.
The next day, George Wilson shoots and kills Gatsby, and then himself.
The police leave the Buchanans and Myrtleâs affair out of the report on the murder-suicide.
Nick tries to find people to come to Gatsbyâs funeral, but everyone who pretended to be Gatsbyâs friend and came to his parties now refuses to come. Even Gatsbyâs partner Wolfshiem doesnât want to go to the funeral. Wolfshiem explains that he first gave Gatsby a job after WWI and that they have been partners in many illegal activities together.
Gatsbyâs father comes to the funeral from Minnesota. He shows Nick a self-improvement plan that Gatsby had written for himself as a boy.
Disillusioned with his time on the East coast, Nick decides to return to his home in the Midwest.
Other Ways to Study the Plot of The Great Gatsby
See what happens when in actual chronological order and without flashbacks in our Great Gatsby timeline.
Read our individual The Great Gatsby chapter summaries for more in-depth details about plot, important quotes and character beats, and how the novelâs major themes get reflected:
Learn the significance behind the novelâs title, its beginning, and its ending.
List of the Major Characters in The Great Gatsby
Click on each character's name to read an in-depth article analyzing their place in the novel.
Nick Carraway - our narrator, but not the bookâs main character. Coming East from the Midwest to learn the bond business, Nick is horrified by the materialism and superficiality he finds in Manhattan and Long Island. He ends up admiring Gatsby as a hopeful dreamer and despising the rest of the people he encounters.
Jay Gatsby - a self-made man who is driven by his love for, and obsession with, Daisy Buchanan. Born a poor farmer, Gatsby becomes materially successful through crime and spends the novel trying to recreate the perfect love he and Daisy had five years before. When she cannot renounce her marriage, Gatsbyâs dream is crushed.
Daisy Buchanan - a very rich young woman who is trapped in a dysfunctional marriage and oppressed by her meaningless life. Daisy has an affair with Gatsby, but is ultimately unwilling to say that she has been as obsessed with him as he has with her, and goes back to her unsatisfying, but also less demanding, relationship with her husband, Tom.
Tom Buchanan - Daisyâs very rich, adulterous, bullying, racist husband. Tom is having a physically abusive affair with Myrtle Wilson. He investigates Gatsby and reveals some measure of his criminal involvement, demonstrating to Daisy that Gatsby isnât someone she should run off with. After Daisy runs over Myrtle Wilson, Tom makes up with Daisy and they skip town together.
Jordan Baker - a professional golfer who has a relationship with Nick. At first, Jordan is attractive because of her jaded, cynical attitude, but then Nick slowly sees that her inveterate lying and her complete lack of concern for other people are deal breakers.
Myrtle Wilson - the somewhat vulgar wife of a car mechanic who is unhappy in her marriage. Myrtle is having an affair with Tom, whom she likes for his rugged and brutal masculinity and for his money. Daisy runs Myrtle over, killing her in a gruesome and shocking way.
George Wilson - Myrtleâs browbeaten, weak, and working class husband. George is enraged when he finds out about Myrtleâs affair, and then that rage is transformed into unhinged madness when Myrtle is killed. George kills Gatsby and himself in the murder-suicide that seems to erase Gatsby and his lasting impact on the world entirely.
Other Ways to Study Great Gatsby Characters
Need a refresher on all the other people in this book? Check out our overview of the characters or dive deeper with our detailed character analyses.
Get some help for tackling the common assignment of comparing and contrasting the novelâs characters.
Start gathering relevant character quotes to beef up your essay assignments with evidence from the text.
List of the Major Themes in The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby Pdf Vk
Get a broad overview of the novelâs themes, or click on each theme to read a detailed individual analysis.
Money and Materialism - the novel is fascinated by how people make their money, what they can and canât buy with it, and how the pursuit of wealth shapes the decisions people make and the paths their lives follow. In the novel, is it possible to be happy without a lot of money? Is it possible to be happy with it?
Society and Class - the novel can also be read as a clash between the old money set and the nouveau riche strivers and wannabes that are trying to either become them or replace them. If the novel ends with the strivers and the poor being killed off and the old money literally getting away with murder, who wins this class battle?
The American Dream - does the novel endorse or mock the dream of the rags-to-riches success story, the ideal of the self-made man? Is Gatsby a successful example of whatâs possible through hard work and dedication, or a sham whose crime and death demonstrate that the American Dream is a work of fiction?
The Great Gatsby Pdf Chapter 3
Love, Desire, and Relationships - most of the major characters are driven by either love or sexual desire, but none of these connections prove lasting or stable. Is the novel saying that these are destructive forces, or is just that these characters use and feel them in the wrong way?
Death and Failure Europa universalis 3 mods divine wind. - a tone of sadness and elegy (an elegy is a song of sadness for the dead) suffuses the book, as Nick looks back at a summer that ended with three violent deaths and the defeat of one manâs delusional dream. Are ambition and overreach doomed to this level of epic failure, or are they examples of the way we sweep the past under the rug when looking to the future?
Morality and Ethics - despite the fact that most of the characters in this novel cheat on their significant others, one is an accidental killer, one is an actual criminal, and one a murderer, at the end of the novel no one is punished either by the law or by public censure. Is there a way to fix the lawless, amoral, Wild East that this book describes, or does the replacement of God with a figure from a billboard mean that this is a permanent state of affairs?
The Mutability of Identity - the key to answering the titleâs implied questions (What makes Gatsby great? Is Gatsby great?) is whether it is possible to change oneself for good, or whether past history and experiences leave their marks forever. Gatsby wants to have it both ways: to change himself from James Gatz into a glamorous figure, but also to recapitulate and preserve in amber a moment from his past with Daisy. Does he fail because itâs impossible to change? Because itâs impossible to repeat the past? Or both?
Other Ways to Study Great Gatsby Themes
Often, themes are represented by the a novel's symbols. Check out our overview of the main symbols in The Great Gatsby, or click on an individual symbol for a deeper exploration of its meaning and relevance:
Themes are also often reinforced by recurring motifs. Delve into a guide to the way motifs color and enrich this work.
The Bottom Line
Whatâs Next? More Great Gatsby Analysis and Study Guides!
Understand how the book is put together by looking at its genre, narrator, and setting.
The Great Gatsby Pdf Google Drive
Learn the background of and context for the novel in our explanations of the history of the composition of the book and the biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Get a sense of how the novel has been adapted by reading about its many film versions.
Hammer out the nitty gritty basics of the novelâs hardest vocab words.
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