Plot Overview

About the Author

The novel is narrated by Nick Carraway, who moves

Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in
to West Egg in New York. He soon meets his
1896, attended Princeton university, and then later
neighbor Jay Gatsby who is mysterious and Dark.
published his first novel, The Side of Paradise, in
On the East Egg lives Nicks cousin Daisy Buchanan,
1920; Fitzgerald married Zelda Sayre in 1920 as
whom he learns to be Gatsbys past lover. Daisy had
well. Some other works done by Fitzgerald include
married Tom Buchanan because she couldnt waste
The
Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and
another year waiting for Gatsby to ideally become
Tender
Is the Night. While working on his last
wealthy, showing her true character. Nick and
novel,
The
Love of the Last Tycoon, Fitzgerald died
Gatsby become good buddies, and Nick is much
from
a
heart
attack in 1940 at the age of forty-four.
later enlightened on the love connection between
Gatsby and Daisy. Nick enjoys Gatsbys life of
luxurious parties, his hidden lifestyle, and his
difficult love life. Tom has a mistress and when he
sneaks out to see his mistress, Daisy is left lonely
and ends up thinking about Gatsby. Tom ends up
using abusing his mistress Myrtle, who is married to
George Wilson. Tom orders Daisy and Gatsby to
head home in Gatsby's car, after a night together
The Great Gatsby was set during the the
but Tom thinks he has still won all of Daisys love.
summer of 1922 in New York. The novel focuses
As Tom's car nears Wilson's garage, they can all see on describing lifes pop culture, lavish parties
that some sort of accident has occurred. Pulling
with divine food, and sex being the national
over to investigate, they learn that Myrtle Wilson,
obsession. In addition, the readers are
Tom's mistress, has been hit and killed by a passing
introduced
to the scandalous lives of each
car that never bothered to stop. Nick learns that
character,
as
well
as their financial standings.
Daisy was driving the car, although Gatsby
The wealthy spend their time leisurely and
confesses he will take all the blame since he loves
dont worry about much, as the alcohol
Daisy. Nearing dawn the next morning, Nick goes to
Gatsby's house. Gatsby tells Nick more about how
consumed usually did the job. The Jazz Age was
he became the man he is. Later that morning, while
a glamorous time, full of life but secrets
at work, Nick is unable to concentrate so he decides
amongst many. The Great Gatsby captures all
then to go home and see Gatsby. The action then
of these moments with an original story of its
switches back to Wilson who, distraught over his
own.
wife's death, sneaks out and goes looking for the
driver who killed Myrtle. Nick retraces Wilson's
journey, which placed him, by early afternoon, at
Gatsby's house. Wilson murders Gatsby and then
turns the gun on himself.

Historical Context

Novel Notes
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott fitzgerald
Jolina Santos
May 11,2016

Essential Quotes
"They were careless people,
Tom and Daisy they smashed
up things and creatures and
then retreated back into their
money of their vast
carelessness, or whatever it
was that kept them together,
and let other people clean up
the mess they had made
(179).
Gatsby believed in the green
light (180).

Work CitedF. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Thing." PBS. PBS,
n.d. Web. 24 May 2016.
"F.Scott Fitzgerald Centenary." F.Scott Fitzgerald
Centenary. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2016.

Character Analysis

Themes

1. The Green Light:

At the end of Daisys East Egg dock and barely
visible from Gatsbys West Egg lawn, the green light

Jay Gatsby - Obviously, Gatsby is the main

character, for the title of the novel is named after him.
Jay Gatsby, whose real name was James Gatz was the son
of poor middle-western farmers from North Dakota, and
spent the majority of his time growing up working hard
for a millionaire. This encouraged him to spend his time
working towards the achievement of wealth. Gatsby felt
that if he could make enough money and make a big
enough name for himself that he could win back the
affections of Daisy. In order to make his money, Gatsby
relied on the illegal production of alcohol. This illegal
brewing not only got Gatsby the money that he needed to
regain Daisy's attention, but also kept his life in mystery
to many.
Nick Carraway - Nick Carraway, a man of a well
situated family, moves to the West Egg of Long Island
becoming neighbors with the mysterious Jay Gatsby.
Nick, the narrator and a main character in the story is
also a cousin to daisy Buchanan. Nick later learns the
love relation between Gatsby and Daisy, and expresses all
his emotions to the readers in a calm fashion. The young
Nick, is eager to find more about the mysteries of Gatsby,
so he becomes close to him but still keeps his guard up
while doing so.
Daisy Buchanan - Stunning Daisy, is fascinated
with receiving all the attention. Especially when Jay
Gatsby comes back into town, she makes an effort to
impress Gatsby by using sophisticated language and
always looking her best. She has a strong desire for love
which is why she worked her way into marrying Tom. She
although doesnt love him, for she is too busy trying to
earn Gatsbys love back. Since she did not know if Gatsby
was to come back from Oxford, she did not want to wait
for him any longer. Wanting to be loved is a reason for
her superficial behavior. Furthermore, Daisy is careless
person which you can see in her behavior when she has
the hit-and-run accident in which Myrtle Wilson (Tom's
mistress) is killed. She constantly needs the materialistic
life which is why a life with Tom is nearly perfect because
she has everything but Gatsby.

Class (New, Old, and No Money):

The Great Gatsby portrays three different social
classes: "old money" (Tom and Daisy Buchanan);
"new money" (Gatsby); and a class called "no
money" (George and Myrtle Wilson). "Old money"
families have fortunes dating from the 19th century
or before, and have built up powerful and influential
social connections. The "new money" class made
their fortunes in the 1920s boom and therefore have
no social connections and tend to overcompensate
for this lack with lavish displays of wealth. The
Great Gatsby shows the newly developing class
rivalry between "old" and "new" money in the
struggle between Gatsby and Tom over Daisy.
While, the "no money" class gets overlooked by the
struggle at the top, leaving middle and lower class
people like George Wilson forgotten or ignored.

represents Gatsbys hopes and dreams for the

future. Gatsby associates it with Daisy, and in
Chapter 1 he reaches toward it in the darkness as a
guiding light to lead him to his goal. Because
Gatsbys quest for Daisy is broadly associated with
the American dream, the green light also symbolizes
that more generalized ideal. In Chapter 9, Nick
compares the green light to how America, rising out
of the ocean, must have looked to early settlers of
the new nation.

2. The Valley of Ashes:

An area halfway between New York City and West

Egg, the Valley of Ashes is an industrial wasteland
covered in ash and soot. If New York City represents
all the "mystery and beauty in the world," and West
Egg represents the people who have gotten rich off
the roaring economy of the Roaring Twenties, the
Valley of Ashes stands for the dismal ruin of the
Violence
Violence is a key theme in The Great Gatsby, and is people caught in between.
most embodied by the character of Tom. He uses his
physical strength to intimidate those around him. 3. The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg:
When his so called lover, Myrtle taunts him with his The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg on the billboard
current wife's name, he strikes her across the face. overlooking the Valley of Ashes represent many
Another source of violence in the novel besides Tom things at once: to Nick they seem to symbolize the
are cars. Fitzgerald uses cars to symbolize the haunting waste of the past, which lingers on though
dangers of modernity and the dangers of wealth. it is irretrievably vanished, much like Dr.
The climax of the novel, the accident that kills Eckleburg's medical practice. The eyes can also be
Myrtle, is foreshadowed by the conversation linked to Gatsby, whose own eyes, once described as
between Nick and Jordan about how bad driving "vacant," often stare out, blankly keeping "vigil" (a
can cause explosive violence. The end of the novel, word Fitzgerald applies to both Dr. Eckleburg's eyes
of course, consists of violence against Gatsby, when and Gatsby's) over Long Island sound and the green
a handgun is used by George Wilson that kills light.
Gatsby in the end.