The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby (1925) is a short novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald set in New York City and Long Island in the 1920s. It has often been seen as the epitome of American literature of the so-called "Jazz Age".

The novel was not popular when it was first published, selling less than 24,000 copies during Fitzgerald's lifetime. Largely forgotten during the Great Depression and World War II, it was republished in the 1950s and quickly found a wide readership. Over the following decades it emerged as a standard text in high school and university literature classes in the United States. It remains a consistent seller for its publisher is now often cited as one of the greatest English-language novels of the 20th century.

Warning: Plot details follow.

Table of contents

1 Summary 2 Literary elements 3 Structure 4 Themes 5 Symbols 6 Important quotes 7 Publications 8 Film

Summary

Jay Gatsby is a young millionaire with a dubious past---some say he made his money as a bootlegger during the Prohibition years. Some said he "killed a man", while others say he was a German spy and was a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm. However, despite the glamorous parties he throws, with their countless gatecrashers whom he generously tolerates, Gatsby is a lonely man. All he really wants is to "repeat the past" -- to be reunited with the love of his life, Daisy. But Daisy is now married to millionaire Tom Buchanan. Tom and Daisy have a daughter. Gatsby does not believe this could constitute a problem, and Daisy Buchanan actually feels flattered by Gatsby's attentions.

The first person narrator of the novel is Nick Carraway, a young bond salesman who moves into the small house next to Gatsby's mansion (a "factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy") and who keeps commentary on the protagonists' actions. Carraway soon realizes that Tom and Daisy are "careless people". When Gatsby lets Daisy drive his new car, she causes an accident in which Myrtle Wilson, Tom's mistress, is killed. So much in love with Daisy, Gatsby takes the blame and is consequently shot by Myrtle's desperate husband, Wilson, a garage owner. Except for Gatsby's father, an old, poverty-stricken man, hardly anyone shows up for Gatsby's funeral.

Literary elements

Structure

• Nonlinear representation of time

Themes

The main themes of the novel are:

• The decline of the American Dream. Gatsby is alone in embodying the American Dream - he was born to a poor family but has become a millionaire. The novel downplays his dubious business links (to Meyer Wolfshiem), to emphasise the narrative stance, which is entirely in Gatsby's favour (once Nick has gotten to know Gatsby). Gatsby is totally committed to his dream of reigniting his romance with Daisy. Tom and Daisy, however, are the antithesis of the American Dream: they drift aimlessly from place to place ("wherever people play polo and are rich together"), with no morals, no commitment, and no dreams.

• The corruption of the rich. Tom and Daisy are corrupted by their wealth, in contrast to Gatsby, for whom the acquisition of wealth has become a means to get closer to Daisy. Tom is unfaithful, and Daisy is entirely artificial.

Minor themes:

• The novel discusses questions of racism through the character of Tom Buchanan who, on top of his loose morals, is also a white supremacist. This is however, a very minor theme and is rarely mentioned.

Symbols

• The green light on the end of Daisy's dock is introduced at the end of Chapter 1, when Gatsby reachs, "trembling", out toward it across the Sound. It clearly represents Gatsby's dreams, but has other, more subtle, associations such as money.

• The disembodied eyes of a giant advertisement in the slum where Myrtle lives, referred to as the eyes of "Dr. T.J Eckleburg", symbolise a brooding presence in the slum, as if God is constantly watching those who live there, a symbol which the characters themselves are aware of, George Wilson's assertion that "God sees everything" in chapter 8 being made while he is staring at Eckleburg's eyes.

• The colors white and yellow have special significance in the novel. White is a symbol of purity and goodness, while yellow is the color corruption and greed. This illuminates the character of Daisy, who is named after a flower that is white on the outside and yellow in the center.

• Fitzgerald was among the American expatriates who lived in Paris in the 1920s. The name Gatsby is a close homophone of the word gaspille from the verb gaspiller: To Waste.

Important quotes

“…I’m inclined to reserve all judgements…”
Nick describing himself in Chapter 1.

“I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known”
Nick describing himself.

“…there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life…”
This is Nick describing Gatsby's personality in Chapter 1.

“…an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness…”
This is Nick describing Gatsby's personality in Chapter 1.

“No — Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and shortwinded elations of men.”
Nick, illustrating the novel's narrative stance in Chap 1.

“…a factual imitation … spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy…”
This is Nick's description of Gatsby's house (Chapter 1)

“…drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.”
Nick describing Tom and Daisy's lifestyle.

"I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." Daisy, talking to Nick about her daughter.

“She turned to me helplessly: ‘What do people plan?’ “
Daisy.

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together…”
Nick's opinion of Tom and Daisy in the final chapter.

“Her voice is full of money…”
Gatsby describes Daisy's voice.

“ ’What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon?’ cried Daisy, ‘and the day after that, and the next thirty years?’”
Daisy's aimlessness is shown here, when the main characters are deciding what to do.

“ ’Can't repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ’Why of course you can!’”
Gatsby.

“ ’They're a rotten crowd’ I shouted, across the lawn. ‘You're worth the whole damn bunch put together’”
Nick, on impulse, shouts this to Gatsby.

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . And then one fine morning-So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
The final lines of the novel.

Publications

The Great Gatsby

• Scribner; Reprint edition (June 1, 1995) ISBN 0684801523

Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (Cliffs Notes)

• Cliffs Notes; (June 5, 2000) ISBN 0764586017

The Great Gatsby -- Penguin Critical Studies Guide

• Penguin Uk; Study Guide edition (November 2003) ISBN 0140771972

The Great Gatsby (Audio Editions CD)

• The Audio Partners; Unabridged edition (April 2002) ISBN 1572702567

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: A Literary Reference

• Carroll & Graf; (March 10, 2002) ISBN 0786709960

Film

The Great Gatsby has been filmed four times:

1. In 1926 by Herbert Brenon – A silent movie of which, according to the IMDb, no copies have survived (only a trailer with a few minutes of footage remains);
2. In 1949 by Elliott Nugent - Starring Alan Ladd;
3. In 1974 by Jack Clayton – Often considered the definitive screen version, starring Robert Redford in the title role and Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan, with a script by Francis Ford Coppola; and finally
4. In 2001 by Robert Markowitz – A made-for-TV movie starring Toby Stephens and Mira Sorvino.