The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby
Author	F. Scott Fitzgerald
Cover artist	Francis Cugat
Country	United States
Language	English
Published	April 10, 1925; (Charles Scribner's Sons)
Media type	Print (hardcover & paperback)
Preceded by	The Beautiful and Damned (1922)
Followed by	Tender Is the Night (1934)

The Great Gatsby is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was first sold in 1925. The novel takes place in New York City and Long Island in New York.^[1]

The Great Gatsby is one of the most popular books in the United States. The book was number two on the Modern Library Association's list of "100 Best Novels of the 20th Century."^[2] Time Magazine put the book in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.^[3] A 1989 study found that 54% of the high schools that were surveyed taught The Great Gatsby in their English classes.^[4]

The story is told by Nick Carraway, a man who moves to Long Island, New York, from the Midwest. Nick is not rich, but he lives in a rich area that has two towns called East Egg and West Egg. The "old rich" live in East Egg while the "new rich" live in West Egg. Nick lives in a small house in West Egg. Nick's next-door neighbor is Jay Gatsby. Jay is in love with Nick's cousin Daisy. However, Daisy is married to a man named Tom. The novel is about Jay and his hope that he can steal Daisy from Tom.

Synopsis

The events of the novel^[5] happen in the summer of 1922. Nick Carraway, a man who grew up in the American Midwest, is the narrator. Nick is a World War I veteran and a Yale University graduate who wants a more exciting life. He moves to New York, to be a bonds salesman. There, he rents a house in the small community of West Egg. The person living next to him is Jay Gatsby, a strange man who also has a lot of money. Jay Gatsby also hosts many expensive parties frequently. Strangely, he never joins in his own parties. Because people don't know him, many rumors are made about Gatsby's true identity and background. Nick drives out to visit his cousin Daisy in East Egg. There, he meets her husband, Tom Buchanan. He is also introduced to her friend, Jordan Baker. Nick learns from her that Tom has been having an affair with Myrtle Wilson. Nick decides to hold his judgment.

Later in the summer, Nick is invited to one of Gatsby's parties. He meets Gatsby there. Gatsby is a young and charming man. Nick learns that Gatsby was in love with Daisy many years ago. Gatsby is still in love with her. He spends many nights looking across the water from his mansion at the green light from Daisy's dock. He is hoping that he can impress Daisy with his rich lifestyle and wild parties. Gatsby grew up very poor and with little chance to move up in the world. This made Gatsby try to get much money to become a different person. If he is rich, he thinks he will be right for Daisy. Gatsby asks Nick to arrange a meeting between Daisy and himself. Nick invites them both over for tea, and they begin to fall in love again. They then start an affair with each other.

After a short time, Tom notices that Daisy and Gatsby are in love. The group meets at a hotel, where Daisy is forced to choose between Gatsby and Tom. She chooses Tom, and the group begins to drive home. Along the way, Daisy is driving Gatsby's car. She accidentally hits and kills Myrtle. Gatsby tells Nick that he will take the blame in order to save Daisy. Later, Gatsby is shot dead by Myrtle's husband, George. George believes that Gatsby was the one who killed his wife. George then kills himself.

Nick holds a funeral for Gatsby. Gatsby was famous and generous, but very few people come to his funeral. Nick is angry and sad about everything that has happened. He decides to leave New York and move back to the Midwest.

The Great Gatsby Media

The confrontation between Gatsby and Tom occurs in the twenty-story Plaza Hotel, a château-like edifice with an architectural style inspired by the French Renaissance.
Fitzgerald's editor, Maxwell Perkins, convinced the author to abandon his original title of Trimalchio in West Egg in favor of The Great Gatsby.
Although he praised the novel's style, H. L. Mencken criticized the plot as highly improbable—a criticism that Fitzgerald particularly resented.
Fitzgerald's friend Edmund Wilson helped revive the author's posthumous reputation.
The American Dream, often represented by the Statue of Liberty signifying new opportunities in life, is a central theme underlying the novel.
An idealized depiction of a flapper as illustrated by Ellen Pyle for the cover of The Saturday Evening Post (1922).
Fitzgerald's novel references a fictional book, Goddard's The Rise of the Colored Empires, which is a parody of The Rising Tide of Color (1920) by Lothrop Stoddard.