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Analysis Of The Great Gatsby Essay Research

Analysis Of The Great Gatsby Essay, Research Paper


ClassicNote on The Great Gatsby


Short Summary of The Great Gatsby


F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is a specific portrait of American


society during the Roaring Twenties, yet tells the quintessential American story


of a man rising from rags to riches only to find that whatever benefits his


wealth affords, it cannot grant him the privileges of class and status. The


central character is Jay Gatsby, a wealthy New Yorker of an undetermined


occupation known mostly for the lavish parties he throws every weekend at his


mansion but suspected of being involved in illegal bootlegging and other


clandestine activities. However, the narrator is Nick Carraway, a young


mid-westerner from a prominent family who came to New York to enter the


bond business. Carraway is involved in all of the events of the novel, yet does


not play a significant active role; he is only a passive observer.


When Nick arrives in New York, he soon visits his relatives, the Buchanans,


who live in East Egg. Nick resides in the nearby (and less fashionable) West


Egg, where Gatsby also lives. Like Nick, Tom Buchanan is from a prominent


family from the mid-west. Tom is a former athlete at Yale, a vulgar and


insecure man preoccupied with the decline of society and of class boundaries. It


is soon revealed that Tom is having an affair with a woman in the city. His


wife, Daisy, is Nick’s second cousin. She carries herself with an insubstantial


manner. While seemingly na?ve, she claims to be terribly sophisticated. Also at


the Buchanans’ home is Jordan Baker, a professional golfer and close friend of


Daisy. After visiting Tom and Daisy, Nick goes home that night, where he sees


Gatsby watching a green light across the bay. He stretches his arms out toward


it, as if to grasp the green light.


Tom Buchanan takes Nick into New York, and on the way they stop at George


Wilson’s garage. Tom has been having an affair with his wife, Myrtle, and Tom


tells her to join them later in the city. The garage is in the ‘valley of ashes,’ as


Fitzgerald describes it, a vast, desolate area. Other than Wilson’s garage, the


only other feature of note is a large advertisement for an optometrist, two large


eyes that look over the barren area. When Tom and Nick arrive in the city, they


visit with Myrtle and her sister, Catherine McKee. They gossip about Gatsby,


who they believe to be related to the Kaiser or perhaps a murderer. Around


Tom and away from her husband, the earthy Myrtle Wilson adopts an affected,


pretentious tone. She and Tom argue about Daisy, and Tom breaks her nose.


Nick Carraway and Jordan Baker attend a party at Gatsby’s mansion. At the


party, few of the attendees are actually invited guests or even know Gatsby.


Even Nick, when he first meets Gatsby, does not recognize him. Gatsby asks to


speak to Jordan Baker alone, and after talking with Gatsby for a significant time


she tells Nick that she learned some remarkable news which she cannot yet tell


him. During this time, Nick and Jordan begin a half-hearted romance, spending


time together occasionally while often losing sight of one another.


Some time later, Gatsby visits Nick’s home and invites him to lunch. At this


point Gatsby’s origins are unclear, but Gatsby clarifies the story: he tells Nick


that he is from a wealthy San Francisco and was educated at Oxford after


serving in the Great War (for which he received a number of decorations).


However, his tentative manner indicates that he may be lying to Nick. He tells


Nick that Jordan Baker soon will reveal to Nick the remarkable news that


Gatsby had told her. At lunch, Gatsby introduces Nick to an associate, Meyer


Wolfsheim, a notorious criminal noted for fixing the 1919 World Series. When


Nick sees the Buchanans there, Gatsby mysteriously avoids them. Later, Jordan


Baker tells Nick the story of Gatsby, recounting that he had fallen in love with


Daisy Buchanan before the war and implying that he still is in love with her.


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She also implies that Daisy has been in love with Gatsby as well.


Gatsby has Nick arrange a meeting between him and Daisy. Gatsby has


planned every detail to perfection. When he shows her his mansion, it is an


ostentatious display of his wealth and possessions. Yet Gatsby behaves


awkwardly toward Daisy. Gatsby had built up such grandiose dreams for


reuniting with Daisy that any meeting was bound to disappoint.


The true story of Jay Gatsby is revealed. He was born James Gatz in North


Dakota. He had his name legally changed at seventeen, soon after he met the


wealthy Dan Cody, who served as Gatsby’s mentor until he died. While Gatsby


received none of Cody’s fortune, it was from Cody that Gatsby was introduced


to the lifestyle of the wealthy.


While out horseback riding, Tom Buchanan comes upon Gatsby’s mansion,


where he meets Nick. Tom takes an immediate dislike to Gatsby, for he was


part of the ‘new rich.’ Still, he accompanies Daisy to the next party that Gatsby


throws, where he is rude and condescending towards Gatsby. Nick realizes that


what Gatsby wants is for Daisy to fully renounce her husband and to take back


the years that had passed since he and Daisy first parted. This is Gatsby’s great


flaw: he believes that he can escape the past and undo what he and Daisy have


experienced.


After reuniting with Daisy, Gatsby stops throwing the elaborate parties at his


mansion. The only reason why he threw such lavish parties was the chance that


Daisy (or someone who knew her) might attend. Now that they are together


once more, Gatsby finds no reason to continue the practice. Daisy invites


Gatsby, Nick and Jordan to lunch at her house. Around her husband, Daisy is


indiscreet. She even tells Gatsby that she loves him when Tom can hear. The


group goes off to New York, stopping by Wilson’s garage, where they learn


that Wilson will soon move west with his wife ? he recently realized something


about his wife and they decided that they must get away. When they leave,


Nick sees Myrtle go into hysterics, for she sees Jordan and suspects that she is


Tom’s wife.


In the city, the group goes to a suite at the Plaza Hotel. Tom and Gatsby have a


bitter confrontation: Tom exposes Gatsby for his low origins, while Gatsby tells


Tom about his affair and how Daisy does not love him. Yet Gatsby demands


too much: he wants Daisy to admit that she never loved Tom, but she cannot


truthfully admit that.


When Gatsby takes Daisy back to New York, he allows her to drive in order to


calm her nerves. When they pass Wilson’s garage, Daisy swerves to avoid


another car and ends up hitting Myrtle, killing her. Gatsby explains this to Nick,


who advises him to leave town until the situation calms. He refuses to leave,


however. He remains in order to watch Daisy’s mansion across the bay and


make sure that she is safe. However, George Wilson, driven mad by the death


of his wife, goes to search out the killer. Tom Buchanan points him toward


Gatsby. Wilson shoots Gatsby before committing suicide.


After the murder, the Buchanans leave town to avoid responsibility for the


events that had occurred. Nick is left to organize the funeral, but finds that few


have any concern for Gatsby. Of Gatsby’s main confidants, only Meyer


Wolfsheim shows a modicum of regret, and few attend the funeral. However,


Nick does find Gatsby’s father, Henry Gatz, and brings him to New York for


the funeral. It is from him that Nick learns the extent of Gatsby’s vision and his


grand plans for self-improvement and achievement.


Thoroughly disgusted with life in New York, Nick decides to return to the


mid-west. Before leaving, Nick sees Tom Buchanan once more. Tom tries to


elicit some sympathy from Nick, thinking that all of his actions were thoroughly


justified. Nick leaves New York, realizing that Gatsby differed from all of his


peers, for he had grand dreams and goals, yet was unable to transcend the


boundaries and limitations that his origins and his past history had given him.

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