The Great Gatsby Summary
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's jazz age classic, The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway rents a house on Long Island, next to a magnificent mansion owned by the mysterious Jay Gatsby. A summary of Fitzgerald's novel can be ordered from Paper Masters. Summaries or explorations of The Great Gatsby can be written by the literature writers at Paper Masters. Here are a few facts about the novel:
- Author - F. Scott Fizgerald
- Publication Date - 1925
- Main Character - Jay Gatsby
- Timeframe - Summer of 1922
Wondering about his mysterious neighbor, Nick connects with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom. Here, he is introduced to the tennis player Jordan Baker, with whom he begins an affair.
Gatsby throws large parties on Saturday nights, extending an invitation to Nick. There, Gatsby reveals to Jordan that he knew Daisy back before the war, and is still madly in love with her. It is hinted at that Gatsby has made his fortune as a bootlegger, and his lavish lifestyle is an attempt to impress Daisy and win her away from Tom. Tom himself is having an affair with Myrtle, who lives in the poor section between East Egg and West Egg. Tom, meanwhile, becomes jealous of Daisy and Gatsby, driving into New York to confront Gatsby. There, Daisy realizes that she cannot be with Gatsby, but Tom sends her to go back to West Egg in Gatsby's car.
As Nick, Jordan, and Tom follow, they discover that Myrtle has been killed by Gatsby's car, but it was Daisy who was driving. Tom tells Myrtle's husband George that it was Gatsby who was driving, and George shoots Gatsby before turning the gun on himself. Nick, in disgust, moves back to the Midwest in order to be free of the corruption, realizing that the American Dream, like Gatsby, is dead.