PUBLISHER: HarperPress
GENRES: Classics Books, Fiction Books
AUTHORS: Francis Scott Fitzgerald
PAGES: 168 pages
ISBN13: 9780007368655
TAGS: Classics Books, Fiction Books, Free Books, PDF Books
LANGUAGE: en
TYPE: Digital
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel set in the Jazz Age on Long Island near New York City. It explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the American Dream’s decline.
The story is narrated by Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate and World War I veteran from the Midwest who moves to West Egg, a wealthy enclave on Long Island, to learn about the bond business. He rents a modest house next to the mansion of the mysterious and wealthy Jay Gatsby, who is known for his extravagant parties.
Nick’s cousin, Daisy Buchanan, lives across the bay in the more fashionable East Egg with her husband, Tom Buchanan, a former Yale football star. Daisy and Tom are characterized by their wealth, superficiality, and moral decay. Tom is openly having an affair with Myrtle Wilson, the wife of George Wilson, a mechanic who owns a garage in the Valley of Ashes, a desolate industrial area between West Egg and New York City.
Through a series of events, Nick learns that Gatsby, originally James Gatz from North Dakota, amassed his wealth through dubious means to win back Daisy, his lost love. Gatsby and Daisy had a romantic relationship before she married Tom, but Gatsby’s lack of wealth prevented them from being together.
Gatsby throws his lavish parties in the hope that Daisy will attend one. When this fails, he enlists Nick to help him arrange a reunion. Daisy and Gatsby rekindle their romance, and Gatsby dreams of a future where they are together. However, Tom becomes suspicious and confronts Gatsby, exposing his criminal activities.
The conflict comes to a head on a hot summer day when Tom, Daisy, Nick, Gatsby, and Jordan Baker (Nick’s romantic interest) drive into the city. Tom and Gatsby confront each other, with Tom revealing Gatsby’s illegal activities and asserting his superiority. Daisy ultimately sides with Tom, abandoning Gatsby.
On the way back to East Egg, Daisy drives Gatsby’s car and accidentally hits and kills Myrtle Wilson. Gatsby takes the blame to protect Daisy. Distraught by his wife’s death and believing Gatsby was driving, George Wilson tracks Gatsby to his mansion and kills him before taking his own life.
In the aftermath, Daisy and Tom leave town without facing any consequences. Nick organizes Gatsby’s funeral, which is sparsely attended, highlighting the hollowness of Gatsby’s social connections. Nick becomes disillusioned with the East Coast and returns to the Midwest, reflecting on the American Dream’s corruption and the impossibility of recapturing the past.
The novel ends with Nick contemplating Gatsby’s dream and the broader American Dream, noting how both are ultimately unattainable, as people are always striving for a future that eludes them.
“The Great Gatsby” remains a poignant critique of the American Dream, exploring how its promise of success and happiness is often an illusion corrupted by materialism and moral decay.
