Book Report The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
I have not read other fiction by this author, but after my experience with this novel I plan to read more of his work as a result of his ability to poetically describe the extravagant scenes within The Great Gatsby and the sheer romance of Jay Gatsby dedicating his life to reuniting with his lost lover, Daisy, during one of his wild parties. I admire Fitzgerald’s brilliance and capability to conjure such a character as dynamic as Gatsby, and am curious as to the content of his other pieces and to see if they are as exceptional as this novel.
The setting of The Great Gatsby is in New York City/Long Island, in two areas known as “West Egg” and “East Egg” during the roaring twenties. This setting is appropriate
as these communities in Long Island are meant to represent Great Neck and Port Washington peninsulas, which are home to the upper class of the New York City area. There is a distinction between the two “Eggs”, as the East Egg is the more elite and long-time established of the two. Gatsby lives in the West Egg to convey to the readers that he has not yet completely transformed from his former poor years to a member of the social elite, therefore the water of the bay separates the levels of wealth. Members of these communities prioritize social perception and conforming to standards rather than politics, religion, or education. Additionally, parts of the story occur in the Valley of Ashes which is meant to represent the present day Queens area, where the lower-class characters in the novel reside such as George and Myrtle Wilson. Furthermore, the time period of the roaring twenties is significant as it was a time of enormous change and transition in the United States. The year of 1919 brought the end of World War I and ultimately rapid growth in the economy. In 1920, prohibition went into effect meaning all recreational alcohol was illegal. Moreover, this provided a career for Gatsby as he made his wealth from being a bootlegger. Additionally, women got the right to vote in 1919 which brought up many other questions about independence for women. This concept is reflected in the novel as Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan all experiment with being independent in their own personal lives through affairs and other various relationships.

Nick Carraway- first-person narrator of the novel, serves as a connector between all of the main characters in the story (Daisy’s cousin, graduated from Yale with Tom, next door neighbor and friend of Jay Gatsby). He plays the role of an ally to Tom, a friend to Daisy, and a bridge between the past and future as well as a way to reunite with Daisy for Jay Gatsby.
Tom Buchanan- foil character to Jay Gatsby (loud, arrogant, and ignorant compared to Gatsby who is reserved, cultured, and intelligent), husband of Daisy, known for his family’s wealth and long standing social prestige, involved in a fair with Myrtle Wilson
Daisy Buchanan- the link between Jay, Tom, and Nick (present wife of Tom Buchanan, former lover of Jay Gatsby, cousin of Nick Carraway), represents women of the elite class, socialite and debutante of the East Egg, known for her privileged lifestyle and beauty, ultimately one of the most destructive characters (the one who killed Myrtle Wilson)
Jay Gatsby (James “Jimmy” Gatz)- protagonist of the novel, serves as an embodiment of the American Dream, wealthy Easterner that lives in West Egg, known for his mysteriousness and grand parties, dreams of one day being reunited with his lost love Daisy Buchanan
Nick Carraway moves to New York in the summer of 1922 with the intent of learning about the bond business. He rents a small house in West Egg, Long Island next to a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby who lives in an enormous mansion and throws extravagant parties often. One day, Nick drives to the East Egg (the more established of the Eggs) for dinner with his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom, a former classmate of Nick’s at Yale. It is at this dinner where Nick is introduced to Jordan Baker, with whom Nick begins a casual romantic relationship. During one of his conversations with Jordan, she tells Nick about Tom’s mistress Myrtle Wilson, who lives in the Valley of Ashes (the desolate area between the West Egg and New York City). Some time after, Nick travels to New York City along with Tom and Myrtle and attends a small party in an apartment that Tom has. During the party, Myrtle and Tom Buchanan began fighting over Daisy and whether or not Myrtle had the right to mention Daisy’s name. In response to this argument, Tom becomes infuriated and breaks Myrtle’s nose. As the summer progresses, Nick quietly observes the extravagant parties that occur every weekend at his neighbor’s mansion- and one day he even receives an invitation to one himself. It is during a party that Nick runs into Jordan Baker and has the chance to meet the man known as Gatsby in flesh. As the night goes on, Nick and Jordan spend most of their time together and in the midst of one of their conversations, Gatsby’s butler approaches Jordan and tells her that Gatsby wishes to speak with her alone. Through this private conversation with Jordan, Nick later learns more about his mysterious neighbor, his history with Daisy, and his quest to one day reunite with her. As a result, Nick invites Daisy to have tea at his house, without telling her that Gatsby will also be there, and here Gatsby and Daisy are able to reestablish their connection and their love is rekindled once more. After a short time into their affair and frequent visits to Gatsby’s house, Tom grows suspicious of his wife’s relationship with Gatsby. On a hot, summer day Nick and Gatsby travel to the East Egg to attend a luncheon at the Buchanans’ house and it is here that Tom realizes Gatsby is in love with his wife. Despite the fact that Tom himself is involved in an extramarital affair, he is infuriated with the idea that his wife could be unfaithful to him. The group drives to New York City, where Gatsby and Tom have a confrontation that ends in Daisy ultimately admitting that she could never leave her marriage with Tom, and with that revelation Tom sends her home to the East Egg with Gatsby. However, when Nick, Jordan, and Tom drive through the Valley of Ashes and past George Wilson’s garage on their way home, they discover that the car Gatsby and Daisy had been driving had struck and killed Myrtle, Tom’s mistress. Following this incident, Nick learns from Gatsby that Daisy was driving the car that killed Myrtle, but Gatsby intended to take the blame to protect her. The next day, Tom confesses to Myrtle’s husband that it was Gatsby himself that had been the driver of the car. George becomes crazed and reaches the conclusion that Gatsby must have been Myrtle’s secret lover, finds Gatsby in the pool at his mansion and murders him, and then fatally shoots himself. Gatsby’s only friend, Nick, hosts a small funeral for Gatsby, ends his relationship with Jordan, and ultimately moves back to the Midwest to escape the emptiness and moral decay of life he feels among the people of the East Coast. He believes that Gatsby’s dream of Daisy was corrupted by money and social classes, and that the American dream of happiness was ruined by the pursuit of wealth. Essentially, both Gatsby and the American dream are dead.
The main theme of The Great Gatsby is the disintegration of the American dream in the 1920’s as a result of the decaying social and moral values, cynicism, and greed. This is reflected through Gatsby’s extravagant parties every weekend and the differences between social classes consisting of old (Buchanan) and new (Gatsby) wealth families and their constant desire to one up each other.
The story of The Great Gatsby does not use humor very often, but one incident that I found humorous was when Nick met Gatsby for the first time at one of his parties and didn’t realize that it was actually Gatsby he was speaking to-“I turned again to my new acquaintance. ‘This is an unusual party for me. I haven’t even seen the host. I live over there-’ I waved my hand at the invisible hedge in the distance, ‘and this man Gatsby sent over his chauffeur with an invitation.’For a moment he looked at me as if he failed to understand. ‘I’m Gatsby,’ he said suddenly” (Fitzgerald 47).
F.Scott Fitzgerald seems to love using complex sentences consisting of poetic descriptive words that start with one idea and end with a completely different idea entirely, such as this one that he uses to describe Jay Gatsby- “If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity of the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of ‘creative temperament’ – it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again” (Fitzgerald 2).
Although I have never read any pieces of literature that seem to be similar to The Great Gatsby, one of the critical works that I read named “Gatsby’s Mentors: Queer Relations Between Love and Money in The Great Gatsby” relates the novel to to the latin work of fiction Satyricon because of similarities between characters Gatsby and Trimalchio, who displays a position of wealth and power through which he too shows off through frequent wild parties. Additionally, this critical work connects the novel to the HBO show series Entourage as it depicts the main character as a man who moves to Los Angeles in pursuit of the American dream through entrance into the business of entertainment, which consists mostly of men. Furthermore, personally I feel as if The Great Gatsby is quite similar to the movie The Wolf of Wall Street as a result of the portrayal of corruption in American society and the idea that wealth and power may not always be a good thing. (Also, both main characters earn their wealth through illegal activities) Overall, The Great Gatsby by F.
Scott Fitzgerald has to be one of my very favorite novels of all time. My inner teenage girl revels in the sheer romance of the novel and Gatsby’s dedication towards one day reuniting with his long lost love, Daisy Buchanan. On top of that, I am amazed at how Fitzgerald managed to incorporate all the glitz and glamour in a shallow, seductive, and almost trashy way. Furthermore, although on one hand the book may seem to be style over substance, Fitzgerald is also able to convey important ideas about the 1920’s era, money, love, and the pursuit of the American dream. This combination of both intellect and fantasy is, in my mind, what makes the novel so fascinating. I most admire the “cool”, careless, and almost ignorant attitudes of all of the characters despite all of the negative issues in their lives. I mean, have you ever seen individuals who are so comfortable with their spouses taking part in extramarital affairs? Despite the fact that in no way would I wish to lead my life as the people of the two Eggs, I can definitely see the advantages to being rich, attractive, and carefree. The most disappointing aspect of this novel was the devastatingly tragic ending, as Gatsby ultimately gets murdered by the crazed George Wilson and Daisy chooses to stay in her unhappy marriage with Tom. In my fantasy world, Daisy would have stood up to Tom and ran off with Gatsby to finally live out their happily ever after, and no one would have ever gotten killed. However, this is just not how life goes in the great world of Gatsby and the surrounding communities of the
Eggs.