Literature by definition may consist of texts based on factual information (journalistic or non-fiction), as well as on original imagination, such as polemical works as well as autobiography, and reflective essays as well as belles-lettres.
The Great Gatsby has the following particular characteristics of a literary texts:
The first literary element of the novel is the plot, the protagonist is Jay Gatsby, a young, wealthy man in love with a society girl from his past. He tries to build a life with her but fate and bad luck turn tragic.
The next key element is the theme, Fitzgerald demonstrates many themes including the decline of the American dream. The American dream was originally about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. In the 1920s depicted in the novel, however, easy money and relaxed social values have corrupted this dream, especially on the East Coast. A second important theme of the novel would be the hollowness of the upper class, the sociology of wealth, specifically, how the newly minted millionaires of the 1920s differ from and relate to the old aristocracy of the country’s richest families. What the old aristocracy possesses in taste, however, it seems to lack in heart, as the East Eggers prove themselves careless, inconsiderate bullies who are so used to money’s ability to ease their minds that they never worry about hurting others.
The presence of characters is also a characteristic of the literary texts. In The Great Gatsby we have Jay Gatsby the main character an ambitious dreamer searching desperately to repeat the past in a different context. Nick Carraway a young graduate from Yale which aspires to be a writer who is irresistibly attracted by the lifestyle of richness, opulence and extravagance but ends up being a supporter and admirer of Gatsby’s morals and values. Daisy Buchanan, Nick’s cousin and the object of the main character’s affection a careless, beautiful society girl with warm,