A Book Summary of The Great Gatsby

A Book Summary of The Great Gatsby

Francis Scott Fitzgerald is the American author who managed to define the richness and carelessness of the 1920s in the United States in intense colours. The author himself was the child of the golden era, known as the “Jazz Age“. While those eccentric and lavish times are gone currently, readers can still enjoy the heritage of his books that produce the spirit of liberty, happiness, and selfishness.  Through this post A book summary of “The Great Gatsby” the reader gets an overview of the most well-known of his stories. He wrote  It in 1925– the moment of Dry Law gangster wars, outstanding parties, and spectacular ways of life..

The life path of the lead character of this book, Jay Gatsby, slightly looks like Fitzgerald himself. In his composing career, Fitzgerald has seen everything– from admiration and recognition for his first novel “This Side of Paradise” in 1920, to devastating indifference and cruel review for a number of his various other works. Similarly, for Jay Gatsby, the achievement of the American dream turned out to be a life-damaging life catastrophe– his means towards the top of the societal ladder, regardless of the fame and wealth it brought him, caused frustration and loss. After reading the book the readers is able to comprehend that what individuals dream deep inside are not worldly goods, but emotional ones– genuine, reciprocatory, and everlasting love.

By the time one is through with the post-book summary of the great Gatsby one knows the novel takes a first-person narrator of Nick who interacts with millionaire Gatsby and his fixation to reunite with Daisy his lover.

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But for now, we need to ignore the shadows and transfer ourselves right into the American life of the 1920s: imagine yourself being surrounded by beautiful women, unlimited joy, wonderful jazz songs, people having a good time, and the waves breaking on the shore beside the luxurious estate of the popular Jay Gatsby, the king of all party hosts.

Main Characters of the Book

The book is way a lot more challenging than relationships in between two persons– protagonist Jay Gatsby and his precious Daisy Buchanan.

 

Jay Gatsby

Who is Jay Gatsby? Is he a mystery, a scammer, a killer, a rich man, or a pauper? He is all of those things to some extent, and at the same time he is none of those things. This man represents the collective image of a society where everybody can select characteristics that they can relate to. Gatsby is a romantic man, a dreamer who delights in elegance and compassion. He deals with the dream of being together with his cherished, Daisy. However, at the same time, he is the product of his consumerist culture; he defines his worth by the tribute other people pay to him.

Fitzgerald devotes of the most attention to the first element of Jay’s character– his charming side. He spends a great deal of time seeking past perfects and dreams, which end up being shed and counterfeit. Daisy is the dream and also is the death of Gatsby. The fact that his image of her doesn’t truly depict the vital message of the book– a civilization whose precepts can be adjusted by the need for material items can not be humane, or contented.
Throughout the entire book, Gatsby’s image stays a bit blurred and undefined. This is partially because his tale is informed through the eyes of one more person- Nick Carraway.  Both opposite elements of his character that live side by side alongside Gatsby’s character are portrayed by the people he surrounds himself by. He represents the positive side.

Nick Carraway.

 

Nick is the personification of human kindness, the elegance of a man’s spirit, honesty, and internal courage.The fact that he tells the tale defines its tone– despite showing both sides of the “lost generation”, the book still reviews in a favorable and positive way. Nick’s story unfolds along with that of Jay Gatsby: for instance, he falls for Jordan while telling how Jay fell for Daisy. Nick and Gatsby share lots of attributes: guts, dignity, and genuine benevolence. Nevertheless, unlike Gatsby, Nick can stand up to the temptations and dark sides. After understanding the commonplace of his beloved Jordan, he finds the strength to eventually terminate their relationship, while Gatsby continues his relationship with Daisy– trying to live the false dream he had developed in his head.

Nick sees the real objectives of Jay Gatsby, and what is much more vital, he foresees how they might play out. He is a buddy. essentially, he is the only individual who remains by his buddy’s side towards the novel once everybody else has turned their backs on him. It’s ironic how Nick is one of the few people to appear at the funeral, while hundreds had loved at Gatsby’s parties. Mr Carraway is a responsible man who is not afraid to take on society. He has the ability to make a moral choice in conditions that demand otherwise. It is due to people like Nick that the writer thought his culture would eventually have the ability to find ethical grounds in the intricate American reality of those times.

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Beyond, the subject of the wicked American dream is focused in the novel around numerous characters with a huge “commercial” emphasis– in particular, they are Daisy Buchanan, her hubby Tom Buchanan, and her pal Jordan.

 

Daisy Buchanan

 

Daisy Buchanan is a woman who was birthed right into riches. She is a beautiful lady with a melodious voice. She is fun and easygoing, but hard to reach. Her inaccessibility transforms her right into an objective for Gatsby. But besides, there has constantly been a distance between them: when Gatsby lastly became rich, Daisy had already wed and had a kid. When Daisy left her husband for Gatsby, the differences in values between them still maintained the lovebirds apart. Daisy’s preliminary image as a stunning lady, a spouse and a mom collapsed with every next chapter of the book.

Review the Classroom Essays article concerning Daisy FROM THE  GREAT GATSBY to see how her character unravels in the book

 

Daisy is a lady born right into her times, she is frivolous and featherbrained. For instance, she is easily delighted by the glamorous interior decoration of Gatsby’s estate, the huge wardrobe he has, and his perceived achievement in the eyes of her surroundings. Gatsby admits that the noise of her voice seems like money. She is also a female of great catastrophe, as she is not able to live the life she really dreams. She initially declines Gatsby when they were young (and hence she betrays her true feelings,), after that, she wishes to be with him (as a result of his treasures), however is as well afraid to leave her spouse (where she betrays her feelings once again).

Tom Buchanan

 

If Jay Gatsby balances a consistent battle between his two different identities, Tom is a personification of one set of them. He is excessively egocentric, confident in his originality, projects physical strength, hangs on continuously to his individualistic sights, and is not shy in showing his ignorance and restricted mindset. Similar to his spouse, from his birth, Tom loved being of high condition and significantly gained from his family’s economic placement. That’s why his morals and concepts about humanity are mostly defined by being well-off. For him, the horrors of various other social classes and even fatality (like the death of Myrtle Wilson) are additional principles not worthy of his attention.

The outside appeal of the Buchanan couple is contrasted with the ugliness within them, their emptiness, and their selfishness. Tom can spend long hours seeing the shop windows, fascinated by the shimmers from the rubies. But, he can’t hold a major thought, even momentarily. Tom’s lack of growth and individual development throughout the web pages of the book are established from the first chapter, where the writer offers him as: “… one of those men who get to such an intense restricted success at twenty-one that everything later savours of anti-climax”.

 

Jordan Baker

 

The author depicts Jordan as a deceitful, selfish, overly ambitious, and even cruel woman. She is indisputably pretty and dedicates a lot of initiative into her looks. But once the readers venture beyond her looks, she is an empty shell. The charming involvement between her and Nick ends once the boy is able to see into her heart and find her emptiness. The couple has a completely different approach to life. Nick is careful when considering how his activities might affect the people who surround him. At the same time, Jordan couldn’t care less about how she could affect other people; she only appreciates what others think of her.

Jordan is cynical and excessively self-opinionated. She intends to win and does not always play fair. The girl is not as abundant as her close friend Daisy, and that’s why she is figured out to do whatever it requires to make her means into the world of the abundant and renowned. The author stresses the deceit of Jordan– that she wants to do whatever it requires to mould facts to the means she dreams it to be.

Meyer Wolfsheim

Mr Wolfsheim is a peripheral character in the story who is not defined comprehensively by the author. On the contrary, with his lines, Meyer Wolfsheim delivers some important information concerning the past and the present of other characters in the novel, like Nick Carraway. Meyer knows Gatsby through business endeavours. Meyer is presumed to play a key function in the 1919 World Series. The ventures of Mr Wolfsheim are plainly questionable, which casts uncertainty concerning the authenticity of Gatsby’s wealth and riches.

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Short Summary of The Great Gatsby Plot

 

The story is narrated by Nick Carraway, who is thirty years old and comes from a rich household. Chapter 1 tells us how he starts his business in credit dealings after returning from the war. He rented a residence in West Egg across the bay from your home of his second cousin Daisy. Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan. Nick recognizes Tom from college, he invested time with the couple in the past in Chicago. Tom is well-built literally and filled financially to the point that “… he left Chicago and came east in a theme that rather took your breath away: for instance, he had reduced a string of polo ponies from Lake Forest.

It was hard to understand that a guy in my own generation was rich sufficient to do that” (Chapter 1). Tom started philandering right after the proposal, she finds out about it, however, they both appear to ignore it. Tom even introduces Nick to his enthusiast Myrtle Wilson, who also happens to be the wife of Tom’s close friend Wilson. In Chapter 2 Tom discusses his lack of knowledge of Wilson:

 

 

Wilson? He thinks she goes to see her sister in New York. He’s so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive.”

 

 

Next to Nick lives Jay Gatsby. His home is a villa that comes to be flooded with individuals and parties every weekend break. With time, Nick gets an invitation to one of these parties. This is weird– normally people don’t await an invite, they just appear. Very few of individuals who go to the parties have seen the host, he remains an enigma to the majority of them. Nevertheless, in time Nick becomes buddies with Gatsby, and one day Jay asks Nick to set up an “unexpected” meeting with his cousin Daisy.

Gatsby and Daisy as Lovers

Turns out Gatsby met Daisy five years earlier when he was a lieutenant. The two fell in love, but the circumstances didn’t permit them to be with each other. Right before their marriage Daisy obtained a letter that virtually made her cancel the engagement. As one of her bridesmaids recalls in chapter 4:

 

“She wouldn’t let go of the letter… she didn’t say another word. We gave her spirits of ammonia and put ice on her forehead and hooked her back into her dress and half an hour later when we walked out of the room the pearls were around her neck and the incident was over. Next day at five o’clock she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver and started off on a three months’ trip to the South Seas”.

 

When the old love birds meet for the first time after many years, both are emotional. Jay shows Daisy his residence, they toss a number of memories about it, and the feelings ignite once more. Daisy starts to often attend Gatsby’s parties. He wants her to leave her hubby and elope with him. Tom becomes part of a fight for his husband. One day his pal Wilson figures out that Myrtle is unfaithful, but he does not know that she is cheating on him with Tom. When Wilson informs Tom that he wants to take Myrtle away from this city, Tom not only understands that he is losing not just his partner, but also his girlfriend:

 

Chapter 7“Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his control”

 

Gatsby challenges Tom, informing him that Daisy has always loved him but only wedded Tom since Gatsby was poor when the two first met. Trying to save his marriage, Tom tells Daisy that Jay’s earnings originate from a dubious source. He intends to make her think twice before leaving her spouse. Later on, they take a trip. On their way home Daisy hitches a ride in a vehicle with Gatsby, while everybody else is with Tom. At the same time, Myrtle argues with her husband and encounters the beige Rolls-Royce– assuming that it was Tom riding there. Because of this, the car runs over her and she passes away– the automobile doesn’t even stop. After that, Jay tells Nick that it was Daisy driving the vehicle.

Daisy Runs Away with Her Husband

Gatsby spends the whole following day alongside Daisy’s estate wanting to talk to her. Instead, Daisy loads her things and runs away with her hubby, without leaving any type of address. In chapter 6 the readers learn a lot more regarding Gatsby’s life story: his real name is James Gatz. He altered his name at the age of 17 given that “he had the name ready for a long time … The fact was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, derived from his Platonic perception of himself” (Chapter 6). Jay tells Nick about all the challenges he needed to go through to prosper and lastly be along with Daisy.

Tom informs Wilson that the car that killed his spouse belongs to Gatsby. Having no hope for justice, visits Gatsby’s mansion, eliminates him, and afterwards shoots himself also. Nick calls all of the individuals that often visited Gatsby’s parties, however, 3 come to the funeral: Jay’s papa, Nick, and one other party visitor. Everybody else ignores the funeral, as it is not as enjoyable to attend them.

Themes in The Great Gatsby

The Roaring Twenties

After World War 1, 1919-1929 were years of rapid economic development for the USA which later resulted in the Great Depression in the 1930s. Somewhat, the effects of such fast development and the unexpected fall that took place, later on, are pictured in “The Great Gatsby”. The book shows how easily people forget the past and come to be careless. As an example, individuals who benefited from Gatsby’s friendliness repaid their host by not troubling to learn more about him. And everybody was fine doing that, there was no need or worth in being genuine, mindful, or honest.

The American Dream

Jay Gatsby stands for the symbol of the American dream concept– he is a self-made man who went from being incredibly poor to coming to achieve material success.

 

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Chapter 6“His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people — his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all”

 

But with his hard work, he made it into high class. But did the achievement of materialistic things make him contented? The novel ends with a thoughtful quote that once again repeats the transience of life:

 

Chapter 9“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”

 

 

Gatsby is not the last person to be ingested and forgotten by a society of fast outcomes and huge intakes.  However,  maybe he was one of the better examples for teaching others to value people for who they really are.

Love

Love is something that many books/movies/poems and other art creations praise. As a universal feeling love is what motivates Gatsby to achieve the wealth and high status he enjoys when the readers meet him for the first time. But there is another side to the theme of love in “The Great Gatsby”– as it ends up. Love can be real or fake. A person can fall in love with another person, but typically we fall for a picture or perfect of the individual who we want to believe in. While Jay has real feelings for Daisy, he admits that she loves cash and comfort more than she enjoys him. Daisy thinks she enjoys Jay. However, as a matter of fact, the fabricated standards that culture has established bewilder Daisy such that she cannot also enjoy herself.

Class (Old Money, New Money, No Cash).

The novel shows how much class influences one’s placement in culture. Tom and Daisy are both birthed right into riches, and their characters are created by the benefits that their wealth creates. They are incredibly reckless individuals that mess up individuals’ lives and then hide behind the wall of their riches. Also, there is a distinction between individuals born right into riches and those who have made it. To start with, the author handles to demonstrate a lot of favourable attributes in Gatsby’s character (specifically because he is of the “new money generation”). He knows the value of cash and he has the benefits in him who helped him accomplish his achievements.

On the other hand, there is a bias of old cash towards the new well-off generation: Tom rushes to mention to Daisy that Jay is rich, however, the beginnings of his riches are different, and it clears Daisy of the little courage she had accumulated to leave her husband for Gatsby.

Past and Future.

” The Great Gatsby” describes a delightful time in American history that is distinctively different from the past (when there was war and scary) and the future of that time (when the Great Anxiety hit). In characters, this theme represents those who delight in the present, without considering the future or any kind of consequences their actions could take. But, some characters are embedded the past. For example, Gatsby likes the Daisy he met years back but rejects to discover how she’s altered. The story also sends a message to not judge people too swiftly. This is because everyone has some unrevealed truth that formed the way we behave today.

Symbolism in The Great Gatsby.

 

The Green Light and the Color Green.

 

Conventionally, the author connects The green light, in “The Great Gatsby”,  with joy, success, and abundance.  This symbol represents Gatsby’s need to reunite with Daisy. However, there are other means to interpret this symbol. The visitors would follow the flashing green light when attending Gatsby’s lavish parties. Daisy frequently saw and listened to those parties while seeing the green glow on the dock across the bay. For Daisy, green was the colour of richness and desire. She says in Chapter 6:

 

“These things excite me so… If you want to kiss me any time during the evening, Nick, just let me know and I’ll be glad to arrange it for you. Just mention my name. Or present a green card. I’m giving out green…”

 

The light also represents the birth and death of Gatsby: Jay Gatsby was reborn together with the glamorous living he had made for himself, but it had not been long up until this new life had ended. As Nick claims in Chapter 1:

 

“Involuntarily I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away… When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness.”

 

You may also want to discover WHAT IS SYMBOLISM IN LITERATURE.

The Eyes of Physician T. J. Eckleburg.

 

The eyes of Medical professional Eckleburg are first presented in Chapter 2:

 

“The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic — their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose.”

 

 

They are absolutely nothing more than the leftovers of a picture or an image, but in the novel, they stand for the symbol of somebody who is watching over the major characters. The eyes do not judge them, however, the stress is there. The fact that these eyes are abandoned shows how uncomfortable Daisy and the other main characters felt whilst seeing them. It is almost like looking in the mirror and not liking what you see. After all, it is you who provides the meaning to the picture you see in it.

 

The Valley of Ashes.

The Valley of Ashes is the region that the major characters pass when travelling between West Egg and New York. It is a lengthy stretch of ruined land that “hastily joins the railroad. The stretch runs close to it for a quarter of a mile” (Chapter 2). People associate ashes with greyness, monotony, and boredom. The people, houses, and streets there are so boring and common that the author describes it as: “ashes take the types of homes and chimneys and climbing smoke.  Lastly, with a transcendent effort, of men who move poorly and currently collapsing through the powdery air” (chapter 2).

It is the area that all of the characters of The Great Gatsby wish to stay clear of one of the most. Be that as it may,  they need to bypass it when travelling to New york city. Therefore, The Valley of Ashes is a symbol of the bitter reality that a lot of individuals attempt to get away from in their lives.

East and West.

 

The contrasts and dramatic distinctions between East and West in the United States are not new symbols for literature. The East, in this instance, stands for riches, popularity, and brightness. The West represents tradition, origins, and values. In the tale, East Egg is the location where commonly, wealthy people lived. While West Egg is, in Nick’s own words, “the much less classy of the two” (Chapter 1). One more method to translate this symbol is that the East and West represent the old and new wealth. It could also capture the real and phoney lives characters lead.

Gatsby’s Mansion.

 

Gatsby’s mansion is the area where the majority of the activity starts. It is the symbol of his wealth. It also symbolizes his hard efforts to become rich or to be “deserving”– worthy of Daisy, and worthy of the people she borders herself with. Gatsby got this manor recognizing that the love of his life lives nearby:.

 

 

Chapter 4“He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths so that he could “come over” some afternoon to a stranger’s garden”

 

The manor is magnificent and attractive, but it is not a house where Jay Gatsby feels most delighted. Thus, it also appears like many of the characters in the book– they are pretty outside. However,  that does not make them excellent individuals. Many of Gatsby’s guests know his mansion but do not also recognize what its proprietor looks like.

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