What is the Great Gatsby about?
The novel starts with wise words, which the main narrator, Nick Carraway, once heard from his father.
“Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
These words become a marker of the whole story.
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The Great Gatsby (2013) Thus, Nick becomes drawn into the captivating world of the wealthy and - as he bears witness to their illusions and deceits - pens a tale of impossible love, dreams, and tragedy. Midwest native Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) arrives in 1922 New York in search of the American dream.
The storyteller, Nick Carraway is a young man. He comes from Minnesota, from a prominent, well-to-do family. In the summer of 1922, he moves to New York after finishing his studies and starts learning about bond business, Wall Street and the life of the city. He rents a house in the West Egg district of Long Island. The district is all about wealthy people, who gained their first capital pretty recently and have no good social connections with people who’ve had their wealth for all their life. Thus, this district is considered to be the area of ‘new rich people.’
Nick unknowingly becomes the neighbor to the Gatsby, an incredibly wealthy man, who lives in a huge castle and throws an insanely big party every other weekend. Each Friday night the whole New York gets into cars and goes to Gatsby’s place without any invitation, as there is no need for it.
Nick differs from the people who typically live in the West Egg district. He graduated from Yale, he comes from a great family, and, most important he has a cousin living on the other side of the bay, in the East Egg district. Her name is Daisy and she is married to Tom, who was Nick’s classmate in Yale. One day Nick comes to visit them. There he meets Jordan Baker, a beautiful, young, but a cynical woman. They start a romantic relationship and spend a lot of time with Daisy and Tom. One night soon, while they all have dinner together, there is a strange phone call. Nick discovers, that Tom has a woman in the city. Her name is Myrtle Wilson. She is married to the worker of the valley of ashes, an industrial dumping ground between West Egg and the city. She and Tom have an affair for quite a long time. Nick is unwillingly dragged into the whole story and becomes its outside observer.
Also, he surprisingly gets a written invitation to another party thrown by Gatsby, so he appears there and meets the host. Jordan is also present among the guests. Nick sees her having a secret talk with Gatsby, after that she says, that ‘everything is clear now,’ but she can’t tell more, as she promised to keep Gatsby’s secret.
Gatsby, who was covered with mystery and rumors, appears to be a great guy, with an English accent, nice smile and he is always calling every man he meets an ‘old sport’. A bit later Gatsby invites Nick for lunch and tries to tell him his story, which sounds a bit made up. The point is to ask Nick for a favor, but it never happens, as the husband of Daisy appears out from nowhere at the same dining place. Gatsby disappears, but Jordan tells Nick the secret she found out on the party. Gatsby is secretly in love with Daisy, from the time they first met 5 years ago. Each party he throws was made only to impress her, and to make her come. But she never did. So now Gatsby wants some help from Nick. He should invite Daisy for a cup of tea, and there Gatsby would be able to meet her and finally talk to her. It happens. After a short awkwardness, they both reunite and start an affair.
After some time Tom begins to suspect Daisy in having a romantic relationship with Gatsby. He finds out where Gatsby comes from, who he is and where does all his wealth come from. By the time Daisy and Gatsby decide to reveal their affair, he already has the information to tell. The whole company, Nick, Jordan, Daisy, Gatsby, and Tom are in the city trying to escape the incredible summer heat. Tom reveals that Gatsby has an illegal business of selling bootlegged alcohol and is included in loads of other schemes. Tom accuses Gatsby of low birth and lack of proper upbringing. Gatsby becomes furious and attacks Tom. Daisy is shocked and tries to leave Gatsby. They both get into the Gatsby’s car and go back to the East Egg district. On their way, they accidentally hit Myrtle by car. She ran out, hoping that there is Tom in the car and he would take her away from her husband and the fight they’re having. She dies, Gatsby’s car did not stop.
Nick, Tom, and Jordan take the same road to go back home, so they see the dead body of Myrtle and her husband in grief. Tom blames Gatsby for murder and for being her lover in front of Myrtle’s husband to make him kill Gatsby. When they come back to East Egg, Nick suddenly sees Gatsby hiding in the garden. From Gatsby, he learns that Daisy was driving the car, but he never wants to reveal it to the public, so he takes the blame. He only wants her to come back to him.
Daisy stays home with her husband. Nick and Gatsby spend the night together. Gatsby tells Nick his real story, with all the details he was previously ashamed of. In the morning Nick has to go back to work. Gatsby stays home and waits for Daisy to call him. There appears George, Myrtle’s husband, and shoots Gatsby and afterward dramatically kills himself.
Gatsby gets a small funeral, as it appears he had no true friends, except for Nick. Daisy never comes, and stays with her husband and daughter. Nick ends his relationship with Jordan and moves to the Midwest district. He feels a huge aversion to all the people from East and West Egg. He also draws a parallel between Gatsby’s dream of a happy life with Daisy and the American dream of individualism and happiness. Both dreams are dead.
How many chapters are in The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby consists of nine chapters. Each of them slowly unfolds the story in front of the reader. Our Great Gatsby study guide tells you the whole story here, in the Plot Overview. We also discuss each chapter separately. So, at the very end, you will get a complete understanding of the story, even if have you never read it.
Chapter Two
The second chapter begins with a description of the valley of ashes, a dismal, barren wasteland halfway between West Egg and New York. A pair of enormous eyes broods over the valley from a large, decaying billboard. These are the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, an optometrist whose practice has long since ended.
Tom Buchanan takes Nick to George Wilson's garage, which lies at the edge of the valley of ashes. Wilson's wife, Myrtle, is the woman with whom Tom has been having an affair. Tom forces both Myrtle and Nick to accompany him to the city. There, in the flat in which Tom maintains his affair, they have a shrill, vulgar party with Myrtle's sister, Catherine, and a repulsive couple named McKee. The group gossips about Jay Gatsby: Catherine claims that he is somehow related to Kaiser Wilhelm, the much-despised ruler of Germany during World War I. The group becomes exceedingly drunk; as a result, Myrtle begins to grow garrulous and harsh. Shortly after Tom gives her a puppy as a gift, Myrtle begins chanting Daisy's name to irritate Tom. Tom tells her that she has no right to say Daisy's name; she continues taunting him, and he responds by breaking Myrtle's nose.
Analysis
The road from West Egg to New York City exemplifies decay. It is a 'valley of ashes,' a place of uninterrupted desolation. The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are an indelibly grotesque image: these are eyes unattached to any face or body, gazing out over a hellish wasteland. Fitzgerald's description of the drawbridge and passing barges makes an allusion to the River Styx, a mythological river which one crosses to enter the realm of the dead. The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg seem to be a monstrous parody of the eyes of God: they watch, but they do not see; they are heartless, and entirely unknowing. Like the scene in which Gatsby reaches for the green light, high symbolism is given priority over the demands of realism: the reader is presented with an implausible, but highly effective image of two detached eyes looking out over dust and ashes.
The novel's only non-wealthy characters live in the valley of ashes; it is the grim underside to the hedonism of the Eggs, and of New York City. George Wilson, Myrtle's dejected husband, seems almost made of ashes: 'ashen dust' coats his clothes and his hair. Fitzgerald represents poverty as lying beneath wealth and providing the wealthy with a dumping ground. It is what the wealthy wish to avoid seeing at all costs.
In comparison to Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson is sensuous and vital. While Daisy wears pale white, Myrtle dresses in saturated colors and her mouth is a deep red. While Daisy is affected and insubstantial, Myrtle Wilson is straightforward, fleshy, almost coarse. Fitzgerald presents her fleshy breasts and large hips as a sign of her robust femininity.
At Tom's party, the characters engage in vulgar, boorish behavior: Myrtle Wilson reads tabloids; she and her sister gossip viciously about Gatsby and each other; Mr. McKee does not say that he is an artist, but instead claims to be in the 'artistic game.'
Clothing plays an important role in the development of character, and is reflective of both a character's mood and his or her personality. This device emphasizes the characters' superficiality. When Myrtle changes into a cream-colored dress, she loses some of her vitality. Like Daisy, she becomes more artificial; her laughter, gestures, and speech become violently affected.
This chapter explores a world that has collapsed into decadence: Fitzgerald's society is a society in decay. The only rationale that Myrtle gives for her affair with Tom is: 'You can't live forever.' Nick Carraway remains both 'within and without' this world: though he is repulsed by the party's vulgarity, he is too fascinated to compel himself to leave. It becomes patently clear in this chapter that Tom is both a bully and a hypocrite: he carries on a highly public affair, but feels compelled to beat his mistress in order to keep her in her place. The fact that Tom feels no guilt about his violence toward Myrtle (indeed, he seems incapable of feeling guilt at all) becomes pivotal in later chapters.