The Great Gatsby

Nick Carraway, our narrator, reflects on advice his father gave him about not criticizing others, which has led him to become a tolerant and understanding person who often finds himself the recipient of others' confidences. Nick introduces himself as a Yale graduate who, after serving in World War I, moves from the Midwest to New York to learn the bond business in the summer of 1922. He settles in West Egg, Long Island, in a modest house next to the mansion of the mysterious Jay Gatsby.

Nick visits his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her wealthy husband Tom in the more fashionable East Egg. During this visit, he meets Jordan Baker, a professional golfer and friend of Daisy's. The evening reveals the superficiality and moral carelessness of the wealthy elite - Tom displays his racist views and intellectual pretensions, while Daisy performs a kind of artificial sophistication. The facade of their perfect life cracks when a phone call, presumably from Tom's mistress in New York, interrupts their dinner.

The chapter concludes with several revealing moments: Daisy confides in Nick about her cynicism and unhappiness, expressing hope that her daughter will be 'a beautiful little fool.' The evening ends with Nick learning about Tom's infidelity from Jordan Baker, and observing his mysterious neighbor Gatsby standing alone in the darkness, reaching out toward a green light across the bay - a light that marks Daisy's dock, though Nick doesn't yet know this significance.

Nick accompanies Tom to the Valley of Ashes, a desolate industrial wasteland between West Egg and New York City, dominated by the haunting billboard of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg's eyes watching over the gray landscape. Here, Tom introduces Nick to his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, who lives with her husband George in a garage beneath the ashen wasteland. George Wilson, a spiritless mechanic, appears oblivious to his wife's affair, believing she visits her sister when she goes to the city with Tom.

The scene shifts as Tom, Nick, and Myrtle travel to New York City, where they visit the apartment Tom keeps for his trysts. Myrtle undergoes a dramatic transformation in the city, shedding her working-class persona for one of artificial sophistication. She hosts an impromptu gathering, inviting her sister Catherine and the McKees from downstairs. The afternoon dissolves into a drunken party where the guests share gossip, including rumors about Gatsby being related to Kaiser Wilhelm.

As the evening progresses, the gathering becomes increasingly chaotic and tense. Myrtle grows more emboldened with each drink, eventually taunting Tom by repeatedly shouting Daisy's name. Tom responds with sudden violence, striking Myrtle and breaking her nose. The chapter ends in disorder, with blood-soaked towels, women's voices scolding, and Nick leaving in a drunken haze, ending up at Pennsylvania Station waiting for the early morning train.

Gatsby's mansion transforms every weekend into a spectacle of orchestras, endless cocktails, lavish food spreads, and hundreds of uninvited guests. The celebrations attract a diverse crowd of socialites, celebrities, and strangers, all consuming Gatsby's hospitality while spreading wild rumors about their mysterious host's past - ranging from him being a German spy to a murderer.

Nick attends one of these parties as a formally invited guest, making him a rarity among the revelers. After wandering uncomfortably through the crowd, he encounters Jordan Baker and joins various groups of partygoers, including a peculiar man in the library who is amazed that Gatsby's books are real. The evening progresses with increasing revelry, featuring professional entertainers, drunken arguments, and impromptu performances, until Nick finally meets his host - discovering Gatsby to be a surprisingly young man with an extraordinary smile and carefully chosen words.

After their brief encounter, Gatsby is repeatedly called away by mysterious phone calls from various cities, but he arranges a private conversation with Jordan Baker. The chapter concludes with a car accident outside Gatsby's mansion and Nick's reflection on his summer in New York, including his growing relationship with Jordan Baker. Nick discovers Jordan's dishonest nature, particularly regarding a golf tournament scandal, but finds himself attracted to her despite (or perhaps because of) her careless attitude toward others.

Speculation about Gatsby's mysterious background continues to swirl among his party guests, with wild rumors ranging from bootlegger to murderer. Nick provides a detailed list of the party attendees from that summer, showcasing the diverse mix of social classes and personalities that frequented Gatsby's mansion. One morning, Gatsby arrives at Nick's house in his luxurious cream-colored car, inviting him to lunch in New York City.

During the drive to the city, Gatsby attempts to explain his past to Nick, claiming to be from a wealthy Midwestern family, educated at Oxford, and decorated for valor in the war. Though initially skeptical, Nick's doubts begin to waver when Gatsby produces a photograph from Oxford and a medal from Montenegro. At lunch, Nick meets Meyer Wolfshiem, a shady character who, as Gatsby later reveals, was responsible for fixing the 1919 World Series. The lunch is interrupted by an awkward encounter with Tom Buchanan, during which Gatsby displays uncharacteristic discomfort before disappearing.

The narrative then shifts to Jordan Baker, who reveals the history between Gatsby and Daisy. In 1917, Daisy was an 18-year-old socialite in Louisville who had a brief romance with Jay Gatsby when he was a young military officer. Jordan recounts Daisy's subsequent relationship with Tom Buchanan, including a dramatic moment before her wedding when she received a letter from Gatsby and nearly called off the marriage. The chapter concludes with Jordan explaining Gatsby's true motive: he bought his mansion specifically to be near Daisy, and wants Nick to invite her to tea so he can arrange a reunion, though Daisy must not know Gatsby will be there.

Gatsby's excessive preparations signal the magnitude of what's about to unfold - someone cuts Nick's lawn, flowers arrive, and Gatsby himself appears early in a white flannel suit, nervous and pale. The long-awaited reunion between Gatsby and Daisy finally occurs at Nick's cottage, but the initial meeting proves painfully awkward. Gatsby knocks over Nick's clock and barely maintains his composure, nearly fleeing before Daisy arrives.

After Nick diplomatically gives them privacy and returns, the initial discomfort has transformed into an intimate connection between the former lovers. Gatsby's entire demeanor shifts from nervous tension to radiant joy, while Daisy's face shows signs of having cried, but with evident happiness.

Gatsby then takes Daisy and Nick on a tour of his mansion, eager to impress her with his wealth and possessions. The tour becomes an elaborate display of his success, culminating in the famous shirt scene where Daisy breaks down crying at the sight of Gatsby's beautiful shirts. The reunion reaches a poignant moment when Gatsby points out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock, which now seems diminished in its symbolic power since he has finally reached what it represented. The afternoon concludes with Klipspringer playing the piano while Gatsby and Daisy sit together in the dark, though Nick observes a hint of doubt cross Gatsby's face, suggesting the reality of Daisy might not fully match his perfect dream of her.

A reporter's inquiries about the various rumors surrounding Gatsby prompt Nick to reveal his host's true origins as James Gatz from North Dakota. Born to unsuccessful farmers, the seventeen-year-old Gatz reinvented himself after encountering the yacht of millionaire Dan Cody on Lake Superior. After warning Cody about dangerous weather, young Gatz was taken aboard as a personal assistant, beginning a five-year period that would shape his transformation into Jay Gatsby. Though Cody intended to leave Gatsby a significant inheritance, Ella Kaye managed to claim the fortune after Cody's death, leaving Gatsby only with his carefully crafted new identity.

The narrative shifts to a tense social encounter when Tom Buchanan unexpectedly visits Gatsby's mansion with two companions, Mr. Sloane and a woman in riding clothes. Gatsby's attempts to be hospitable and his pointed mentions of knowing Daisy create an awkward atmosphere. When the woman invites Gatsby to dinner, her companion's obvious displeasure and subsequent attempt to leave without him creates an uncomfortable situation that highlights the social divide between Gatsby and Tom's world.

The chapter culminates in Tom and Daisy's attendance at one of Gatsby's parties, where the evening takes on an oppressive quality unlike previous gatherings. Through Nick's observations, we see Daisy's discomfort with the crude vitality of West Egg society, while Tom dismissively suggests Gatsby is a bootlegger. After the party, Gatsby confides in Nick his disappointment that Daisy didn't enjoy herself and reveals his impossible desire to recreate the past perfectly. His fantasy culminates in a memory of his first kiss with Daisy five years ago, highlighting the gap between his idealized dreams and reality.

Gatsby's mansion goes dark and his lavish parties abruptly end as he fires all his servants and replaces them with new ones connected to Meyer Wolfshiem to maintain privacy for Daisy's afternoon visits. At the Buchanans' house, during an oppressively hot day, tensions finally explode between Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy. The three-way confrontation in a suite at the Plaza Hotel forces the issue of Daisy's affections into the open, with Gatsby pushing her to say she never loved Tom. The situation becomes increasingly hostile as Tom exposes Gatsby's criminal connections and true background as James Gatz, while Gatsby desperately tries to maintain his dream of recreating his perfect past with Daisy.

The confrontation reaches its climax when Daisy can't bring herself to say she never loved Tom, devastating Gatsby's carefully constructed fantasy. Tom, confident in his victory, sends Gatsby and Daisy back together in Gatsby's car, knowing he has won. The afternoon takes a tragic turn when Myrtle Wilson, seeing what she believes to be Tom's car, runs out onto the road and is struck and killed by Gatsby's vehicle - which Daisy was driving. The accident is witnessed by several people who identify the car as yellow, though no one sees the driver.

In the aftermath of Myrtle's death, Tom, Jordan, and Nick discover her body at Wilson's garage. Tom carefully deflects suspicion about the yellow car while Wilson begins to spiral into grief-stricken madness. The chapter concludes with Gatsby standing guard outside the Buchanans' mansion, watching for any sign that Tom might harm Daisy, while Nick discovers Tom and Daisy intimately conspiring in their kitchen, having seemingly reconciled. The final image of Gatsby maintaining his futile vigil in the moonlight perfectly captures the collapse of his grand dreams and the hollow nature of his pursuit.

Nick spends a sleepless night after the Plaza confrontation and Myrtle's death, then visits Gatsby, who has maintained his futile vigil outside the Buchanans' mansion. In Gatsby's eerily empty house, Nick urges him to leave town, knowing his car will be traced, but Gatsby refuses to go without knowing Daisy's intentions. In this vulnerable moment, Gatsby shares more intimate details about his relationship with Daisy from their first meeting, revealing how her status as a 'nice girl' and her wealthy lifestyle had enhanced her allure. He describes their courtship, acknowledging that he had taken her under false pretenses by letting her believe he came from her social class.

The narrative explores the trajectory of Gatsby and Daisy's romance through his military service, including his success in the war and his desperate attempts to return home afterward. While Gatsby was delayed at Oxford due to a military mix-up, Daisy's letters grew increasingly anxious as she faced pressure from her social circle. The arrival of Tom Buchanan, with his 'wholesome bulkiness' and secure position, led to Daisy's marriage and the devastating letter that reached Gatsby in Oxford. In the present, Gatsby desperately tries to convince himself and Nick that Daisy never loved Tom, though his uncertainty shows through his rationalizations.

The chapter's tragic conclusion unfolds as Gatsby, still hoping for Daisy's call, decides to use his pool for the first time that summer. Meanwhile, George Wilson, having stayed up all night with Michaelis, becomes convinced that the driver of the yellow car was his wife's lover and murderer. Wilson traces Gatsby's identity and makes his way to West Egg. The final scene reveals both men's deaths - Wilson shoots Gatsby while he waits on his pool float, then takes his own life. Nick, arriving from the train station, discovers the bodies with Gatsby's staff, marking the violent end of Gatsby's dream and the completion of what Nick calls 'the holocaust.'

The aftermath of Gatsby's murder transforms his mansion into a media circus as police, reporters, and photographers swarm the property. Nick finds himself solely responsible for Gatsby's affairs, as no one else shows any real interest in the dead man's fate. His attempts to contact Daisy prove futile - she and Tom have left town without a forwarding address. Even Meyer Wolfshiem, despite his supposed close friendship with Gatsby, refuses to attend the funeral, sending only a letter expressing his shock and carefully distancing himself from the situation.

Gatsby's father, Henry C. Gatz, arrives from Minnesota after seeing the story in a Chicago newspaper. The elderly man reveals more about Gatsby's early life, showing Nick a schedule and list of resolutions young Jimmy Gatz had written in a book, demonstrating his early determination to better himself. The funeral itself is a sparse affair, attended only by Nick, Gatsby's father, a handful of servants, and surprisingly, the owl-eyed man from the library, who delivers the final words: 'The poor son-of-a-bitch.'

Before leaving New York, Nick ties up his loose ends. He has a final meeting with Jordan Baker, who tells him she's engaged to someone else, leading to a bitter-sweet goodbye that acknowledges their mutual carelessness. He also has a confrontation with Tom Buchanan on Fifth Avenue, where Tom justifies his actions regarding Gatsby and Myrtle's death, revealing he had told George Wilson that Gatsby owned the car. Nick's final visit to Gatsby's empty mansion leads to his profound reflection on the American dream, symbolized by the green light at the end of Daisy's dock - an eternally receding vision that Gatsby pursued but could never quite grasp.