The Great Gatsby
Set in the Jazz Age's whirlwind of opulence, The Great Gatsby is a tale of love, ambition, and shattered dreams. Through the mysterious Jay Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald crafts a vivid world of glittering parties, forbidden romance, and the haunting cost of chasing an unattainable past.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
1925
Main Characters
Jay Gatsby
A self-made millionaire with a mysterious past, Gatsby is renowned for his lavish parties and unyielding love for Daisy Buchanan. His charm and ambition mask a deep sense of longing and vulnerability.
Daisy Buchanan
Nick's cousin and the object of Gatsby's affection, Daisy is a beautiful and shallow socialite trapped in a loveless marriage. Her voice is described as "full of money," symbolising her allure and the materialism of the era.
Nick Carraway
Nick is the novel’s thoughtful and observant narrator, a young man from the Midwest who moves to Long Island to pursue a career in finance. Honest and reserved, Nick becomes the bridge between the glittering world of Jay Gatsby and the raw humanity hidden behind it. As he bears witness to the complexities of love, ambition, and disillusionment, Nick’s reflections anchor the story, providing both an insider’s and outsider’s perspective on the decadent lives of the elite.
Synopsis
In the summer of 1922, Nick Carraway, a recent Yale graduate with dreams of making it big in the bond business, moves to the glittering North Shore of Long Island. He rents a modest house in West Egg, a less fashionable but affluent area, where sprawling mansions dominate the landscape. Nick's nearest neighbour is none other than the enigmatic Jay Gatsby, a man who throws extravagant parties every weekend that attract the cream of New York society—yet no one seems to truly know him.
Nick reconnects with his cousin Daisy Buchanan, a magnetic but conflicted socialite living in the more exclusive East Egg. Daisy is married to the wealthy and brutish Tom Buchanan, whose charm is only skin deep. Tom’s world is one of excess, privilege, and infidelity, and he makes little effort to hide his affair with Myrtle Wilson, a woman from the nearby industrial wasteland of the Valley of Ashes.
When Nick is invited to one of Gatsby’s legendary parties, he finally meets the man behind the myth—a charismatic, deeply ambitious figure who seems to be hiding both his past and his true desires. As their friendship blossoms, Gatsby confides his ultimate goal: to win back Daisy, the love of his life, whom he lost years ago to Tom’s wealth and social standing. Every party, every rumour, every grand gesture has been for her.
Over the course of the sweltering summer, Nick becomes entangled in the swirling lives of the wealthy—marked by decadence, betrayal, and relentless longing. He witnesses Gatsby and Daisy’s rekindled romance, but beneath the glamour lies a darker reality. Gatsby’s dream of a perfect future with Daisy collides with the harsh truths of the past, while the reckless choices of the elite lead to inevitable tragedy.
Through Nick’s reflective narration, The Great Gatsby becomes a tale of dazzling highs and heartbreaking lows—a portrait of a world fuelled by ambition, excess, and unfulfilled dreams. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s timeless novel captures the fragility of chasing an ideal and the moral void lurking beneath the glimmering surface of the American Dream.
This is a story of hope and disillusionment, where every character is chasing something—whether love, wealth, or redemption—and where no dream is ever as golden as it seems.
Quotes
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
“There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired.”
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us."
Fun Fact
The original cover art for The Great Gatsby, titled "Celestial Eyes," was created by artist Francis Cugat. Fitzgerald was so impressed by the artwork that he incorporated its imagery into the novel, particularly in the description of the billboard featuring the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg.