The Great Gatsby

1. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

2. Key Facts • Type of work: Novel • Time and place written: 1923-1924; America and France • Date of first publication: 1925 • Setting (time): Summer 1922 • Setting (place): Long Island and New York City • Narrator: Nick Carraway (implies that he is the book’s author) • Point of view: Both first and third person limited • Tone: Nick’s attitudes are ambivalent and contradictory

3. Character List • Nick Carraway: narrator; young man from Minnesota; educated at Yale; fought in WWI; goes to NYC to learn the bond business; honest, tolerant, inclined to reserve judgment; next-door neighbor to Jay Gatsby; cousin to Daisy Buchanan • Jay Gatsby: title character; protagonist; extremely wealthy; famous for his lavish parties; mysterious—no one knows where he comes from , what he does,or how he made his fortune; fell in love with Daisy; about 30 years old; had an impoverished childhood

4. Character List • Daisy Buchanan: Nick’s cousin; loves Gatsby; married to Tom Buchanan; somewhat cynical and sardonic; based partially on Fitzgerald’s wife Zelda • Tom Buchanan: immensely wealthy; comes from an “old” family; arrogant; has racist and sexist attitudes; doesn’t live up to the moral standards he demands from others; involved in an extramarital affair with Myrtle

5. Character List • Jordan Baker: Daisy’s friend; becomes involved with Nick; a competitive golfer—represents the “new women” of the 1920s; beautiful but dishonest • Myrtle Wilson: Tom’s lover; married to George; looks for ways to improve her situation • George Wilson: Myrtle’s husband; owner of a run-down auto shop at the edge of the valley of ashes; loves and idealizes Myrtle; devastated by her affair with Tom; dreamer

6. Themes – the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work • Decline of the American Dream in the 1920s • Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era in which social and moral values had decayed. • There was unrestrained desire for money and pleasure, which surpassed more noble goals. • Young Americans who had fought in WWI were disillusioned, and they saw American morals as stuffy and hypocritical. • The rise of the stock market led to increased national wealth and newfound materialism. • People began to spend and consume as never before.

7. Themes • The Hollowness of the Upper Class • “Old rich” vs. “New rich” • East Egg = the old aristocracy; West Egg = the newly rich • New rich = vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, lacking in social graces and tastes • Gatsby lives in an ornate mansion, wears a pink suit, drives a Rolls-Royce, does not pick up on subtle social signals (insincerity of an invitation) • Old rich = grace, taste, subtlety, elegance • The Buchanan’s home is very tasteful; Daisy and Jordan wear flowing white dresses. • However, East Eggers are careless and inconsiderate. They never worry about hurting others

8. Motifs – recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help develop and inform the major themes • Geography • East Egg = old aristocracy • West Egg = newly rich • Valley of the aches = moral and social decay of America • New York City = uninhibited, amoral quest for money and pleasure • East = moral decay; social cynicism • West = traditional social values and ideals • Weather – matches the emotional and narrative tones of the story

9. Symbols – objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts • The Green Light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future • The Valley of Ashes is a long stretch of desolate land created by the dumping of industrial ashes; represents the moral and social decay of the rich • The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg may represent God staring down upon and judging American society as a moral wasteland.