The Great Gatsby

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This article is about the novel. For the film, TV and opera adaptations, see The Great
Gatsby (disambiguation).

The Great Gatsby

The cover of the first edition

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald

Cover artist Francis Cugat

Country United States

Language English

Genre Tragedy

Published April 10, 1925

Publisher Charles Scribner's Sons

Media type Print (hardcover & paperback)

Preceded by The Beautiful and Damned (1922) 

Followed by Tender Is the Night (1934) 

Text The Great Gatsby at Wikisource

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in

the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-
person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and
Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.
The novel was inspired by a youthful romance Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra
King, and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922.
Following a move to the French Riviera, Fitzgerald completed a rough draft of the novel
in 1924. He submitted it to editor Maxwell Perkins, who persuaded Fitzgerald to revise
the work over the following winter. After making revisions, Fitzgerald was satisfied with
the text, but remained ambivalent about the book's title and considered several
alternatives. Painter Francis Cugat's cover art greatly impressed Fitzgerald, and he
incorporated aspects of it into the novel.
After its publication by Scribner's in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received generally
favorable reviews, though some literary critics believed it did not equal Fitzgerald's
previous efforts. Compared to his earlier novels, Gatsby was a commercial
disappointment, selling fewer than 20,000 copies by October, and Fitzgerald's hopes of
a monetary windfall from the novel were unrealized. When the author died in 1940, he
believed himself to be a failure and his work forgotten.
During World War II, the novel experienced an abrupt surge in popularity when
the Council on Books in Wartime distributed free copies to American soldiers serving
overseas. This new-found popularity launched a critical and scholarly re-examination,
and the work soon became a core part of most American high school curricula and a
part of American popular culture. Numerous stage and film adaptations followed in the
subsequent decades.
Gatsby continues to attract popular and scholarly attention. Contemporary scholars
emphasize the novel's treatment of social class, inherited versus self-made
wealth, race, and environmentalism, and its cynical attitude towards the American
dream. One persistent item of negative criticism is an allegation
of antisemitic stereotyping. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a
literary masterwork and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel.

Contents
 1Historical and biographical context
 2Plot summary
 3Major characters
 4Writing and production
o 4.1Alternative titles
o 4.2Cover art
 5Critical reception
o 5.1Contemporary reviews
o 5.2Revival and reassessment
 6Critical analysis
o 6.1Major themes
 6.1.1The American dream
 6.1.2Class permanence
 6.1.3Gender relations
 6.1.4Race and displacement
 6.1.5Sexuality and identity
 6.1.6Technology and environment
o 6.2Antisemitism
 7Adaptations
o 7.1Stage
o 7.2Film
o 7.3Television
o 7.4Other media
 8References
o 8.1Notes
o 8.2Citations
o 8.3Bibliography
 8.3.1Print sources
 8.3.2Online sources
 9External links

Historical and biographical context[edit]

Further information: Jazz Age and Prohibition in the United States
F. Scott Fitzgerald's romance and life-long obsession with socialite Ginevra King informed the plot of the novel.
King was fêted in the press as among Chicago's most desirable debutantes and inspired the character of Daisy
Buchanan.

Set on the prosperous Long Island of 1922, The Great Gatsby provides a critical social
history of Prohibition-era America during the Jazz Age.[a] F. Scott Fitzgerald's fictional
narrative fully renders that period—known for its jazz music,[2] economic prosperity,
[3]
 flapper culture,[4] libertine mores,[5] rebellious youth,[6] and ubiquitous speakeasies.
Fitzgerald uses many of these 1920s societal developments to tell his story, from simple
details like petting in automobiles to broader themes such as bootlegging as the illicit
source of Gatsby's fortune.[7][8]
Fitzgerald conveys the hedonism of Jazz Age society by placing a relatable plotline
within the historical context of the most raucous and flashiest era in American history. [3]
[9]
 In Fitzgerald's eyes, the era represented a morally permissive time when Americans of
all ages became disillusioned with prevailing social norms and obsessed with pleasure-
seeking.[10] Fitzgerald himself had a certain ambivalence towards the Jazz Age, an era
whose themes he would later regard as reflective of events in his own life. [11]
The Great Gatsby reflects various events in Fitzgerald's youth.[12] He was a young
Midwesterner from Minnesota. Like the novel's narrator who went to Yale, he was
educated at an Ivy League school, Princeton.[13] There the 19-year-old Fitzgerald
met Ginevra King, a 16-year-old socialite with whom he fell deeply in love. [14][15] Although
Ginevra was madly in love with him,[16] her upper-class family openly discouraged his
courtship of their daughter because of his lower-class status, and her father purportedly
told him that "poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls". [17]
Rejected by Ginevra's family as a suitor because of his lack of financial prospects, a
suicidal Fitzgerald enlisted in the United States Army amid World War I and was
commissioned as a second lieutenant.[18][19] While awaiting deployment to the Western
front where he hoped to die in combat,[19] he was stationed at Camp Sheridan
in Montgomery, Alabama, where he met Zelda Sayre, a vivacious 17-year-old Southern
belle.[20] After learning that Ginevra had married wealthy Chicago businessman William
"Bill" Mitchell, Fitzgerald asked Zelda to marry him. [21] Zelda agreed but postponed their
marriage until he became financially successful.[22][23] Fitzgerald is thus similar to Jay
Gatsby in that he became engaged while a military officer stationed far from home and
then sought immense wealth in order to provide for the lifestyle to which his fiancée had
become accustomed.[b][27][28]
After his success as a short-story writer and as a novelist, Fitzgerald married Zelda in
New York City, and the newly-wed couple soon relocated to Long Island. [29] Despite
enjoying the exclusive Long Island milieu, Fitzgerald quietly disapproved of the
extravagant parties,[30] and the wealthy persons he encountered often disappointed him.
[31]
 While striving to emulate the rich, he found their privileged lifestyle to be morally
disquieting.[32][33] Although Fitzgerald—like Gatsby—had always admired the rich, he
nonetheless possessed a smoldering resentment towards them. [33]

Plot summary[edit]

George Wilson and his wife Myrtle live in the "valley of ashes", a refuse dump (shown in the above photograph)
historically located in New York City during the 1920s. Today, the area is Flushing Meadows–Corona Park.

In spring 1922, Nick Carraway—a Yale alumnus from the Midwest and a World War I

veteran—journeys to New York City to obtain employment as a bond salesman. He
rents a bungalow in the Long Island village of West Egg, next to a luxurious estate
inhabited by Jay Gatsby, an enigmatic multi-millionaire who hosts dazzling soirées yet
does not partake in them.
One evening, Nick dines with a distant relative, Daisy Buchanan, in the fashionable
town of East Egg. Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan, formerly a Yale football star
whom Nick knew during his college days. The couple has recently relocated
from Chicago to a mansion directly across the bay from Gatsby's estate. There, Nick
encounters Jordan Baker, an insolent flapper and golf champion who is a childhood
friend of Daisy's. Jordan confides to Nick that Tom keeps a mistress, Myrtle Wilson, who
brazenly telephones him at his home and who lives in the "valley of ashes", a sprawling
refuse dump.[34] That evening, Nick sees Gatsby standing alone on his lawn, staring at a
green light across the bay.
Days later, Nick reluctantly accompanies a drunken and agitated Tom to New York City
by train. En route, they stop at a garage inhabited by mechanic George Wilson and his
wife Myrtle. Myrtle joins them, and the trio proceed to a small New York apartment that
Tom has rented for trysts with her. Guests arrive and a party ensues, which ends with
Tom slapping Myrtle and breaking her nose after she mentions Daisy.
One morning, Nick receives a formal invitation to a party at Gatsby's mansion. Once
there, Nick is embarrassed that he recognizes no one and begins drinking heavily until
he encounters Jordan. While chatting with her, he is approached by a man who
introduces himself as Jay Gatsby and insists that both he and Nick served in
the 3rd Infantry Division during the war. Gatsby attempts to ingratiate himself with Nick
and when Nick leaves the party, he notices Gatsby watching him.

The confrontation between Gatsby and Tom occurs in the twenty-story Plaza Hotel, a château-like edifice with
an architectural style inspired by the French Renaissance.

In late July, Nick and Gatsby have lunch at a speakeasy. Gatsby tries impressing Nick
with tales of his war heroism and his Oxford days. Afterward, Nick meets Jordan at
the Plaza Hotel. Jordan reveals that Gatsby and Daisy met around 1917 when Gatsby
was an officer in the American Expeditionary Forces. They fell in love, but when Gatsby
was deployed overseas, Daisy reluctantly married Tom. Gatsby hopes that his
newfound wealth and dazzling parties will make Daisy reconsider. Gatsby uses Nick to
stage a reunion with Daisy, and the two embark upon a sexual affair.
In September, Tom discovers the affair when Daisy carelessly addresses Gatsby with
unabashed intimacy in front of him. Later, at a Plaza Hotel suite, Gatsby and Tom argue
about the affair. Gatsby insists Daisy declare that she never loved Tom. Daisy claims
she loves Tom and Gatsby, upsetting both. Tom reveals Gatsby is a swindler whose
money comes from bootlegging alcohol. Upon hearing this, Daisy chooses to stay with
Tom. Tom scornfully tells Gatsby to drive her home, knowing that Daisy will never leave
him.
While returning to East Egg, Gatsby and Daisy drive by Wilson's garage and their car
accidentally strikes Myrtle, killing her instantly. Gatsby reveals to Nick that Daisy was
driving the car, but that he intends to take the blame for the accident to protect her. Nick
urges Gatsby to flee to avoid prosecution, but he refuses. After Tom tells George that
Gatsby owns the car that struck Myrtle, a distraught George assumes the owner of the
vehicle must be Myrtle's lover. George fatally shoots Gatsby in his mansion's swimming
pool, then commits suicide.
Several days after Gatsby's murder, his father Henry Gatz arrives for the sparsely
attended funeral. After Gatsby's death, Nick comes to hate New York and decides that
Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and he were all Midwesterners unsuited to Eastern life.[c]
Nick encounters Tom and initially refuses to shake his hand. Tom admits he was the
one who told George that Gatsby owned the vehicle that killed Myrtle. Before returning
to the Midwest, Nick returns to Gatsby's mansion and stares across the bay at the green
light emanating from the end of Daisy's dock.

Major characters[edit]

Edith Cummings, a premier amateur golfer, inspired the character of Jordan Baker. A friend of Ginevra King,
she was one of Chicago's famous debutantes in the Jazz Age.

 Nick Carraway – a Yale University alumnus from the Midwest, a

World War I veteran, and a newly arrived resident of West Egg, age 29 (later
30) who serves as the first-person narrator. He is Gatsby's neighbor and a
bond salesman. Carraway is easy-going and optimistic, although this latter
quality fades as the novel progresses. He ultimately returns to the Midwest
after despairing of the decadence and indifference of the eastern United
States.[35]
 Jay Gatsby (originally James "Jimmy" Gatz) – a young, mysterious
millionaire with shady business connections (later revealed to be a
bootlegger), originally from North Dakota. During World War I, when he was a
young military officer stationed at the United States Army's Camp Taylor in
Louisville, Kentucky, Gatsby encountered the love of his life,
the debutante Daisy Buchanan. Later, after the war, he studied briefly
at Trinity College, Oxford, in England.[36] According to Fitzgerald's wife Zelda,
he partly based Gatsby on their enigmatic Long Island neighbor, Max
Gerlach.[37] A military veteran, Gerlach became a self-made millionaire due to
his bootlegging endeavors and was fond of using the phrase "old sport" in his
letters to Fitzgerald.[38]
 Daisy Buchanan – a shallow, self-absorbed, and young debutante
and socialite from Louisville, Kentucky, identified as a flapper.[39] She is Nick's
second cousin, once removed, and the wife of Tom Buchanan. Before
marrying Tom, Daisy had a romantic relationship with Gatsby. Her choice
between Gatsby and Tom is one of the novel's central conflicts. Fitzgerald's
romance and life-long obsession with Ginevra King inspired the character of
Daisy.[14][40][41]
 Thomas "Tom" Buchanan – a millionaire who lives in East Egg and Daisy's
husband. Tom is an imposing man of muscular build with a deep voice and
arrogant demeanor. He was a football star at Yale and is a white
supremacist.[42] Among other literary models,[d] Buchanan has certain parallels
with William "Bill" Mitchell, the Chicago businessman who married Ginevra
King.[44] Buchanan and Mitchell were both Chicagoans with an interest in polo.
[44]
 Also, like Ginevra's father Charles King whom Fitzgerald resented,
Buchanan is an imperious Yale man and polo player from Lake Forest,
Illinois.[45]
 Jordan Baker – an amateur golfer with a sarcastic streak and an aloof
attitude, and Daisy's long-time friend. She is Nick Carraway's girlfriend for
most of the novel, though they grow apart towards the end. She has a shady
reputation because of rumors that she had cheated in a tournament, which
harmed her reputation both socially and as a golfer. Fitzgerald based Jordan
on Ginevra's friend Edith Cummings,[46] a premier amateur golfer known in the
press as "The Fairway Flapper".[47] Unlike Jordan Baker, Cummings was never
suspected of cheating.[48] The character's name is a play on the two popular
automobile brands, the Jordan Motor Car Company and the Baker Motor
Vehicle, both of Cleveland, Ohio,[49] alluding to Jordan's "fast" reputation and
the new freedom presented to American women, especially flappers, in the
1920s.[50][51][52]
 George B. Wilson – a mechanic and owner of a garage. He is disliked by
both his wife, Myrtle Wilson, and Tom Buchanan, who describes him as "so
dumb he doesn't know he's alive".[53] At the end of the novel, George kills
Gatsby, wrongly believing he had been driving the car that killed Myrtle, and
then kills himself.[54]
 Myrtle Wilson – George's wife and Tom Buchanan's mistress. Myrtle, who
possesses a fierce vitality,[55] is desperate to find refuge from her disappointing
marriage.[56] She is accidentally killed by Gatsby's car, as she mistakenly
thinks Tom is still driving it and runs after it. [57]

Writing and production[edit]

The now-demolished Beacon Towers partly served as an inspiration for Gatsby's home.

Oheka Castle was another North Shore inspiration for the novel's setting.

Fitzgerald began outlining his third novel in June 1922. [8] He longed to produce an
exquisite work that was beautiful and intricately patterned, [58] but the troubled production
of his stage play The Vegetable repeatedly interrupted his progress.[59] The play flopped,
and Fitzgerald wrote magazine stories that winter to pay debts incurred by its
production.[60] He viewed these stories as all worthless,[59] although included among them
was "Winter Dreams", which Fitzgerald described as his first attempt at the Gatsby idea.
[61]
 "The whole idea of Gatsby", he later explained to a friend, "is the unfairness of a poor
young man not being able to marry a girl with money. This theme comes up again and
again because I lived it".[62]
In October 1922, after the birth of their only child, Frances Scott "Scottie" Fitzgerald, the
Fitzgeralds moved to Great Neck, New York, on Long Island.[63] Their neighbors in Great
Neck included such newly wealthy personages as writer Ring Lardner, actor Lew
Fields and comedian Ed Wynn.[8] These figures were all considered to be nouveau
riche (new rich), unlike those who came from Manhasset Neck, which sat across the
bay from Great Neck—places that were home to many of New York's wealthiest
established families.[64] This real-life juxtaposition gave Fitzgerald his idea for "West Egg"
and "East Egg". In the novel, Great Neck (Kings Point) became the "new money"
peninsula of West Egg and Port Washington (Sands Point) became the "old money"
East Egg.[64] Several Gold Coast mansions in the area served as inspiration for Gatsby's
estate including Land's End,[65] Oheka Castle,[66] and the since-demolished Beacon
Towers.[67]
While living on Long Island, the Fitzgeralds' enigmatic neighbor was Max Gerlach. [e][37]
[71]
 Purportedly born in America to a German immigrant family, [f] Gerlach had been a
major in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I, and he later became a
gentleman bootlegger who lived like a millionaire in New York. [73] Flaunting his new
wealth,[g] Gerlach threw lavish parties,[75] never wore the same shirt twice,[76] used the
phrase "old sport",[77] and fostered myths about himself including that he was a relation of
the German Kaiser.[78] These details about Gerlach inspired Fitzgerald in his creation
of Jay Gatsby.[79]
During this same time period, the daily newspapers sensationalized the Hall–Mills
murder case over many months, and the highly publicized case likely influenced the plot
of Fitzgerald's novel.[80] The case involved the double-murder of a man and his lover on
September 14, 1922, mere weeks before Fitzgerald arrived in Great Neck. Scholars
have speculated that Fitzgerald based certain aspects of the ending of The Great
Gatsby and various characterizations on this factual incident. [81]
Inspired by the Halls–Mills case, the mysterious persona of Gerlach and the riotous
parties he attended on Long Island, Fitzgerald had written 18,000 words for his novel by
mid-1923 but discarded most of his new story as a false start. [82] Some of this early draft
resurfaced in the 1924 short story "Absolution".[83] In earlier drafts,[h] Daisy was originally
named Ada and Nick was Dud,[85] and the two characters had shared a previous
romance prior to their reunion on Long Island. [86] These earlier drafts were written from
the viewpoint of an omniscient narrator as opposed to Nick's perspective. [87] A key
difference in earlier drafts is a less complete failure of Gatsby's dream. [88] Another
difference is that the argument between Tom Buchanan and Gatsby is more balanced,
although Daisy still returns to Tom.[88]
Work on The Great Gatsby resumed in earnest in April 1924.[89] Fitzgerald decided to
depart from the writing process of his previous novels and told Perkins that he was
intent on creating an artistic achievement. [90] He wished to eschew the realism of his
previous two novels and to compose a creative work of sustained imagination. [91] To this
end, he consciously imitated the literary styles of Joseph Conrad and Willa Cather.[92] He
was particularly influenced by Cather's 1923 work, A Lost Lady,[93] which features a
wealthy married socialite pursued by a variety of romantic suitors and who symbolically
embodies the America dream.[94][95] He later wrote a letter to Cather apologizing for any
unintentional plagiarism.[93] During this period of revisions, Scott saw and was influenced
by early sketches for the book's cover art.[96][97] Soon after this burst of effort, work slowed
while the Fitzgeralds moved to the French Riviera, where a marital crisis soon
developed.[i]
Despite his ongoing marital tension, Fitzgerald continued to write steadily and submitted
a near-final version of the manuscript to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, on October 27.
[99]
 Perkins informed him in a November letter that Gatsby was too vague as a character
and that his wealth and business, respectively, needed a convincing explanation.
[100]
 Fitzgerald thanked Perkins for his detailed criticisms and claimed that such feedback
would enable him to perfect the manuscript. [101] Having relocated with his wife to Rome,
[102]
 Fitzgerald made revisions to the manuscript throughout the winter. [100]
Content after a few rounds of revision, Fitzgerald submitted the final version in February
1925.[103] Fitzgerald's alterations included extensive revisions of the sixth and eighth
chapters.[104] He declined an offer of $10,000 for the serial rights to the book so that it
could be published sooner.[105] He received a $3,939 advance in 1923 and would receive
$1,981.25 upon publication.[106]
Alternative titles[edit]

Fitzgerald's editor, Maxwell Perkins, convinced the author to abandon his original title of Trimalchio in West
Egg in favor of The Great Gatsby.

Fitzgerald had difficulty choosing a title for his novel and entertained many choices
before reluctantly deciding on The Great Gatsby,[107] a title inspired by Alain-
Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes.[108] Previously he had shifted between Among Ash Heaps
and Millionaires,[107] Trimalchio,[107] Trimalchio in West Egg,[109] On the Road to West Egg,
[109]
 Under the Red, White, and Blue,[107] The Gold-Hatted Gatsby,[109] and The High-
Bouncing Lover.[109] The titles The Gold-Hatted Gatsby and The High-Bouncing
Lover came from Fitzgerald's epigraph for the novel, one which he wrote himself under
the pen name of Thomas Parke D'Invilliers.[110]
Fitzgerald initially preferred titles referencing Trimalchio,[j] the crude upstart
in Petronius's Satyricon, and even refers to Gatsby as Trimalchio once in the novel.
[112]
 Unlike Gatsby's spectacular parties, Trimalchio participated in the orgies he hosted
but, according to literary critic Tony Tanner, there are subtle similarities between the two
characters.[113] By November 1924, Fitzgerald wrote to Perkins that he had settled upon
the title of Trimalchio in West Egg.[114]
Disliking Fitzgerald's chosen title of Trimalchio in West Egg, editor Max Perkins
persuaded him that the reference was too obscure and that people would be unable to
pronounce it.[115] Zelda and Perkins both expressed their preference for The Great
Gatsby, and the next month Fitzgerald agreed.[116] A month before publication, after a
final review of the proofs, he asked if it would be possible to re-title
it Trimalchio or Gold-Hatted Gatsby, but Perkins advised against it. On March 19, 1925,
[117]
 Fitzgerald expressed enthusiasm for the title Under the Red, White, and Blue, but it
was too late to change it at that stage. [118][119] The novel was published as The Great
Gatsby on April 10, 1925.[120] Fitzgerald believed the book's final title to be merely
acceptable and often expressed his ambivalence with the name. [121]
Cover art[edit]
Drafts of the cover by artist Francis Cugat juxtaposed with the final version. In one draft (first), a single eye
loomed over Long Island Sound. In a subsequent draft (second), Cugat expanded upon this concept to feature
two eyes gazing over the New York cityscape. In the final cover (third), the shadowy cityscape was replaced by
carnival lights evoking Coney Island.

The artwork for the first edition of The Great Gatsby is among the most celebrated in
American literature and represents a unique instance in literary history in which a
novel's commissioned artwork directly influenced the composition of the text.
[122]
 Rendered in the contemporary Art Deco visual style,[123] the artwork depicts the
disembodied face of a Jazz Age flapper with celestial eyes and rouged mouth over a
dark blue skyline.[124] A little-known Barcelonan painter named Francis Cugat—born
Francisco Coradal-Cougat—was commissioned by an unknown individual in Scribner's
art department to illustrate the cover while Fitzgerald was composing the novel. [125]
In a preliminary sketch, Cugat drew a concept of a dismal gray landscape inspired by
Fitzgerald's original title for the novel, Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires.[126] Discarding
this gloomy concept, Cugat next drew a divergent study which became the prefiguration
to the final cover: A pencil and crayon drawing of a flapper's half-hidden visage over
Long Island Sound with scarlet lips, one celestial eye, and a single diagonal tear.
[127]
 Expanding upon this study, his subsequent drawing featured two bright eyes looming
over a shadowy New York cityscape.[128] In later iterations, Cugat replaced the shadowy
cityscape with dazzling carnival lights evoking a ferris wheel and likely referencing the
glittering amusement park at New York's Coney Island.[129] Cugat affixed reclining nudes
within the flapper's irises and added a green tint to the streaming tear. [130] Cugat's final
cover,[k] which Max Perkins hailed as a masterpiece, was the only work he completed for
Scribner's and the only book cover he ever designed. [132]
Although Fitzgerald likely never saw the final gouache painting prior to the novel's
publication,[133] Cugat's preparatory drafts influenced his writing.[96][123] Upon viewing
Cugat's drafts before sailing for France in April–May 1924, [96][97] Fitzgerald was so
enamored that he later told editor Max Perkins that he had incorporated Cugat's
imagery into the novel.[134] This statement has led many to analyze interrelations between
Cugat's art and Fitzgerald's text.[134] One popular interpretation is that the celestial eyes
are reminiscent of those of fictional optometrist T. J. Eckleburg depicted on a faded
commercial billboard near George Wilson's auto repair shop. [135] Author Ernest
Hemingway supported this latter interpretation and claimed that Fitzgerald had told him
the cover referred to a billboard in the valley of the ashes. [136] Although this passage has
some resemblance to the imagery, a closer explanation can be found in Fitzgerald's
explicit description of Daisy Buchanan as the "girl whose disembodied face floated
along the dark cornices and blinding signs".[125]

Critical reception