Plot Summary
The Great Gatsby is a book that focuses and tries to give the events of a fictional town and characters. The plot is focused on Nick a former graduate scholar and a war veteran who is the narrator of the story that the novel aims at putting across. Nick takes up employment as a salesperson in the City of New York, where he settles and takes up residence in long island near the exclusive mansion of the rich mysterious jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is known in the town due to the exclusive and huge parties that he holds in his residence. During Nick’s stay in Long Island, he decides to visit his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom who is his friend (Fitzgerald 10). During the visit, Nick is introduced to Jordan with whom they start a romantic affair with. It is during one of their talks that she lets Nick know that Tom has an affair with a lady whom he visits. After a period of time, Tom decides to go with Nick to the city where his mistress, Myrtle stays and where they carry out their affairs. At the apartment where Myrtle lives, they have an incredible party which results to a confrontation whereby Tom punches and breaks Myrtle nose after getting to his nerves since she kept on referring to Daisy, his wife.
After taking up residence as Gatsby’s neighbor, he one day received an official invitation to one of the numerous parties that Gatsby held. On the attendance at the party, Nick bumps into Jordan Baker with whom they proceed to meet the famous and mysterious Gatsby. Gatsby turns out to be a very young man than he had thought; Gatsby goes further and recognizes Nick since they both served in the World War (Fitzgerald 54). It is during this visit that Jordan informs Nick that Gatsby knew Daisy out of a romantic relation that they had in the past. This is the reason as to why Gatsby spent a reasonable amount of time at night staring at the light at the end of Daisy and her husband’s dock in hope that they will one-day reunite. It is because of this reason that Gatsby hold parties at his residence hoping that one day Daisy will be in attendance.
Gatsby invitation to Nick was in efforts to try and reunite himself with Daisy. In order to achieve this, he tells Nick to invite his cousin Daisy for tea at his house without informing her that Gatsby will be in attendance. It is due to this arrangement that they reunite in under an awkward circumstance. Gatsby and Daisy rekindle their relationship after their reunion. Daisy’s husband Tom becomes aware of this relationship with Gatsby after a luncheon where his wife speaks to Gatsby with intimacy. It is after this that Tom forces everyone to drive over to New York where they have a confrontation whereby Tom states that he and his wife have a relationship which he could never relate to. He further tries to make it clear to Daisy that all of Gatsby’s wealth has been acquired illegally. During this argument, Daisy learns that she truly loves Tom. After the confrontation, Tom permits Daisy to drive back home in Gatsby’s car to assert that he is not insecure about him.
It is on their way back home at the valley of ashes that they learn Gatsby’s car has run over Tom’s mistress and killed her. It was when Nick got back home that he learned from Gatsby that it is Daisy who runs over Tom’s mistress since she was the one driving. George, who is Myrtle husband, sets out to find the killer of his wife whom he mistakenly thinks she had an affair. It is through tracing Gatsby’s car that he makes his way into Gatsby’s mansion where he shoots him and later does the same to himself. Nick being the only friend Gatsby has arranged a funeral him. The story ends with Nick calling off his affair and moving back to his hometown.
Authors Background
F. Scott Fitzgerald is worldwide recognized due to his work as a great novelist. He is also recognized as being one of the most excellent writers of the previous century. The Great Gatsby is just but one of the most successful novels that he ever authored. Despite being a novelist, he also authored other short stories which are worldwide known. His work has been a form of inspiration to many writers and filmmakers who have managed to develop movies based on the concept in his novels (Bloom 58). The Great Gatsby has been reproduced by many filmmakers over and over which has kept his work alive and of significance to different people in the world. His work has continued to be republished and sold all over the world keeping his legacy alive. This is despite the poor rating that the novel had while he was still alive. F. Scott Fitzgerald did not live to witness the success that his novel The Great Gatsby acquired after it gained recognition and became revived following the end of the Second World War
Motivation for Writing the Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald authored The Great Gatsby following his efforts of trying to develop a story that would be unique and relate to some of the parties that he had attended while in Long Island. His idea behind authoring this novel was to try and bring to life ideas that had not been explored and give people a new story that no one could have possibly developed. It is through this that he was motivated to write the novel despite the poor review that it got following its first year of publication (Gross, Dalton, and MaryJean 32). The book, however, despite the poor reviews, gained recognition making it being among the best novels authored during this period.
The Theme of the Story
The book explores various themes that include the American dream, betrayal, power imbalance and justice among others. However, the major theme emphasized in the entire novel is social stratification. Fitzgerald develops a critically thought story that reviews various distinct social groups in his community. Evidently, the novel reviews social groups that are classified as the subpopulations of people with old money, new money and the ones with no money. He explains the misconceptions that members of one group make towards others (Tredell 40). Besides, he successfully shows that each group was challenged by own problems, creating a clear picture of the nature of the world. The novel creates a clear picture that affirms that the elitism is spread out in every strata of the community. The theme of social stratification that is comprehensively discussed in the novel explains the situation in America during the novel’s time. In 1920’s, America was going through a period of post-war economic growth. The novel presents the frenzy that characterized the American community during this time. Fitzgerald paints a society of corrupt social and moral values—the concepts developed by characters who show excessive cynicism, lust and blind search of pleasure. This is shown by the lavish parties that Gatsby host every Saturday night (Doyen 78).The author is convinced that these ill virtues eventually corrupted the American dream as people’s pursuit for pleasure and wealth overweighed the noble goals. The post-American war period include an era of increased economic growth and accumulation of wealth to most Americans following sustained growth of the stock market. Consequently, Fitzgerald’s community (America) witnessed a sustained growth in the national wealth and a new aspect of materialism as citizens started to spend and consume at extraordinary levels. Individuals from any social strata could easily make a fortune; however, the American aristocracy or individuals with the ‘old money’ ridiculed the emerging industrialists and new merchants (Bloom 96). Nick and Gatsby represent the newfound cynicism that emerged from the war. Numerous aspired speculators and emerging rich people who often attend Gatsby’s parties are practical examples of the gluttonous scramble for the wealth. The story’s symbolic geography portrays the clash between individuals of the new and old money social groups. The East Egg shows the developed aristocracy while the West Egg resembles the self-made rich. Furthermore, Gatsby and Meyer’s fortune explains the establishment of planned crime and sycophancy (Bloom 156).
Writing Style Used
Fitzgerald’s novel presents as a poetry work that is characterized by a styles that create rich and lush rhythm. The author’s writing style employs literary elements such as imagery, reflection, symbolism, irony, satire and point of view. For instance, the plot is developed as part of the main story. From one perspective, Nick, who has arrived from Midwest learned to bond a market. The character essentially learned further on his encounter with Gatsby. The author includes his own insists through the use of the first person language. The novel is developed on the narrator’s personal experience as Nick gives a clear account of the Fitzgerald’s perspective about life. Furthermore, the novel’s setting highlights clear use of the symbolism (Doyen 24). Evidently, the author uses the East and the West Eggs to present two regions that have contrasting values; the situation brought about the varying morality of each place (Becnel, and Harold 590). Furthermore, the author utilizes satire especially when presenting the lavish, extravagant parties that Gatsby hosts frequently and through the use of the term “Great” in the novel’s title. This becomes apparent because eventually one learns that there was nothing “great” about the narrator or the East as Nick goes back to the Midwest where he comprehends the values of the culture (Fitzgerald, and Davies 80).
Critics
The Great Gatsby has been acknowledged as great work and one of the most prominent literatures ever published. However, critics would dismiss the work as the celebration of a simple, money-oriented culture and individuals who fail to acknowledge the vital role and significance of the value of right moral virtues such as goodness and love. Individuals in support of the novel are first to argue that, through Nick, Fitzgerald maintains a critical position throughout the novel (Fitzgerald, and Davies 39). However, the critics argue that the novel hardly presents a state of aristocracy that poses as its main theme. In essence, critics point out that they fail to identify any form of social consciousness in the novel. Furthermore, individuals opposed to the novel would argue that the work is based on obvious personal insights, the position characterized with a high degree of irrationality and bias. The author provides wrong interpretation of the situations and his experience by failing to access them from a rational and open viewpoint (Tredell 67).
My Viewpoint
The Great Gatsby is great work that is developed from a well-reasoned viewpoint. The author has successfully explained the real situation that characterized his society during the time of the novel. As apparent from the picture painted by the novel, the American dream initially regarded to the ideas of individualism, discovery and search of happiness. However, as shown in the novel, the availability of the easy money and the weakening social values have hijacked this dream particularly in the East Coast. Evidently, Gatsby’s dream of loving Daisy gets corrupted by the dissimilarity in their respective social classes, his act of engaging in criminal activities to accumulate enough wealth to make her happy and the lavish materialism that typify her lifestyle. Fitzgerald’s society has theorized biased worldwide views, wrongly assuming that their future survival is dependent on the division and reinforcement of the social boundaries. People have vested their faith on material things such as money while forgetting to promote the compassion and sensitivity that characterize humanity. Fitzgerald’s recommendable performance is evidently shown by his ability of using well-designed literary styles in articulating and developing his arguments. The author creates an interesting and rich work by employing stylistic devices such as symbolism and satire. The reader simply identifies with the position and arguments raised by the author by figuring out the real implication of the scenario created by Nick’s story.
Conclusion
The investigation identified that the Great Gatsby is an excellently-authored and informative piece of work. The book presents a piece of work that has been developed from a rational and critical viewpoint. Accordingly, Fitzgerald’s work presents as a rich piece that explains the America’s history, particularly during the immediate post-war period. The novel attempts to re-visit the idea of the American dream and the demise of this vital concept. It traces the roots of the weakening of the ideology—the effect brought about by easy money and the weakening of the social morals. In view of the relevance of this novel, I recommend the book to anybody with the desire of developing his or her knowledge regarding the pursuit and demise of the American dream because the novel informs this topic comprehensively.
Works Cited
Becnel, Kim, and Harold Bloom. Bloom's How to Write About F. Scott Fitzgerald. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2008. Print.
Bloom, Harold. F. Scott Fitzgerald's the Great Gatsby. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2010. Print.
Doyen, Eugene. Novel Writing: Imagination on the Page. S.l.: Lulu Com, 2012. Print.
Fitzgerald, F S, and Davies D. Stuart. The Great Gatsby & the Diamond As Big As the Ritz. London: Collector's Library, 2005. Print.
Fitzgerald, F S. The Great Gatsby. 2012. Print.
Gross, Dalton, and MaryJean Gross. Understanding the Great Gatsby: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1998. Print.
Sharma, Raja. Ready References Treatise: The Great Gatsby. North Carolina. Lulu. Com. 2014
Tredell, Nicolas. Fitzgerald's the Great Gatsby. London: Continuum, 2007. Print.
