The Great Gatsby

1
The Great Gatsby

• By
• F. Scott Fitzgerald

2
Chapter One

• Nick Carraway
• Graduated from Yale in 1915
• Served in WWI
• Went into bond business when he returned from the
  War
• Moved from the Midwest to West Egg

3
Chapter one

• Tom and Daisy Buchanan
• Nick met Tom at Yale
• Daisy is Nicks second cousin
• Moved from Chicago to East Egg

4
Chapter One

• Nick meets Jordan Baker when he goes to the
  Buchanan's house for dinner.
• Nick learns that Tom has a mistress.
• He also learns that Daisy is very unhappily
  married Well Ive had a very bad time, Nick,
  and Im pretty cynical about everything
  (Fitzgerald 21).

5
Chapter One

• Nick sees his neighbor, Gatsby, staring across
  the water at a green light at the end of the
  dock.
• The dock is a part of the Buchanan property.

6
Chapter two

• The valley of ashes halfway between West Egg
  and New York

• a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat
  into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens,
  where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys
  and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent
  effort, of men who move dimly and already
  crumbling through the powdery air (Fitzgerald
  27).

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Chapter two

• The valley of ashes
• Location of the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg
• Location of George Wilsons garage
• George is the husband of Toms mistress, Myrtle
  Wilson

• Tom brings Nick here to pick up his mistress
• Tom takes Nick and Myrtle to the apartment he
  keeps on the Upper West side of New York
• Tom buys Myrtle an airedale puppy on the way to
  the apartment.

8
Chapter two

• Myrtle calls her sister Catherine, and the
  neighbors, the McKees, and they have a small
  party
• Nick starts to see Toms true colors when he is
  told that Tom will not divorce Daisy because she
  is supposedly Catholic

• Tom and Myrtle get in a fight and Tom breaks her
  nose
• This is only the second time in Nicks life that
  he has been drunk

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Chapter three

• Gatsby has large, elaborate parties at his house
  every weekend
• The narrator describes the transformation of the
  house in great detail
• Gatsby sends over a chauffeur to invite Nick to a
  party

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Chapter three

• Nick encounters and socializes with Jordan Baker
  the entire party
• Nick finally meets Gatsby
• He hears rumors about Gatsby having been educated
  at Oxford

11
Chapter three

• Nick hears other rumors about Gatsbys background
• Nick sees the aftermath of a car accident upon
  leaving Gatsbys party

12
Chapter three

• after exiting the car the driver says, Whas
  matterDid we run outa gas (Fitzgerald 59)?
• Fitzgerald uses events like this to emphasize the
  devil may care attitude that was prevalent at
  the time.

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Chapter three

• Nick develops feelings for Jordan and describes
  her in the following way
• She was incurably dishonest. She wasnt able to
  endure being at a disadvantage, and given this
  unwillingness I suppose she had been dealing with
  subterfuges when she was very young in order to
  keep that cool insolent smile turned to the world
  and yet satisfy the demands of her hard jaunty
  body. (Fitzgerald 63)
• Morals and values were questionable at the time
  --- could always find a way to justify behavior.

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Chapter four

• The narrator lists the names of people who
  frequented Gatsbys parties
• A wide variety of backgrounds and professions are
  represented

• Gatsby takes Nick to lunch in New York
• He is curious about Nicks opinion of him
• He is aware of the rumors about him and he wants
  to set the record straight

15
Chapter four

• Gatsby shows Nick two souvenirs
• A medal for valor
• A picture from Oxford
• Evidence to validate his identity

16
Chapter four

• They eat lunch with Meyer Wolfsheim
• A well known gambler who fixed the 1919 World
  Series
• This is Gatsbys connection and Nicks
  introduction to the underworld
• Nick is beginning to see how everything in
  society can be tainted by corruption

17
Chapter four

• Jordan reveals to Nick that Daisy and Gatsby knew
  each other before she married Tom
• She tells Nick to invite Daisy to tea so that
  Gatsby can see her again, but Daisy is not to
  know the reason for the invitation

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Chapter five

• Gatsby offers Nick work, but Nick refuses
• Nick invites Daisy over for tea and Gatsby
  becomes very anxious, particularly about outward
  appearances
• He has someone cut Nicks lawn and sends over
  flowers

19
Chapter five

• Gatsby almost has a breakdown / panic attack when
  Daisy arrives
• Nick calms Gatsby down and sends him into the
  living room to talk to Daisy while he takes a
  walk outside

20
Chapter five

• Gatsby brings Nick and Daisy to his house and
  gives them a tour
• He wakes up Klipspringer, the boarder and has
  him play the piano
• Nick finally says goodbye and leaves Daisy with
  Gatsby

21
Chapter six

• A reporter comes to Gatsbys house to ask him
  questions based on rumors he has heard about
  Gatsbys past
• Most of these rumors have been spread by visitors
  to his house who know nothing about him

22
Chapter six

• The narrator gives a description of Gatsbys real
  past
• James Gatz is his legal name
• He is from North Dakota
• He befriended and obtained a job working for a
  wealthy yachtsman, Dan Cody

23
Chapter six

• Cody made his money from Nevada silver fields and
  Montana copper
• Cody was in love with a woman named Ella Kaye,
  who inherited his millions after his sudden death
• Gatsby only inherited 25,000

24
Chapter six

• One Sunday afternoon Tom and two friends stop by
  Gatsbys house while horseback riding
• Gatsby is invited to a party and then is rudely
  left behind

25
Chapter six

• Tom and Daisy attend a party at Gatsbys house
• Tom insults Gatsby and Daisy defends him
• Gatsby tells Nick about his hopes of repeating
  the past

26
Chapter six

• Gatsby wants Daisy to tell Tom she never loved
  him and then marry Gatsby in Louisville
• Nick tries to discourage Gatsbys delusions, but
  Gatsby insists he can win back her heart

27
Chapter Seven

• When the lights in Gatsbys house fail to go on
  one Saturday, Nick journeys over to discover
  the house has been taken over by unfamiliar help.
• The next day Gatsby calls Nick on the phone and
  tells him he wanted servants who wouldnt
  gossip. Daisy comes over quite often in the
  afternoon (114).

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Chapter Seven

• Gatsby and later Daisy herself invite Nick over
  for lunch at the Buchanan house.
• The next day was broiling, almost the last,
  certainly the warmest, of the summer (114).
• Thus on Monday, a little more than three months
  after Nick first visits the Buchanans, he
  returns again, supposedly to witness Daisy making
  a public break with Tom and professing her love
  openly for Gatsby.

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Chapter Seven

• Despite the fact that it is a workday, the group
  is looking for something to do.
• They travel into New York for bootlegged drinks
  at a suite in the Plaza Hotel, where Daisys
  intended break with Tom fails once she learns the
  source of Gatsbys money.

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Chapter Seven

• It is 700 pm when Daisy and Gatsby in one car
  and Nick, Jordan, and Tom in another start back
  to Long Island.
• This is the hour of dusk, when the sun is going
  down in the valley of ashes as Daisy runs over
  Myrtle Wilson.
• Gatsby drives his car to his garage in West Egg
  and then takes Daisy home in a taxi (181).

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Chapter Seven

• Tom, who has stopped at the accident, arrives
  shortly thereafter.
• Now at dark, Nick sees Gatsby emerge from the
  bushes and later witnesses the Buchanans
  conspiring together at the kitchen table,
  before he taxis to West Egg, leaving Gatsby
  standing vigil in the moonlight(146).

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Chapter Eight

• About 400 am Gatsby takes a taxi back to West
  Egg Gatsby and Nick then talk until dawn
• Retrospective narration Gatsby tells Nick the
  story of how he fell in love with Daisy.
• 1200 pm Nick speaks with Jordan by phone he
  tries to speak with Gatsby by phone, but he is
  unable to get through to him.
• 350 pm Nick takes the train back to West Egg.

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Chapter Eight

• After Myrtles death, George is consoled by
  Michaelis until he leaves around 600 am.
• 1000 am George has left the garage.
• 1200 pm George has reached Gads Hill.
• George then stops at the Buchanans and Tom tells
  him that Gatsby ran over his wife without
  stopping.

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Chapter Eight

• 200 pm Gatsby heads for his pool.
• 230 pm Wilson is in West Egg asking for
  directions to Gatsbys house.
• 300 pm Wilson finds Gatsby floating in his
  pool and he kills him with a revolver before
  shooting himself.

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Chapter Nine

• The day after Gatsby is killed, Nick takes on the
  responsibility of arranging for Gatsbys funeral.
• A telegram arrives from Gatsbys father, Henry
  Gatz, who is on the way to New York and requests
  that the funeral be postponed until he arrives.
• Gatsby is thus buried on Monday, September 25,
  1922.

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Chapter Nine

• The morning of the funeral Nick calls on
  Wolfsheim, who tells him that he shows
  friendship for a man when he is alive and not
  after he is dead (173).
• 500 pm the procession of three cars reached the
  cemetery where, shortly after, Gatsby is buried
  in the rain.
• The rain that fell on the reunion of Gatsby and
  Daisy foreshadows the rain that falls on Gatsbys
  burial.

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Chapter Nine

• Some time in the early autumn Nick decides to
  head back West.
• Before he leaves he breaks up with Jordan Baker
  and has his final confrontation with Tom
  Buchanan.
• Nicks last night in the East is spent in the
  moonlight at Gatsbys mansion, thinking of the
  first sailor to see the shores of America, who,
  like Gatsby, was face to face for the last time
  in history with something commensurate to his
  capacity for wonder (182).