Monica-Maria: The Great Gatsby

Title- The Great Gatsby

Author- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Copyright date- 1993

Number of pages- 122

Genre- “Classics”

The book “The Great Gatsby” gives its readers a good idea of the time after the First World War. The main events of the story take place during the hot summer of 1922, and are told from the point of view of Nick Carraway, who has come East in order to learn the bond business. He rents a house in West Egg village on Long Island. Next door is an enormous palace to which the rich and famous come out from New York at the weekends for wild parties. The owner of the house is called Jay Gatsby about whom many stories are made up from different people. As Nick gradually gets to know Gatsby, he learns more about him and about his dreams for the future. Daisy, a beautiful relative of Nick’s, lives with her wealthy husband Tom, directly across the bay. The relationships between Gatsby, Daisy and Tom, and George and Myrtle Wilson who run a local garage, show the behavior of different personalities, each living in its own world.

“The Great Gatsby” is a story about a man- Jay Gatsby who falls in love with a woman, called Daisy from the moment he sees her. Both meet in their younger years before the Great War when Gatsby is a very poor officer, pretending to be rich. During the war, however, Daisy decides to marry another man- Tom Buchanan. He is a very famous and wealthy polo player at that time, therefore Daisy prefers the easier way- not to wait for the officer Gatsby, but to marry the man who can provide her all the comforts she wants. After Gatsby understands about the marriage, he feels very upset but decides to remain calm because he’s sure that Daisy still loves him. Jay dedicates his life to money and success in order to impress the woman he loves and to get her back. He works hard for many years before reaching his goal. Gatsby’s success doesn’t bring him happiness without Daisy, and he decides to move to West Egg village in a huge palace directly across the place where the Buchanan family lives. Every night Gatsby throws wild parties on which he invites the rich and famous people, hoping to meet Daisy one day. That day doesn’t come, and Jay tells his love story to the female golf player Jordan Baker who is a close friend of Nick- a relative and friend of Daisy. After he explains her everything, Gatsby asks her the favor to talk to Carraway and beg Nick to invite him and Daisy over for tea one day. Mr. Carraway agrees to the proposal and does as he’s told. Daisy and Gatsby finally meet at Carraway’s house and both begin an affair. During that time Tom Buchanan- Daisy’s husband also has a mistress- Myrtle Wilson who he meets in an apartment in New York City every weekend. Myrtle Wilson is the wife of George Wilson who is the owner of a local garage.

After a couple of months Daisy invites Gatsby, Jordan and Nick over at her house in East Egg village. There Jay meets her three-year-old daughter, and Tom realizes what’s going on. However, Mr. Buchanan remains calm and accompanies his friends to the Plaza Hotel where an argument begins. Daisy has to choose between Tom and Gatsby. She is confused but in the end decides to pick the safer way- to stay with Tom. On the way home Daisy gets into Jay’s car and asks Gatsby if she could drive. He allows her, and as the vehicle approaches Wilson’s garage, Myrtle Wilson runs outside, thinking that the car belongs to Tom. The consequence is that Myrtle gets killed while Daisy selfishly drives away.

After the accident Myrtle’s husband George finds from Tom out who the owner of the car, which had killed his wife, is and supposes that Gatsby is Myrtle’s previous lover and killer. Because of that Wilson visits Gatsby’s house with a loaded gun, finds his enemy floating in his pool, kills him and commits suicide.

Not many people attend Gatsby’s funeral in spite of Nick’s efforts. Jay’s dad comes to visit his son’s palace and tells Nick stories about Gatsby’s childhood.

One day Carraway runs into Daisy’s husband. Tom admits that he was the one who had told Wilson, who was the owner of the car, leading the desperate man to find and kill Gatsby. Afterwards Nick realizes that Daisy and Tom have the same heartless attitude to life which they’re unlikely ever to change. In the end Carraway returns to the Midwest, reflecting on Gatsby’s dreams which Jay believed were “his magic promise for the future”.

In my personal opinion the novel is definitely worth reading. “The Great Gatsby” is a story which shows many types of personalities and characters which exist in the real world. You can learn a lot about people’s souls and ways of thinking after reading it, therefore I strongly recommend the book to people who want to explore life on a much higher level.