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The Great Gatsby Summary and Study Guide
A complete, spoiler-filled guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby: what happens, who the characters are, where and when it is set, and what to focus on when you study it. To read the novel itself, start with Chapter 1.
The Great Gatsby at a Glance
| Author | F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) |
|---|---|
| First published | April 1925, by Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York |
| Length | Nine chapters; a short novel of under 50,000 words |
| Narrator | Nick Carraway, in the first person, looking back on events |
| Setting | Summer 1922, in the fictional Long Island villages of West Egg and East Egg, the valley of ashes and New York City |
| Genre | Literary fiction; a tragedy and a portrait of the Jazz Age |
| Copyright | Public domain in the United States since January 1, 2021 |
Plot Summary in Brief
In the spring of 1922, Nick Carraway moves from the Middle West to New York to work in the bond business and rents a small house in West Egg. His next-door neighbour is Jay Gatsby, a young millionaire who throws enormous parties every weekend. Across the bay, in East Egg, live Nick’s cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan, a wealthy former college football star who is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson, the wife of a garage owner in the bleak valley of ashes.
Through Jordan Baker, a golfer and Daisy’s friend, Nick learns that Gatsby and Daisy fell in love in Louisville in 1917, before Gatsby went to war. Daisy married Tom while Gatsby was away. Gatsby has since made a fortune, partly through dealings with the gambler Meyer Wolfshiem, and bought his mansion so that he could look across the water to Daisy’s green dock light. He asks Nick to arrange a meeting, and the two lovers are reunited at tea in Nick’s house.
Their affair grows through the summer. We learn that Gatsby was born James Gatz to poor farmers in North Dakota and reinvented himself at seventeen. Tom becomes suspicious, and on a stiflingly hot afternoon the group drives into New York. In a suite at the Plaza Hotel, Tom confronts Gatsby and exposes his illegal business. Daisy cannot bring herself to say she never loved Tom, and Gatsby’s dream begins to collapse.
Driving back with Gatsby in his yellow car, Daisy strikes and kills Myrtle, who has run into the road. Gatsby decides to take the blame. George Wilson, crazed with grief and told by Tom who owned the car, finds Gatsby floating in his swimming pool the next afternoon, shoots him and then kills himself. Hardly anyone comes to Gatsby’s funeral. Tom and Daisy retreat into their money, and Nick, disillusioned with the East, returns home to the Middle West.
Chapter-by-Chapter Summary
Chapter 1
Nick introduces himself, describes West Egg and East Egg, and dines with Daisy, Tom and Jordan. He learns of Tom’s mistress and ends the night watching Gatsby reach toward a green light. Read Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Tom takes Nick through the valley of ashes to meet Myrtle Wilson, and a drunken party at their New York apartment ends with Tom breaking Myrtle’s nose. Read Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Nick attends one of Gatsby’s parties, hears rumours about his host, and finally meets Gatsby. He begins to see Jordan Baker. Read Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Gatsby tells Nick an idealised life story and introduces Meyer Wolfshiem. Jordan explains Gatsby’s past with Daisy and his request for a meeting. Read Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Gatsby and Daisy reunite at Nick’s cottage and then tour Gatsby’s mansion, where Daisy weeps over his shirts. Read Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Nick reveals Gatsby’s origins as James Gatz and his years with Dan Cody. Tom and Daisy attend a party; Gatsby insists that the past can be repeated. Read Chapter 6
Chapter 7
The confrontation at the Plaza Hotel, followed by Myrtle’s death under the wheels of Gatsby’s car, driven by Daisy. Read Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Gatsby tells Nick about his love for Daisy. George Wilson, convinced of Gatsby’s guilt, shoots him in his pool and then himself. Read Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Nick arranges the funeral, meets Gatsby’s father, confronts Tom and leaves the East. The novel ends with the image of boats against the current. Read Chapter 9
Main Characters
- Jay Gatsby
- A wealthy, mysterious host whose real name is James Gatz. Generous, romantic and self-invented, he has organised his whole life around winning back Daisy.
- Nick Carraway
- The narrator, a Yale graduate and war veteran from the Middle West. He presents himself as tolerant and honest, but readers often question how reliable he is.
- Daisy Buchanan
- Nick’s cousin, a charming woman from a wealthy Louisville family. To Gatsby she is a dream; in the end she chooses the security of Tom and her money.
- Tom Buchanan
- Daisy’s husband, born into great wealth. Physically powerful, arrogant and openly racist, he cheats on Daisy while furiously defending his own marriage.
- Jordan Baker
- A professional golfer and Daisy’s friend. Cool and self-possessed, she becomes Nick’s companion, though he learns she is dishonest.
- Myrtle Wilson
- Tom’s mistress, full of vitality and desperate to escape the valley of ashes.
- George Wilson
- Myrtle’s husband, a worn-out garage owner whose grief drives the novel’s violent ending.
- Meyer Wolfshiem
- Gatsby’s gambler associate, said to have fixed the 1919 World Series. Fitzgerald’s portrait of him draws on antisemitic stereotypes of the time.
- Minor characters
- Catherine (Myrtle’s sister), the McKees, Klipspringer (“the boarder”), Owl Eyes, Michaelis, Dan Cody and Henry C. Gatz, Gatsby’s father.
Setting: Where and When
The novel takes place over one summer in 1922. West Egg and East Egg are fictional, but Fitzgerald modelled them on real places on the north shore of Long Island: he lived in Great Neck, the model for West Egg, while he planned the novel. The valley of ashes was inspired by a real ash dump in Queens, an area later transformed for the 1939 World’s Fair. The city scenes take place in Manhattan, including the Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue.
Key Symbols
- The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock stands for Gatsby’s hopes and, more broadly, for longing for an unreachable future.
- The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, a fading billboard over the valley of ashes, suggest a vanished or indifferent God watching a morally empty world.
- The valley of ashes shows the waste and poverty on which the glittering world of the Eggs depends.
- Colours, especially gold, yellow, white and green, run through the novel and are linked with money, purity and hope.
- Gatsby’s mansion and parties display wealth but hide loneliness: almost none of the guests come to his funeral.
For a fuller discussion, see our guide to themes and symbols.
Narration and Style
Fitzgerald tells the story through Nick, who is both inside the action and an observer. Events are not always in order: Gatsby’s background is revealed piece by piece, through rumours, Jordan’s story, Nick’s summary in Chapter 6 and Gatsby’s own confession in Chapter 8. Pay attention to the lyrical passages, where the prose rises into something close to poetry, especially at the ends of chapters.
How to Study The Great Gatsby
- Read one chapter at a time and write two or three sentences on what changed for each main character.
- Keep a page for each major symbol and note where it appears.
- Track what Nick says about himself and test it against what he does.
- Collect short quotations you could use in an essay, with the chapter number.
- Check yourself with our practice quiz and look up period terms in the glossary.
Discussion Questions
- Is Gatsby “great”? In what sense might the title be ironic?
- How does the novel present the difference between old money and new money?
- Is Nick a reliable narrator? Find two moments that support your view.
- Who is most to blame for the deaths at the end of the novel?
- What does the final page suggest about the American Dream?
Teachers can find more questions, essay prompts and activities in our lesson plans.