The Great Gatsby Plot and Character Summary
The Great Gatsby Plot and Character Summary
The Great Gatsby is a story told by Nick Carraway, who was once Gatsby’s neighbor. Nick Carraway grew up in the Midwestern United States and went to school at Yale University. After this, he was stationed in France during World War I. Returning home after traveling a great deal, he is unhappy and decides to move to the East at the beginning of the summer of 1922, renting a broken down house in Long Island's West Egg section. He begins working in nearby New York City as a bondsman and it is here that his story begins.
Jay Gatsby is a wealthy neighbor living next door in an extravagant mansion where he holds many excessive weekend parties. His name is mentioned while Nick is visiting a relative, Daisy, living in the East Egg section on the other side of Long Island with her millionaire husband, Tom Buchanan. As it turns out, Jay Gatsby had met Daisy five years before while in the military and was rejected by her due to his lack of wealth and because he had been sent so far away in Europe for the war. Daisy was attracted by Tom's riches and his distinguished family background and married him. Meanwhile Gatsby spent all of his effort after the war to buy his mansion through shady business dealings in order to be nearer to Daisy in the hope that she would leave Tom for him. Nick is chosen to be the "matchmaker" and arranges a reunion for the two at his home. Daisy is impressed by Gatsby's wealth and the two begin spending much time together, raising the suspicions of Tom who had also upset Daisy by carrying on an affair with a gas station owner's wife, Myrtle Wilson. Jay no longer holds his weekend parties since Daisy hadn't liked them and he allows her to control his actions. Nick distances himself from this mess by becoming close to Jordan Baker, a long time friend of Daisy.
While in a New York City hotel room one evening in the summer with Jordan, Nick, Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby, there is a massive confrontation during which Tom exposes Gatsby's corrupt business dealings. In addition, Jay demands that Daisy tell Tom that she never loved him. Daisy doesn’t because she said it wasn’t...