Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on 24 September 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota in the Mid-West of America.

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on 24 September 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota in the Mid-

West of America. At the time of his birth America was changing into a country of growing cities and technological changes were happening. He was educated at Princeton University but he was a very poor student and never finished his degree.

At University he was with many young men from wealthy backgrounds. The newly-rich commercial classes of America preferred to send their children to East Coast Universities. Although his family wasn’t poor, in the company of such men he felt poor and he was influenced by the rich for the rest of his life. The reason he was such a bad student was because of his interest in literature. He read and wrote very much at the University and had little time left for studying.

After leaving University he joined the Army but although America had joined the First World War he never fought in Europe. While in the army he met Zelda Sayre and they got engaged. After he left the army he worked as an advertising agent and tried to get his first novel published. The novel was rejected and Zelda broke off their engagement too because she felt she couldn’t live with a man with such a small income. So Fitzgerald quit his job and revised his novel. It was published and within a week Zelda and Fitzgerald were married. America was in, what was called, “The Jazz Age” and it was a time of great social change. The moral behaviour of people was changing rapidly. Fitzgerald has come to be seen as a sort of social historian because his first three novels ( including “ The Great Gatsby”) reflected the new shocking behaviour of young (mostly wealthy) Americans.

Fitzgerald and Zelda lived most of the 1920’s in a high style. They made homes in America and the fashionable places and resorts of Europe. They met fashionable famous people and attended wild parties and glamorous fashionable social events. They lived like characters in one of Fitzgerald’s books and Fitzgerald himself said that sometimes he didn’t know if Zelda and he were real or characters in the book. He wrote many short stories to pay for their lifestyle but they were always in debt. By the end of the 1920’s they had problems with their marriage. They had financial problems, Fitzgerald often drank but was unable to handle alcohol and Zelda had psychological problems. At the start of the 1930’s Zelda had had serious mental breakdowns and in fact she would spend the rest of her life in and out of mental institutions. In many ways their lives reflect the 1920’s and the “ jazz age”. After the destruction of the First World War the early 20’s were a period of great creativity and there was a spirit of change. Similarly with Fitzgerald , between 1920 and 1925 he published three novels and the third, The Great Gatsby is thought to be his greatest work written at the height of his maturity. But the “jazz age” ended with the great economic depression in America due to The Wall Street Crash. Similarly Fitzgerald increasingly drank and his life became dissipated. His early promise and creativity seemed to be going to waste. He recognized his own failings and wasted promise and they, along with Zelda’s mental problems, were the basis of his next and last finished novel “Tender is the Night” published in 1934. For the rest of his life Fitzgerald spent most of his time writing scripts for films in Hollywood. He died there in 1940. Zelda died in a fire in a mental institution in 1947. They had one daughter.

The Great Gatsby was written in the early 1920’s and is set on the East Coast of America. The story is narrated by Jay Gatsby’s neighbour Nick Carraway. It takes place just after the First World War. Nick Carraway having served in the war returns to the Mid-West of America but his war-time experiences finds it uninteresting and so goes to settle on the East Coast. As well as being Gatsby’s neighbour in West Egg near New York he finds himself living across the bay from his second cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan, who he had known at college.

The story begins when he goes to have dinner with Tom and Daisy at their place in East Egg. At the Buchanan’s Nick meets the golfer Jordan Baker who he has a short relationship with later. It is Jordan who reveals to Nick that Tom is having a relationship with another woman. Tom Buchanan is a very rich man and his house is enormous and very impressive to Nick.

In chapter 2 Tom takes Nick to meet his lover Myrtle Wilson. At the petrol station, where she lives with her husband George, George is seen to be a quiet person who nobody respects. Tom, Myrtle and Nick go to the apartment in New York which Tom uses for his meetings with Myrtle. In conversation with Tom and Nick and some other guests Myrtle is revealed to be quite an unpleasant person. Tom is also disagreeable and breaks Myrtle’s nose during the disagreement.

In West Egg Nick’s house is very small but the house of Jay Gatsby, his neighbour, is enormous and spectacular. In chapter 3 Nick describes how Gatsby holds parties there all through the summer. The parties are huge expensive affairs; glamorous occasions filled with the wild, young, rich people of the day. Nick is formally invited to one of the parties and finding himself embarrassingly alone finds a companion in Jordan Baker. There are many rumours about Gatsby and his past. Nobody knows who he is, where he came from or how he has so much money, but everybody is very curious. The mystery that surrounds Gatsby makes people gossip about him wildly. As the party goes on Nick eventually meets Gatsby for the first time. Gatsby is not at all as Nick had imagined him to be, thinking he would be an older man. Later in the party Gatsby sends for Jordan and has a long, confidential meeting with her. The purpose of their meeting is only revealed in the next chapter. At the end of the party the majority of the guests have drunk too much but Gatsby stands alone, behaving in a dignified way. It goes on to say how during the summer he works in New York and enjoys the atmosphere of that busy city. He also reveals how his feelings towards Jordan are getting stronger.

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In chapter 4 Nick gives a list of the important and influential people who are Gatsby’s guests, but who know nothing about Gatsby himself. He then describes a trip to New York for lunch with Gatsby, during which Gatsby reveals something of himself to Nick. He tells Nick of his war time heroism and then of his time at Oxford University after the war. Nick is becoming more fascinated by Gatsby. During their trip to New York Nick meets a business acquaintance of Gatsby’s, Meyer Wolfsheim. Wolfsheim, it seems, helped Gatsby to make huge amounts of money but we are never entirely clear if the money was made legally or not. At any rate it seems that if the money was made legally it was still made immorally by the standards of Fitzgerald’s time. During their lunch Nick and Gatsby meet Tom accidently and Nick introduces Gatsby to Tom for the first time. In the afternoon, after leaving Gatsby, Nick meets Jordan and she tells him what the purpose of Gatsby’s confidential interview, which was described in the previous chapter, had been. Gatsby wants to meet Daisy, he wants Jordan to ask Nick to invite Daisy to Nick’s house and Gatsby will turn up also. Jordan reveals that it is no accident that Gatsby lives near Daisy. He bought his house at West Egg across the bay of East Egg so he could be near Daisy. Nick is surprised for two reasons. He now imagines Gatsby to be a romantic idealist and his respect for Gatsby grows. He is also so surprised that after waiting so long to see Daisy again and buying a house near Daisy that Gatsby should only pretend to meet Daisy again by accident at Nick’s. Jordan also reveals the real reason behind all Gatsby’s expensive parties. He had hoped that Daisy would come to one of them, although she never did.

In chapter 5 Nick, having decided to through Daisy and Gatsby together again, rings Daisy and arranges the meeting but Daisy doesn’t know she is about to meet Gstsby again for the first time in five years. Before Daisy arrives at Nick’s Gatsby is incredibly nervous and anxious. When Daisy arrives she and Gatsby meet again and all three of them are very embarrassed and uncomfortable. They all go to Gatsby’s place and although rich herself, Daisy is tremendously impressed by Gatsby’s splendid mention and its possessions. Finally Nick leaves them alone together and it’s clear that they love each other still.

At the start of chapter 6 Nick reveals some more about Gatsby’s background and we learn that he was from a poor family but had developed a great sense of self-worth and self-confidence and his abilities. The next episode sees Tom and Gatsby having their first conversation together at Gatsby’s. But the tension between the two men clearly shows their dislike of each other. Their next meeting takes place a week later when for the first time Tom and his wife go to one of Gatsby’s parties. During the evening Tom is hostile and Gatsby is convinced that Daisy didn’t enjoy the party. Gatsby tells Nick that he wants to recreate the past with Daisy.

In chapter 7 Nick is surprised to find that the parties have stopped and that Gatsby has replaced all his servants with others who are rude and undisciplined. Gatsby says that they are friends of Wolfsheim’s and that he needs people who won’t gossip because Daisy is visiting him almost every afternoon. After that Nick and Gatsby are invited to the Buchanan’s for lunch. Jordan is also there and Nick and Gatsby, Jordan and Daisy openly discuss Tom’s affair when he is out of the room. Daisy shows her love for Gatsby in front of the other three. Gatsby also meets Daisy’s daughter for the first time. When they are all together in the garden Tom finally becomes aware that there is a romantic relationship between Gatsby, who he dislikes, and his wife. The tension is rising and they agree to go into New York. Against Tom’s wishes Daisy travels with Gatsby in Tom’s blue car while Tom drives Nick and Jordan in Gatsby’s yellow car. On the way to New York Tom has to stop for the petrol at George Wilson’s garage. Wilson shocks Tom by telling him he’s taking Myrtle away from New York to live elsewhere . Wilson had discovered that his wife was having an affair but he didn’t know who with. The discovery had made him physically ill. Importantly, Myrtle sees Tom in the yellow car. After the visit to the petrol station Tom becomes very worried because he feels he’s losing both his wife and mistress. When they reach New York they take a suite in a hotel and continue drinking. In the stifling heat of the hotel room the tension is unbearable and finally the truth about Daisy and Gatsby comes out. In the emotional fight for Daisy, Gatsby has the upper hand. Tom has been having affairs and Daisy loves Gatsby now. But Gatsby asks too much from Daisy, he is too idealistic. He wants Daisy to say that she never loved Tom but she can’t do it. Daisy loses her courage and breaks down and Tom feels stronger again, more certain of himself. When they leave the hotel Tom has the upper hand. He allows Daisy to ride home with Gatsby in Gatsby’s car. Meanwhile Tom drives Nick and Jordan in his own blue car. But on the way home ,passing the Wilson’s garage, Myrtle sees the yellow car approaching. She thinks it’s Tom again, who she saw in the yellow car earlier in the day. She is frightened that her husband will take her away and so she runs out into the road, waving, trying to stop Tom to talk to him. The car hits Myrtle and kills her, but it doesn’t stop. When Tom reaches the accident soon after he stops to find Myrtle dead. A witness tells the growing crowd that a yellow car did it. So Tom believes that Gatsby killed Myrtle and he tells Nick and Jordan. But nobody knows that in fact Daisy had been driving and that she had accidently run over Myrtle. After the accident Gatsby takes the wheel and drives back to the Buchanan’s and leaves Daisy there. When the other car arrives Tom and Jordan go inside and Nick waits for a taxi. Meanwhile Gatsby is watching the Buchanan house and won’t go home until he’s sure that Tom won’t hurt Daisy. Gatsby talks to Nick, who is waiting, and Nick finds out that Daisy run over Myrtle. When Nick spies in the window of the Buchanan house he sees Tom and Daisy talking and it is clear that Tom has won her back. Although he still hopes to win her, Gatsby doesn’t know that he has lost Daisy forever.

Chapter 8 begins the next day and Nick speaks to Gatsby. Gatsby reveals that his romantic, idealistic dream of Daisy is still alive and Nick feels closer then ever to Gatsby. When they part Nick pays Gatsby a compliment although he doesn’t know that he will never see his friend alive again. At work that day Jordan and Nick talk on the phone but it’s clear that their relationship will soon be finished. Since Myrtle’s death Wilson has been out of his mind with grief. He knows a yellow car killed his wife and he sets out to find who was driving it. He disappears for three hours and it seems certain that he has gone to Tom’s and that Tom has told him that Gatsby was driving the killer car. Wilson goes to Gatsby’s mansion, finds him in his swimming pool and shoots him dead. Later Nick and the servants find Gatsby’s body in the pool and while carrying the body back to the house they find Wilson’s body too. After killing Gatsby he had killed himself.

In chapter 9 Nick rings Daisy but it’s too late because she and Tom have packed luggage and left. The inquest decides that George Wilson was overcome with grief and shot Gatsby and himself while out of his mind. Nick assumes responsibility for the funeral because there is nobody else to do it. But when he tries to find people to pay respects at the funeral everybody makes excuses and shuns him. Wolfsheim expresses his sorrow but says he can’t come because of the circumstances of Gatsby’s death. Only Gatsby’s father, Mr. Gatz comes to the house. He is a simple man and is very impressed by his son’s house and possessions. The funeral is wet and miserable, the summer is over. Only Nick, Gatsby’s father, the servants and one guest from the summer parties are there. Daisy doesn’t send a flower. For Nick the East Coast has become cold and tainted so he returns to the Mid-West. Before he leaves he and Jordan part forever, their relationship is over. Nick also meets Tom in the street before he leaves. He discovers for certain that Wilson’s missing three hours were spent with Tom and that Tom had told him that Gatsby was driving the killer car. Tom feels justified but Nick can’t forgive him. Tom will never know that Daisy was driving the car. There is nothing between them now, no common ground and they part forever. Before he leaves West Egg Nick contemplates how strongly Gatsby followed his failed dream and thinks that we all long for a brighter future which is always just over the horizon and just out of reach.

Although Gatsby had hundreds of guests there are few main characters in the book. They are of course Jay Gatsby himself and Nick Carraway. Then there are Tom and Daisy Buchanan. We hear much less of George and Myrtle Wilson but they play a fundamental part in the novel. Then there is Jordan Baker who doesn’t influence events herself but rather adds interest to the story.

The character of Jay Gatsby is irresistible. He is young, handsome, rich, beautifully dressed, single, with good manners, a dignified personality and a mysterious past. Nick, our narrator, has certain doubts about him, “he represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn” and “I disapproved of him from beginning to end”. But the reader cannot but help liking, respecting and admiring The Great Gatsby. When Gatsby does such a tragic and unjust death at the end it simply makes us feel even stronger sympathy and respect.

At all times Gatsby behaves with dignity. When he throws his parties hundreds of guests come. Many of them are strangers to Gatsby and many of them are uninvited, they simply join in the party. But Gatsby welcomes them all and shows them all great hospitality. He rarely drinks. This is a lesson he learnt from Dan Cody. Gatsby saw the reckless behaviour through drinking of Cody and those around him become increasingly outrageous because of the amount they drink. But Gatsby always remains dignified and treats even his drunken guests with respect. At the end this arouses our sense of injustice. At Gatsby’s funeral only one guest arrives to pay his respects to the dead Gatsby. How could they treat him so badly? This lack of respect comes from Gatsby’s background. The reader ( and Gatsby’s guests ) is never quite sure how Gatsby made such a lot of money. It seems that it may have been made illegally. If not illegally then it must have been made immorally by the standards of the day.

The feature which is most attractive in Gatsby is his pursuit of his undying dream. His love for Daisy never dies and he devotes all his energy and emotion towards fulfilling his magnificent dream. However dreams are not reality and his dream costs him his life. Through the character of Gatsby Fitzgerald shows us that our great hopes and desires are for the future. A better, brighter future, the future of our dreams where one fine morning we will be where we want to be and have what we want to have. Gatsby’s romantic idealism wasn’t fulfilled but he’s such a magnificent character because of the way he followed his dreams. If only we had the courage to devote our lives with such determination we too could be as magnificent as The Great Gatsby.

Nick Carraway is the narrator of the story and the voice of Fitzgerald. As a character he is less important. His role in the book is that of an observer. As a person he is beyond criticism. Fitzgerald didn’t want a narrator is moral faults. Nick has to be able to make moral judgements about the other characters without the reader challenging Nick’s suitability to make such judgements. So Nick is portrayed as a man of similar age to Gatsby and Tom. He is a very tolerant man who people turn to for advice or comfort. Gatsby seeks his help on a number of occasions in the book and it is clear that Gatsby likes, trusts and respects Nick. Nick is not a wealthy man but his personality allows him to socialize and be accepted by people who are above him in society. Nick is often critical of those around him but his criticism is always fair and the reader never questions his judgement and trusts and values his opinions.

Tom Buchanan is a character who we can never sympathize with or love. He is enormously wealthy and powerful but his powerful social position haven’t taught him how to behave towards other people. He comes from a privileged background and has a privileged education but Fitzgerald seems to tell us that breeding and education aren’t enough to make a decent human being. At the end of the book Fitzgerald describes Tom (and Daisy) as careless. They smash things up, their privilege protects them and they let other people clean up the mess they have made. In contrast to Tom, although Gatsby is enormously wealthy his humble background has given him a better education in life. Gatsby is allows dignified and respectful when Tom is brash and bullying. Gatsby’s love for Daisy is untouchable and sacred where Tom, although saying he loves Daisy, has affairs with other women. Tom has many faults. He seems dull and unintelligent. His conversation is obvious and uninteresting and he is prejudiced. We know of at least two affairs he has had while married to Daisy and he seems to have no relationship at all with his daughter. The most shocking thing is that he tells Wilson that Gatsby killed Myrtle which leads directly to Gatsby’s murder.

The strength of Fitzgerald’s characterization of Tom is that he is so believable. He’s a bully (he breaks Myrtle’s nose in a petty quarrel) but he’s not such a thug that he can’t feel emotions (he cries like a child over Myrtle’s death). He often shows signs of weakness despite his enormous physical financial power. In chapter 7 in the hotel suite at first he feels powerless to stop Daisy from going to Gatsby. When Wilson reveals that he’s taking Myrtle away for good Tom panics and feels desperation. These signs of weakness don’t make the reader feel strong sympathy or respect for Tom. But they do make Tom a real human being rather than just a powerful manipulative man.

In Fitzgerald’s characterization of Daisy we see similar faults to Tom’s. She is well-educated and privileged but her character and personality are lacking.

She has a daughter but their relationship seems shallow and unloving. She is very beautiful and her voice is irresistible to men. She seems to have a feminine quality that is absolutely delightful. Certainly Gatsby fell under her spell. But apart from those physical qualities she seems superficial in her relationships. She obviously fell in love with Gatsby before she met Tom. The day before her wedding to Tom she received a letter from Gatsby that distressed her very much. Was it because she didn’t love Tom and still loved Gatsby? Or was it because the letter re-awakened her love for Gatsby and conflicted with her love for Tom? We cannot know, but whatever the reason her dilemma and emotional torment make her a more realistic character.

When the novel ends, the reader is left with bad feelings about Daisy. Gatsby had followed his dream of love towards her for so long and so faithfully and yet on his death she disappeared with Tom and sent no flowers or messages of respect to his funeral. However, if we look at Tom and Daisy’s relationship this shouldn’t be so surprising and perhaps we shouldn’t blame Daisy too harshly. She does seem to be under Tom’s strong influence. It is difficult to imagine that Tom, having won back Daisy from Gatsby, would allow her to give any more attention at all to Gatsby. Tom said that Gatsby had got what he deserved when he was murdered. Why would such a powerful man allow his wife to show respect to the man she had nearly been unfaithful with? Besides Daisy must have been feeling emotionally distressed. She had just been the subject of an emotional fight between her husband and ex-lover and then she had run over and killed Myrtle and she must keep that a terrible secret. So although we must feel deeply dissatisfied with Daisy’s behaviour it is impossible to feel sympathy and pity also.

George Wilson doesn’t appear very often in the novel but he is essential to the plot of the novel. He is a very weak man. He seems shallow with no personality of his own. He is dominated by his wife. When he finds out that she is having an affair with somebody else he becomes not just psychologically affected but psychologically ill as well. He threatens to take her away to stop her affair. He is dominated by Tom. Tom is having an affair with his wife and he doesn’t know. Tom abuses him verbally and he relies on Tom to give him work to earn money. So he is weak and manipulated by those around him. He is a victim himself. When Myrtle is killed it completely destroys him and he becomes deranged with grief.

Fitzgerald’s characterization of Wilson is excellent. It is Wilson who murders Gatsby, who we admire and respect. Yet we don’t feel that Wilson is a bad man. We can’t bring ourselves to hate Wilson because we feel he is a victim too. And then he kills himself and we can only pity him.

Myrtle Wilson, like her husband, plays a smaller part in the novel but greatly affects the lives of the other characters.

Myrtle in contrast to George is a much stronger character but not one to be admired. She is stupid and shallow. When Tom takes her to the apartment in chapter 2 her behaviour is snobbish and unpleasant. She feels important because she is Tom’s mistress and Tom is a powerful man. But she simply wants to feel superior to other people and her behaviour is spiteful. She has no feelings towards her husband and says she realized she had made a mistake the day she married him. Her revenge is to bully Wilson and have an affair with Tom. While she bullies Wilson, Tom bullies her. At the apartment he breaks to shut her up. So her life seems very unpleasant. When she is run over we do feel sympathy for her death seems tragic and unnecessary. It is Fitzgerald’s great skill that we can create characters who we can feel such a range of emotions about.

Jordan Baker doesn’t affect the plot of the novel. As a person she is rather uninteresting. She doesn’t really have anything interesting to say. As a girlfriend for Nick she doesn’t seem to be suitable. The reader always finds her lacking and thinks that she and Nick split apart at the end of the book and the reader is not really curious as to what happens to her. She is a golf professional but Fitzgerald suggests that in a match she once cheated but the details were kept quiet. It does seem to suggest that she has a flaw in her personality. Maybe she has to lie and deceive others. It is not a criticism of Fitzgerald’s writing that Jordan is so uninteresting. Rather Fitzgerald didn’t need to make her any important, because her role in the novel is not very important.

In general I loved this novel very much. There are four reasons why I liked it so much. I like the characters. I like the era the novel is set in and the time that Fitzgerald was writing. I like style and elegance of Fitzgerald’s writing and finally the book is so memorable after I put it down because of the thoughts and emotions it stirs in me.

The Great Gatsby is so well written. The language is very eloquent and refined and succeeds in creating an image of high society. Some of Fitzgerald’s descriptions of people and places and events are poetic and create lot’s of images in the reader’s mind. The way the story is observed by one man makes it more personal and the reader is more involved and feels closer to the characters. Most of the novel is set in summer. The bright light of summer sunshine is reflected by dazzling, bright parties. But when Gatsby dies it is autumn and the weather has turned dark and gloomy to suit the unhappy events. Fitzgerald describes Gatsby’s hearse as “horribly black and wet”. The scene in chapter 7 where Tom and Gatsby finally confront each other over Daisy is also very evocative. The tension between the characters is unbearable and this is reflected in the unbearable heat of the day. Everybody is uncomfortable and tense and the reader can feel their emotions as the chapter is read.

The contrast between the excitement and glamour of Gatsby’s parties and the silence and loneliness of his funeral is brilliantly written by Fitzgerald. After the glitter and sparkle of life the cold, loneliness of death is frightening. The tragic ending is intensely moving. Gatsby has chased his dream for such a long time yet he failed just at the very last. Wilson is destroyed by events out of his control and he kills himself.

The plot is brilliantly constructed by Fitzgerald. The events unfold before the reader simply and realistically and you are drawn on to the end unable to put the book down.

The book is so evocative of a time long since disappeared. The jazz age is a very interesting time in history. For the rich it was a new age, changing, glamorous, enlightened and glittering. It is fascinating to read about.

Fitzgerald’s characters are so well-drawn. Fitzgerald is able to make moral judgements about his characters but he is able at the same time to recognize and appreciate their lives and problems. As a result they are more like real human beings who the reader can relate too.