While The Great Gatsby
is a highly specific portrait of American society during the Roaring
Twenties, its story
is as common as the plots of Shakespearean plays -
the ascent of a penniless man to a wealthy one only to discover that
all his wealth cannot give him back his lady love. The central
character is Jay Gatsby, a wealthy New Yorker. Gatsby is primarily
known for the lavish parties he throws
every weekend at his ostentatious Gothic mansion. He is
suspected of being involved in illegal bootlegging and other underworld
activities.
The narrator, Nick Carraway,
is Gatsby's neighbor in West Egg. Nick is a young man from a prominent
Midwestern family. Educated at Yale, he has come to New York to enter
the bond business. In some sense, the
novel is Nick's memoir, his
unique view of the events of the summer of 1922; as such, his
impressions and observations necessarily color the narrative as a
whole. For the most part, he plays only a peripheral role in the events
of the novel; he prefers to remain a passive observer.
Upon
arriving in New York, Nick visits his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her
husband, Tom. The Buchanans live in the posh Long Island district of
East Egg; Nick, like Gatsby, resides in nearby West Egg, a less
fashionable area looked down upon by those who live in East Egg. West
Egg is home to the nouveau riche people who lack established social
connections, and tend to vulgarly flaunt their wealth.
Tom has been having an
affair with another woman. At this point of the
novel, Gatsby's whereabouts are unclear. Gatsby allegedly belonged to a
wealthy San Francisco family. However as the story unfolded, it became
clear that Gatsby was a poor child who stayed in Dan Cody's (Daisy's
father ) home. Cody was Gatsby's mentor. However after the death of
Cody, his son treated Gatsby very badly and succeeded in getting Daisy
married to Tom despite knowing that Daisy and Gatsby were in love with
one another.
Gatsby was hurt so much that he immediately left the home and finally
succeeded in getting rich. Then he returned to win the favours of
Daisy. As everything became clear, Tom became very furious with his
wife for indulging in any sort of affair (though he himself was
indulging in an affair ). Torn out between Tom and Gatsby, Daisy was
involved in an accident which killed Tom's lover and Daisy gets
injured. The victim's husband killed Gatsby.
The novel ends hailing Gatsby as truly great for having achieved his
dreams. But it suffers from shoddy definition of morals. It is a good
work, but far from excellent.