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The Great Gatsby is an American novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in New York during the 1920s, the novel is narrated by his friend, Nick Carraway, a young man in the bond-selling business. Carraway had just moved from Minnesota to a district on Long Island called the West Egg. He lives in a modest home next to an elaborate mansion which belongs to a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby. Nearby the West Egg is another community called the East Egg. Most of the West Egg inhabitants are people who have gained wealth through business, while the majority of East Egg inhabitants are people who have wealthy families and have inherited their money. One family in the East Egg is the Buchanans-Daisy Buchanan, Nick’s cousin, and her husband, Tom Buchanan. Daisy invites Nick to dinner one evening, where Nick meets a young woman named Jordan Baker. During dinner, Tom receives a phone call and both he and Daisy leave the dining room to answer it. While they are alone, Jordan reveals to Nick that Tom is having an affair with a woman named Myrtle Wilson, the wife of George Wilson, the owner of an auto shop in the Valley of Ashes. A few days later, Tom and Nick travel into New York City, where they meet with Myrtle along the way. They end up going to Myrtle’s apartment, where they throw a party. When Myrtle taunts Tom about Daisy, Tom gets angry and punches her, breaking her nose, ending the party.

                Weeks later, Nick receives an invitation from the mysterious Gatsby to attend a party that he is hosting. Nick arrives and meets Jordan Baker there, After spending some time together, they finally meet the Gatsby himself. Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan alone, afterwhich Jordan explains to Nick what she learned from Gatsby. She reveals that Gatsby had met Daisy back in 1917, and the two fell in love. However, they separated when Gatsby left to fight in World War I. After the war, Gatsby never returned, and Daisy decided to marry Tom. Gatsby had simply been delayed in returning to the United States, and when he returned and realized that Daisy was married, he dedicated his entire life to acquiring wealth to impress Daisy. He buys a luxurious mansion across the bay from Daisy’s own home to be near her. His extravagant lifestyle and parties have all been attempts to attract her attention and impress her. Jordan then reveals that Gatsby wants Nick to arrange a reunion between Daisy and Gatsby by inviting them both for tea at his house. There, Gatsby and Daisy meet each other for the first time in almost five years. After their reunion is initially awkward, they reconnect with each other. Gatsby decides to show Daisy his extravagant mansion, which Daisy is extremely attracted to. The two fall in love again, and start an affair.

                Tom begins to suspect that Daisy is becoming unfaithful to him. One day, he invites Gatsby, Nick, and Jordan to a luncheon. He observes the way Gatsby looks at Daisy and deduces that he is in love with her. Angry, he has the entire group travel to the Plaza Hotel in New York City. There, he confronts Gatsby, leading to an altercation between the two. During their argument, Gatsby tells Tom that Daisy doesn’t, and has never loved him; instead, she loves Gatsby. Tom, disgusted with Gatsby, reveals to everyone how Gatsby acquired his wealth. He explains that Gatsby is part of the bootlegger, one who participates in illegal activities such as selling alcohol (during the 1920s the 18th Amendment prohibited the sale of alcohol, but was later repealed in the 1930s). Realizing that Gatsby is not made of old money and has illegally acquired his wealth, Daisy begins to lose interest in Gatsby and remains loyal to Tom. Tom orders Daisy to return home with Gatsby, confident that Gatsby cannot do anything to take Daisy away from him. When Tom, Nick, and Jordan are on their journey home, they discover that Gatsby’s car had hit and killed Myrtle. Nick returns home and realizes that Daisy had been driving and was the one that hit Myrtle; however, because Gatsby still loves her, Gatsby intends to take the blame in order to protect Daisy. The next day, Tom informs George, Myrtle’s husband, that Gatsby was the one that killed Myrtle. This leads George to go to Gatsby’s mansion, where he kills Gatsby, and then commits suicide. Nick holds a funeral for Gatsby, inviting everyone he knows, but no one bothers to attend. In the end, Tom and Daisy decide to move away from East Egg and New York in order to escape from their problems. Gatsby becomes infamous as people still believe that he was the one who killed Myrtle.

                One thing I really liked about The Great Gatsby was Fitzgerald’s message about the American Dream and his critique on society. Written during the decade known as the Roaring 20s, Fitzgerald was one of the nation’s authors who criticized the superficiality of American Society. During the Roaring 20s, the nation had just finished fighting in World War I, and the federal government had reinstated economic policies such as tax breaks for the wealthy and increased protective tariffs to support domestic industries. In addition, the nation began to develop a new consumer culture, with the economic focus switching from real industries such as steel and oil to consumer goods. This shift in economics led people to develop a new mindset- a superficial one fixated on wealth and extravagance. Fitzgerald saw this and criticized it using this novel. Through the example and actions of Gatsby, Fitzgerald suggested that the American Dream and desire for success in life had been corrupted by a fixation of wealth and material items. Although Gatsby truly loved Daisy, this love was one-sided because Daisy was only attracted to Gatsby because of his wealth and status. As soon as she realized that Gatsby had not inherited his wealth and had in actuality acquired it illegally, she lost interest in him and remained loyal to Tom, simply because he was made of old money. Thus, Fitzgerald claims that the new mindsets and behaviors of people during the 1920s have corrupted the original ideals upon which the nation was founded.

                Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. While it was not filled with action, it was interesting to see Gatsby’s true motivations be revealed throughout the novel. The smaller number of main characters allowed each one to be developed fully and made the plot extremely easy to follow. I would recommend this novel to people that enjoy works of historical fiction and like learning about people’s opinions on human behavior and motivation throughout history. In conclusion, I would rate this novel a 9/10.

Checkout The Great Gatsby from the Newport Beach Public Library.