The Great Gatsby Book Summary & Study Guide

The Great Gatsby follows Nick Carraway as he chronicles his neighbors on Long Island—his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her wealthy, arrogant husband Tom, and the enigmatic Jay Gatsby who lives nearby in West Egg. Gatsby, the son of poor farmers who reinvented himself as a gentleman, has spent years accumulating wealth specifically to reclaim Daisy, the woman he loved before the war. Through Nick’s observations, readers witness Gatsby’s lavish parties, his obsession with the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, and the tension between old money (East Egg) and new wealth (West Egg). The novel builds to a tragic climax involving a hit-and-run accident, the murder of Gatsby by George Wilson—a man driven by grief and misguided jealousy—and ultimately the empty funeral of a man whose American Dream dies with him. Fitzgerald’s masterpiece explores themes of wealth, love, idealism, and the corruption of the American Dream against the backdrop of 1920s excess.