The Great Gatsby is a short modernist novel (1925) narrated by Nick Carraway, who recounts the tragic rise and fall of the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby on Long Island in the summer of 1922, exposing the corruption of wealth, the fragility of the American Dream, and the moral emptiness behind Jazz Age glamour. The story centers on Gatsby’s obsessive attempt to reclaim his past love with Daisy Buchanan, which leads to betrayal, violence, and his lonely death.
Set in 1922, Nick Carraway rents a small house in West Egg, Long Island, and becomes neighbor to the enigmatic Jay Gatsby, famed for his lavish parties.
Gatsby, who rose from poverty to immense wealth through dubious means, is obsessed with rekindling his prewar romance with Daisy Buchanan, now married to the wealthy, brutish Tom.
With Nick’s help, Gatsby and Daisy begin an affair, but a confrontation in New York reveals Gatsby’s criminal background and Daisy’s loyalty to her class and husband.
Daisy, driving Gatsby’s car, kills Tom’s mistress Myrtle in a hit‑and‑run; Gatsby takes the blame and is later murdered by Myrtle’s husband, while Daisy and Tom retreat into their wealth and carelessness.
Disillusioned by the moral decay of the rich, Nick returns to the Midwest, reflecting on Gatsby’s hopeful dream as a symbol of the broader American Dream’s failure.
Evocative style and symbolism
Lyrical, compressed prose that conjures a vivid mood of glittering parties, smoky cities, and late‑night longing.
Powerful symbols (the green light, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, the valley of ashes) that deepen themes of desire, moral blindness, and spiritual emptiness.
Sharp critique of the American Dream
Shows how upward mobility and wealth, supposedly proof of success, are built on exploitation, crime, and illusion.
Exposes a rigid class system: “new money” like Gatsby can buy riches but not true social acceptance or moral security.
Complex characterization
Gatsby is both admirable and deluded: generous, hopeful, and loyal, yet built on lies and criminality, making him one of the great ambiguous figures in American fiction.
Daisy and Tom embody the charm and cruelty of the elite—beautiful, charming, but careless and destructive—while Nick’s partial complicity complicates the reader’s trust.
Economy and structure
Short length with tight structure: each scene advances plot, character, and theme with little waste.
Framed as Nick’s retrospective account, blending immediacy with reflective commentary and giving the novel an elegiac tone.
Enduring themes and relevance
Explores obsession with youth, beauty, money, and reinvention, which still resonates in consumer culture.
Raises questions about nostalgia, whether the past can be “repeated,” and the cost of turning people into ideals.
Emotional distance and limited perspective
Nick’s filtered first‑person narration can keep readers at arm’s length from events and motives, creating a cool, detached tone.
Because everything is mediated through his biases, certain characters (especially Daisy and Jordan) can feel underexplored or opaque.
Portrayal of women
Core women (Daisy, Jordan, Myrtle) are largely defined in relation to men—objects of desire, status, or frustration rather than fully autonomous agents.
Some readers find Daisy too thinly drawn for the symbolic weight she carries as Gatsby’s “golden girl” and emblem of the Dream.
Treatment of class and race
The focus is almost entirely on white upper‑ and middle‑class characters; working‑class figures like George and Myrtle exist mainly as collateral damage.
Casual racist and xenophobic remarks (voiced by characters) can feel jarring, and the book does little to center marginalized perspectives.
Narrative compression and subtlety
The novel’s brevity and understated style demand close reading; motives and critiques are often implied rather than spelled out.
Readers looking for detailed backstories, explicit moral judgments, or broad social panoramas may find the world too narrow and the ending abrupt.
Romanticization vs. critique
The glittering atmosphere and poetic language can seem to romanticize the very wealth and decadence the book criticizes.
Gatsby’s idealization of Daisy and the past is clearly doomed, but some readers feel the narrative still indulges a sentimental view of his dream.