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July 9th, 2002: - We have just been informed that this book is still in copyright and therefore we have had to remove the text from the site. In place of the text we have added a chapter by chapter summary. Please note the search feature searches through this summary, not the text.
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This novel shows the basic instinct of human beings to be admired as someone special even if this instinct leads, like moths attracted by the fire, towards burned wings.--Submitted by Mahawa Cheikh Gueye
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The hollow pursuit of wealth and social status results in tragedy in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Each character has their own way of showing off their wealth and status. Whether it's by the type of car you drive or the location of your house or even through marriage, it's all shown in this novel.--Submitted by Anonymous
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The Great Gatsby is set in the jazz age, the 1920's. It tells the fictional story of an enigmatic and lonely millionaire named Jay Gatsby, who has been in love with the same woman for years and tries to win her back. The narrator is Nick, who lives across the lawn from Gatsby and becomes friends with him. This book written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the greatest authors of all time shows that no matter how rich we are, it cannot buy us love. --Submitted by Anna
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This novel is beautiful in every way. It is filled with a haunting sadness, that I have never been able to forget. The prose is beautiful -- glowing like Daisy's green light across the water. The story itself is beautifully tragic -- a poor man falls in love with a beautiful, rich woman (or what she represents) and it brings disaster. But this book is so much more than that. What F. Scott Fitzgerald shows the reader about this society we, ourselves, have created is larger than any story a person could think up. Fitzgerald creates a portrait of the hollowness, carelessness, and ugliness in American society that moved my old English teacher to tears in front of the whole class a few years ago, and brings a lump to my throat even now, as I think about it. If someone asked me what exactly The Great Gatsby "means," I couldn't tell them. I don't think anyone will ever be able to understand it enough to put it in words that will have meaning to everyone, but I think anyone who reads this book WILL have an understanding of it that they can feel in the gut. Such is the way with all great literature.--Submitted by Anonymous
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The great gatsby analysis
In Great Gatsby novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald the character is created from the lower-income class citizen and with a dream to become rich and powerful after he has met Daisy and he has a reason to fulfil his dream and earn money, fame, wealth and power. The background of Gatsby remains bleak as no one knows what exactly happened in the past. Some rumours from Jordan state that he killed a man back in those days and he did inherit some kind of property but the real truth is that he made and gained everything by his own. Even in the novel lies come back and forth what makes Gatsby great is that he has gained and made what he has ever dreamed of. He was a normal poor citizen in the past living in a farm and belonging to a lower class by the name of James Gatz. He left everything behind to fit the upper-class and become another person. His father didn’t even know how far Gatsby would go and how fast he could reach the levels of being such a great person. The only thing that comes out from the novel is that Gatsby never did the right thing to gain what he got, but he had a good heart with everyone on what he was doing. During the novel we see Cody, who was the one that accepted Gatsby for his ambitions and dreams and had him as his son. When he first left the farm at the age of seventeen Cody was the one person and only that gave him what his dream of the world was by. Finally, he inherited Cody and that is one of the prominent reasons that he became rich. Having met Daisy, his human side appears in the novel and he comes to reach the lowest layer of his destruction and greatness as he leaves everything behind to show his love to Daisy. Although, the paradox remains the same he always stays loyal and faith to her until the end of his death, but this foolishness are the two reasons that made him lose his greatness. Gatsby’s life is still waving in the dark since another character appears in the story by the name of Meyer Wolfsheim, a shady, queer figure that doesn’t leave us a lot to thing about him but we do know that he had on the past connections with Germans, the war and know the Mafia. He is the one who claims that he has made Gatsby what he really is. As a character he is strange in his manners but always gentle and mannered. Even at times that he has the parties and social gatherings in his house, we cannot say that he really enjoys them, as the reason of organising is to see and be with Daisy. There are moments that when Daisy is with her husband Tom, he still uses the best course of his behaviour and is seen as a true gentleman. In front of her he becomes like a boy in his first relationship ever experienced. There are two faces seen in the movie. A great, powerful man and a weak, feeble boy in front of a girl. At the end the writer leaves us with a sense of distress and a moment of truth when a great personality such as Gatsby is left with nothing but his thoughts, memories and feelings even after such a great effort that he had made in his life, goes amiss. Much to do about nothing, as Shakespeare could characterize in his comedy plays. :crash:
Posted By thanosmiloulis1 at Sat 8 Oct 2011, 3:01 AM in The Great Gatsby || 7 Replies
And then one fine morning—
I love this ending to the book but something has always intrigued me - it's the inclusion of the words 'And then one fine morning—' what do those words add to the other lines and why does it cut off? Here's the full final paragraph below. It makes the same sense without that part-sentence but what is it adding to the sentiment? To me it reads slightly strangely but is that the point - the thoughts about tomorrow are cut off and interupted... Thanks for any thoughts... Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
Posted By jmorgan at Mon 9 May 2011, 3:43 AM in The Great Gatsby || 1 Reply
Naturalism and/or Impressionism in The Great Gatsby
I have to write an essay for my American Literature class and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for it. I am writing on either naturalism, impressionism, or a combination of both. I would really appreciate any passages that relate to these styles.
Posted By b00kwrm89 at Tue 12 Apr 2011, 7:03 PM in The Great Gatsby || 0 Replies
Reflections on filming The Great Gatsby
I understand that another version of this classic American novel is planned, which will make it the 5th attempt in 85 years, and while it’s unlikely to be any more successful than its forerunners, money aside, it poses the question as to why film makers persist in filming what is essentially an unfilmable novel. I say unfilmable because so much of what the author conveys is below the surface of what seems to be a conventional love story. There doesn’t appear to be a print of the first film made in 1926 but the subsequent versions made in 1949, 1974 and 2000 are available and each fails for various reasons such as casting, script, acting, direction, but also for their inability to translate Fitzgerald’s intention from book to screen. The 1949 attempt is the weakest in that it portrays Gatsby as an erstwhile gangster. The 1940s hairstyles and clothing are at odds with those of a story so obviously rooted in the 1920s and the dialogue departs wildly from that of the characters in the book. The 1974 adaptation was not well received, a fairly typical reaction being: “It pays its creator the regrettable tribute of erecting a mausoleum over his work.” Jack Clayton had wanted to direct Gatsby ever since he read it as a young man and it must have seemed like a dream come true when he actually got the chance to do it. It was, however, a poisoned chalice because, although the production values are good, they are too good to be true; it’s all a little too glitzy and although the details are scrupulously observed with just a few minor departures from the story, it is the 1920s too obviously seen through the prism of the 1970s. That being said, the scenes set in Wilson’s garage in the valley of ashes and the party in the private apartment are totally convincing. There are whole chunks of the original dialogue in the script, which should have brought the film closer to the book, but a major problem is one of casting in which few of the main characters are suitably portrayed. Scenically, the film made in 2000 is closer to the story and looks more natural than the over the top settings of the 1974 version. The problem is that the lead character is unconvincing, although Daisy Buchanan is much more realistic than the mannered performance of her given by Mia Farrow in the 1974 production. Fitzgerald’s critique of the superficiality and unrestrained hedonism of the period that would inevitability end in the 1929 crash never gets beyond Gatsby’s personal tragedy and it is in reconciling these elements of the novel that, thus far, the cinema has failed. It remains to be seen whether the projected remake improves on its predecessors but, on any objective assessment, it is likely to fail.
Posted By Emil Miller at Sat 2 Apr 2011, 12:04 PM in The Great Gatsby || 15 Replies
The Great Catsby, casting list. The deadline is Monday, 36 hours remain.
I'm working on an English project at the minute to cast The Great Gatsby. Due to my usual tendency to make everything as difficult for myself as possible, I've decided to instead cast The Great Catsby, where each character from the book is played by a fictional cat. I've kind of run into a bit of a stand still with at the minute, so I came to the wonderful people of online literature to bounce some ideas off of. Here's a rough casting I came up with during the early hours of the morning. Nick Carraway – Top Cat Gatsby – Snagglepuss Tom – Panthro (Thundercats) Daisy – Penelope Pussycat Jordan – ??? Myrtle – Cheshire cat That's pretty rough and needs work, so any ideas would be really cool. One last selfish request: I wouldn't expect people to go this far, but if you could include a small (literally just a couple of sentences) explanation as to how any of the cat cast you've chosen relates to the Gatsby character's role it would be awesome. If you don't want to do this though it's absolutely fine. So, who would be your ideal Catsby cast?
Posted By noirlueur at Sat 12 Feb 2011, 11:36 AM in The Great Gatsby || 3 Replies
Please in need of help
Hello Everyone, i am in need of help with my essay on the great gatsby, i have to anaylse the dreams of jay gatsby, tom and daisy. Jay dream is obvious, his dream is the american dream, however i need help with figuring out tom and daisy dreams. Any help will be appreciated thanks
Posted By Buddah1 at Sun 9 Jan 2011, 11:32 PM in The Great Gatsby || 0 Replies
The Great Gatsby
Well in English III we are currently reading The Great Gatsby but from what I've read I'm confused about only one thing why did Gatsby wait so long for Daisy when she wasn't willing to honor her promise to him? Why not just move on with his life and try to get over the woman he thought was "The One"?
Posted By pbear17 at Wed 8 Dec 2010, 8:50 PM in The Great Gatsby || 1 Reply
About Tom Buchanan
I'm new to American literature. I started reading Gatsby out of curiosity. For some reason, I like Scott Fitzgerald writing, even though it is slightly difficult to grasp, and at times confusing as to what he is trying to say. My question is about Tom Buchanan - The careless, rich, snob, husband of Daisy. Isn't Tom the one who tells Mr.Wilson that the car that hit Myrtle, his mistress, belong to Gatsby? After Mr.Wilson supposedly have threatened Tom to kill him holding the revolver. By that didn't he hint (lie) that it was Gatsby that Myrtle was having affair with? I don't see this particular point captured in the summary of the story I read in another site. May be I misunderstood? Correct me if I'm wrong, please. Another point to note here is about Gatsby's past. Is the part about Gatsby acquiring 25,000 dollars from Cody after his death, true? The rest of the millions of dollars of Cody's wealth goes to his wife. Or, did Gatsby earn all his money through illegal activities?
Posted By dbalsx at Sat 24 Jul 2010, 8:26 PM in The Great Gatsby || 3 Replies
Rootlessness?
Hi, I need help on my Gatsby essay, heres the question. My Essay Question: Tom and Daisy, we are told, drifted around before settling in East Egg, and Nick expects them to continue to drift. Other characters in the novel, while not drifters, appear to be rootless. Does their rootlessness reveal a self-centered nature that negatively impacts others? In a well-developed essay, explain and support your thoughts. I have a few questions about this very confusing essay. Which characters in the story are rootless? What are specific examples of them being rootless? Do you think I could use Tom or Daisy as an example as a rootless character? Any ideas on how they have negative impacts? I just need a few ideas to get me started, thanks a lot for your help Thanks a billion for your help
Posted By stywrpfldwr at Mon 5 Jul 2010, 10:49 AM in The Great Gatsby || 2 Replies
help me
hi everybody i just need your help concerning the great gatsby.my question is: discuss nature in the great gatsby. thank you i ll apreciate your help.
Posted By adiva at Fri 5 Feb 2010, 1:09 PM in The Great Gatsby || 0 Replies