The Great Gatsby

Bibliographic Information: Fitzgerald, F.S. (1925). The great Gatsby. New York: Scribner. ISBN: 9780743273565.

Plot Summary: Nick Carraway moves to Long Island, next to a grandiose mansion owned by a man named Mr. Gatsby. One night, he visits his cousin Daisy and her husband, Tom, in East Egg—a more conservative neighborhood. Here he meets Jordan Baker who reveals to Nick that Tom is having an affair with a woman named Myrtle—and so the turbulent series of love triangles begins. Back at home, Nick sees Gatsby, looking out across the water with arms outstretched, enamored with green dock light that resides near Daisy’s house. Tom’s affair is confirmed when he brings Nick to meet Myrtle in the valley of ashes, and together they have a party at Tom’s secret apartment in NYC.

            Nick continues to observe Gatsby from afar, taking note of his lavish parties that light up the mansion like fire, and fill the air with music. Eventually, Nick is invited to one of the parties, where he runs into Jordan again, and together they meet Gatsby who speaks eloquently and observes his guests in isolation. Nick learns more about Gatsby’s past when they drive out to lunch one day, meeting Meyer Wolfsheim, who fixed the World Series (and suggests that Gatsby gets his own wealth in criminal ways). Nick also learns about Gatsby’s history with Daisy and his undying love for her. Nick agrees to invite Daisy to tea, where Gatsby plans to show up and surprise her. The meeting is awkward at first, but after a while, Daisy and Gatsby rekindle their love and strike up an affair. When Gatsby shows off all of his possessions to Daisy, she falls weeping into his beautiful shirts.

            As Nick becomes more and more immersed in the affairs that surround him, and as he learns more and more about Gatsby’s true past, he finds himself caught in a whirlwind of tragic consequences. He moves back West, disgusted by the shallowness, affairs, and pursuit of wealth he finds in the East.

Critical Evaluation: The central theme of this classic American Dream story is the pursuit of wealth. Gatsby’s life represents the dream that anybody, no matter where they come from, can attain anything and become anybody. As Nick eventually learns, Gatsby was not born to rich parents who died—he was a farmer’s boy who dropped out of college and ended up meeting a guy who owned a yacht. Here, he developed a love for the lavish lifestyle and decided to become rich by any means necessary. We eventually learn that Gatsby is a bootlegger—the source of his wealth comes from criminal activity, hence his correlation with Wolfsheim. Though his dreams are shallow and even degraded because of the means by which he attained his wealth, Gatsby’s story is all the more pitiful because he did all of it in an attempt to win back Daisy. When they met, he was just a poor soldier, and his uniform disguised his lack of wealth. But to marry Daisy, he needed more than the appearance of money, and so she became the fuel that fed his fire of greed.

            Even though this book was written almost a century ago, correlations can still be made to today. We still latch onto the shallow American dream: everyone wants fame and fortune and is obsessed with the lives of the famous and rich. Reality television reflects what our popular culture values. The Great Gatsby still stands on its own as one of the most important novels of the 20^th century, because it reveals the truth about America. Though it isn’t a traditional coming-of-age story, it is undoubtedly valuable to teens as they begin to fathom who they will become and at what cost.

Reader’s Annotation: Mr. Gatsby throws lavish parties for strangers, but keeps his distance, and nobody asks where he gets his wealth. Perhaps it has something to do with that blinking green light he stares at across the water?

Author Information: Gale’s Contemporary Authors Online states, “Beginning early in his life, F. Scott Fitzgerald strove to become a great writer. In a 1944 essay, "Thoughts on Being Bibliographed," Edmund Wilson wrote that Fitzgerald told him soon after college, ‘I want to be one of the greatest writers who have ever lived, don't you?’ Although today most college-level American literature survey courses usually include at least one of his works, during Fitzgerald's lifetime he was regarded mainly as a portrayer of the 1920s Jazz Age and of flaming youth, but not as one of this country's most important writers. And while close to fifty thousand copies of his first novel, This Side of Paradise, were printed in 1920 and 1921, he was never a best-selling novelist. Fewer than twenty-nine thousand copies of The Great Gatsby and some fifteen thousand copies of Tender Is the Night were published in the United States during Fitzgerald's lifetime. By the time of his death in 1940, very few copies of his books were being sold, and he was earning his living as a free-lance film writer. Since then, however, Fitzgerald's popularity has increased dramatically.

Even at an early age, F. Scott Fitzgerald exhibited talent. At St. Paul Academy, he wrote stories for the school magazine and participated in dramatics. According to Andrew Turnbull in his biography Scott Fitzgerald, C. N. B. Wheeler--one of Fitzgerald's teachers at St. Paul Academy--said years later: ‘I helped him by encouraging his urge to write adventures. It was also his best work, he did not shine in his other subjects. He was inventive in all playlets we had and marked his course by his pieces for delivery before the school.... I imagined he would become an actor of the variety type, but he didn't.... It was his pride in his literary work that put him in his real bent.’"

Genre: Fiction

Subjects: The American Dream, 1920’s, jazz age, wealth

Curriculum Ties: American history and culture

Booktalking Ideas: Why is it dangerous to idealize someone you love?

What is the American Dream and how has it evolved today?

Reading Level/Interest Age: 13+

Challenge Issues/Defense: Due to depictions of murder, and infidelity, this book may be challenged. If so, refer to:

1.     Reason for Selection: The San Francisco Public Library Collection Development Policy, Selection Criteria, and Teen Collection documents.

2.     The California Department of Education District Selection Policies, Reading Lists, and Resources for Recommended Literature: Pre-K-12.

3.     A hard copy of the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights.

4.     Mixed book reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Publisher’s Weekly.

5.     Book selection rationale.

6.     If necessary, The San Francisco Public Library’s Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials Form.

Reason for Selection: This is an American classic that teens can identify with in their own pursuits of their dreams.