The “Great Gatsby” is on the required reading list of many high school and college students for good reason.  F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel about love and betrayal and excess is widely believed to be the perfect example of the Great American Novel.  The book, published in 1925, chronicles the materialism and lack of morality that existed in the period known as the Roaring Twenties.

 

The tale is narrated by Nick Carraway and takes place when he moves to New York to study the business of selling bonds.  He rents and inexpensive cottage in West Egg, a nouveau riche community that is considered much less fashionable than its neighbor, East Egg, which is inhabited by the long-established wealthy, those with old money and endless connections.

 

Nick’s cousin, Daisy lives in East Egg in an opulent mansion with her husband Tom.  Daisy is shallow, spoiled, and extremely unhappy.  Tom is arrogant, racist, and unfaithful.  Daisy’s friend Jordan Baker, a well-known golfer, tells Nick that Tom is involved with a married woman in New York.  His lover, Myrtle, is the wife of automobile mechanic, George Wilson.  The Wilson’s home/automobile shop is located on the road from Long Island to New York.

 

Without any hint of shame, Tom takes Nick to the apartment that he rents for his affair with Myrtle.  They have a party at the apartment, and the evening ends with Tom getting angry at Myrtle and breaking her nose, proving his complete disregard for anyone other than himself.

 

The cottage that Nick rents is next door to a huge mansion owned by the mysterious Jay Gatsby.  There is much speculation about where Gatsby got his money, and everyone loves to gossip about it.  Gatsby throws elaborate parties, but rarely attends them himself.  Nick soon gets an invitation to one of the parties where he meets Gatsby, and they become close friends.

 

Nick learns from Jordan that Gatsby throws these parties with the hope that Daisy, his former love, will attend one of them.  Then, Jordan is asked by Gatsby to influence Nick to arrange a meeting with Daisy.  Nick arranges the meeting, and after the reunion, Daisy and Gatsby begin an affair.  She admits to Gatsby that she has never loved Tom.

 

Tom becomes suspicious, and it does not seem to matter he is also having an affair.  He is outraged that Daisy would be unfaithful to him.  During a luncheon at the Buchanan’s mansion, Tom insists that the group, consisting of Daisy, Gatsby, Jordan, Nick, and himself go into New York City.  They rent a suite at the Plaza Hotel where Tom confronts Gatsby.  After the confrontation, Daisy and Gatsby drive back to East Egg together.  They must pass George Wilson’s auto shop on the way.  At the same time, George has realized that Myrtle is having an affair and is excessively angry.  Myrtle, trying to get away from her angry husband, runs into the road and is struck down by Daisy and Gatsby.

 

Nick learns from Gatsby that Daisy was driving the car when it struck Myrtle, but that Gatsby plans to take the blame.  However, the next day, Tom tells George, Myrtle’s husband, that Gatsby was driving, and George mistakenly concludes that Gatsby must have been the man which whom Myrtle was having an affair.  George goes to Gatsby’s mansion, finds him in the pool, and fatally shoots him.  He then turns the gun on himself.

 

Nick plans a small funeral for Gatsby and soon returns to the Midwest, disgusted by the excesses, lack of morals, and shallowness of the wealthy.