The Great Gatsby Plot Diagram

Plot Summary

Professor Tony Bowers from the College of DuPage provides the plot summary for F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby.

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Summary

At first glance, The Great Gatsby appears to be a fairly straightforward tale about Jay Gatsby's tragic pursuit of the American dream. But upon closer examination—including a deeper look at the novel'southward utilise of symbolism and intent—the story becomes a commentary on social classes, the pursuit of the American dream, and determining what really matters. Thus, while the novel is set in the 1920s, its story and characters are timeless.

The Great Gatsby has five settings:

The Midwest, from which many of the principal characters originate.
West Egg, a fictional city on Long Island, New York, where up-and-coming residents with new coin reside.
Eastward Egg, a fictional city also on Long Island, where the aloof wealthy of quondam money reside.
The Valley of Ashes, a tertiary Long Island setting characterized equally a dour locale where the suburbs intersect with the city and where those less fortunate—the have-nots—live.
New York, where Nick Carraway works in the bail business and where Tom Buchanan rents an apartment in which he meets with his mistress, Myrtle Wilson.

The story begins with Nick Carraway's move to Westward Egg on Long Island in New York, where he happens to rent a firm next door to Jay Gatsby, a wealthy businessman known for his elaborately lavish parties. Gatsby appears to be well-liked and popular, although where he came from and how he made his fortune remain matters of mystery—and much speculation.

As Nick settles into his new surroundings, he visits his cousin Daisy and her husband, a well-to-do couple living in old money Due east Egg. They and their friend Jordan Bakery, a young, single, and wealthy professional golfer, innovate Nick to their life in the Eastward, which is characterized by abundant gratis time, flowing money, and luxury in all forms. Nick is attracted past this lifestyle even as he begins to consider its shallowness—peculiarly when he comes to understand that Daisy's husband Tom has "some woman in New York" and that Daisy is aware of it. Past the fourth dimension Tom takes Nick to meet Myrtle Wilson—who owns a gas station in the valley of ashes with her husband George—he is committed to what he sees equally the East Declension way of life.

Nick and Gatsby soon become friends. Even after Nick realizes Gatsby is pursuing the friendship in office so that he tin can reconnect with Daisy—who happens to be the woman he'd fallen in honey with before the war—he is intrigued. At Gatsby'due south request Nick arranges for Daisy and Gatsby to reunite at his home. While the first coming together is bad-mannered for the old lovers, it becomes apparent they nevertheless intendance for one another, and Gatsby and Daisy continue to encounter each other secretly.

Eventually, Nick's ii social groups from East Egg and West Egg intersect. Upon meeting him, Tom immediately dislikes Gatsby and later senses there is something going on between Daisy and Gatsby. While the group is in New York ane afternoon, Tom confronts Gatsby, who informs Tom his suspicions are correct and that Daisy loves him.

Meanwhile, in the "valley of ashes," George Wilson learns of his wife's adultery but he does non discover her lover's identity. George locks Myrtle upstairs in their home to keep her "safe" until they tin move abroad. When Myrtle escapes she is struck and killed by Gatsby's car, which Daisy is driving back from New York. Instead of stopping to help, Daisy drives abroad from the scene of the blow.

Distraught, George is determined to find the driver of the car. This presents an opportunity for Tom, even so reeling from Daisy and Gatsby's revelation, to tell George that the car belongs to Jay Gatsby. George sets out to notice Gatsby in W Egg, eventually locating Gatsby's mansion and murdering him in his pool before taking his own life.

Nick learns of Gatsby's death and becomes a contact point for the details of wrapping upwardly Jay Gatsby'south life. He tries to contact Gatsby's many "friends" and is saddened to find that no one seems to care. When Gatsby'southward begetter turns up, Nick learns the true story of James Gatz—the young man from the Midwest—and his rise to get the great Jay Gatsby, all in pursuit of wealth and his vision of the American dream. At the conclusion, Nick becomes disillusioned with all that the East represents, a disappointment deep enough to lead him dorsum to the Midwest.

The Keen Gatsby Plot Diagram

Introduction

1 Nick moves to New York.

Ascent Activeness

2 Nick attends kickoff of Gatsby's parties.

3 Gatsby befriends Nick; the two grow close.

iv Tom introduces Nick to his mistress, Myrtle.

5 Rumors about Gatsby's past; Nick meets Wolfsheim.

six Daisy, Tom attend Gatsby'southward party; take a bad time.

7 Daisy and Gatsby announced to exist in love.

8 Tom discovers Daisy and Gatsby's thing.

Climax

ix Gatsby, Tom boxing over Daisy; Daisy chooses Tom.

Falling Action

ten Myrtle is killed past Gatsby'due south car, driven by Daisy.

eleven George Wilson kills Gatsby.

Resolution

12 Almost no one attends Gatsby's funeral.

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