The Great Gatsby
Jay Gatsby
The mysterious millionaire
The wealthy neighbor who throws huge parties every Saturday night and has spent years planning to win back one particular woman.
Jay Gatsby lives in a marble mansion on West Egg and fills it every weekend with hundreds of guests, music and champagne. Few of them have ever met him, and wild rumors follow him: that he was a German spy, that he once killed a man. In person he is charming, immaculate and hopeful, with a smile that makes people feel reassured, and he calls everyone “old sport.”
Gatsby’s grand life has one purpose. He bought the house across the bay from Daisy Buchanan so that he could be close to her. Beneath the polish he is anxious and easily shaken, and he believes that with enough determination he can make the past come back exactly as it was.
“Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Gatsby befriends Nick, tells him an improbable life story, and asks him to arrange a tea with Daisy. The reunion is awkward at first, then radiant, and the two begin seeing each other. Gatsby’s real beginnings are revealed: he was James Gatz of North Dakota, who invented a new self after meeting the yacht owner Dan Cody.
At the Plaza Hotel Gatsby confronts Tom and insists Daisy never loved him, but Tom exposes Gatsby’s bootlegging and Daisy loses her nerve. After Myrtle is killed by the yellow car, Gatsby offers to take the blame for Daisy. He is shot in his pool by George Wilson while waiting for a telephone call that never comes.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
