The Great Gatsby is a 1925 tragedy novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire obsessed with reuniting with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. The novel is widely considered a literary masterpiece and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel.
Publication and Historical Context
The novel was published by Charles Scribner's Sons on April 10, 1925. It was inspired by Fitzgerald's youthful romance with socialite Ginevra King and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922. Following a move to the French Riviera, Fitzgerald completed a rough draft in 1924 and submitted it to editor Maxwell Perkins, who persuaded Fitzgerald to revise the work over the following winter. Painter Francis Cugat's dust jacket art, Celestial Eyes, greatly impressed Fitzgerald, and he incorporated its imagery into the novel.
Fitzgerald had difficulty choosing a title, entertaining options including Trimalchio in West Egg, Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires, The Gold-Hatted Gatsby, and Under the Red, White, and Blue before reluctantly settling on The Great Gatsby.
Plot Summary
In spring 1922, Nick Carraway—a Yale alumnus from the Midwest and a World War I veteran—moves to New York City to work as a bond salesman. He rents a bungalow in the Long Island village of West Egg, next to a luxurious estate inhabited by Jay Gatsby, an enigmatic multi-millionaire who hosts dazzling parties but does not partake in them.
Nick reconnects with his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom, who live across the bay in the old-money town of East Egg. Tom is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson, the wife of a mechanic in the "valley of ashes"—a refuse dump between West Egg and New York City. Nick receives an invitation to one of Gatsby's parties and learns that Gatsby and Daisy had a romantic relationship in 1917 before Gatsby was deployed overseas and Daisy married Tom. Gatsby uses Nick to stage a reunion with Daisy, and the two begin an affair.
Tom discovers the affair, and during a confrontation at the Plaza Hotel, Gatsby insists Daisy declare she never loved Tom. Daisy claims she loves both men. Tom reveals Gatsby's wealth comes from bootlegging. Daisy chooses to stay with Tom. While driving back, Daisy (at the wheel of Gatsby's car) accidentally strikes and kills Myrtle Wilson. Gatsby takes the blame to protect Daisy. Tom tells Myrtle's husband George that Gatsby owned the car, and George fatally shoots Gatsby in his swimming pool before killing himself. Nick arranges Gatsby's sparsely attended funeral and, disillusioned with the East, returns to the Midwest.
Major Characters
- Nick Carraway – The first-person narrator, a Yale alumnus and World War I veteran from the Midwest who works as a bond salesman.
- Jay Gatsby (born James Gatz) – A mysterious millionaire from North Dakota who amassed wealth through bootlegging and is obsessed with winning back Daisy Buchanan.
- Daisy Buchanan – A shallow socialite and Nick's cousin, torn between Gatsby and her husband Tom.
- Tom Buchanan – Daisy's wealthy husband, a white supremacist and former Yale football star who is having an affair.
- Jordan Baker – A cynical professional golfer and Daisy's friend who becomes Nick's romantic interest.
- Myrtle Wilson – Tom's mistress, desperate to escape her disappointing marriage.
- George B. Wilson – Myrtle's husband, a mechanic who kills Gatsby.
Critical Reception and Legacy
Upon publication, The Great Gatsby received generally favorable reviews but was a commercial disappointment, selling fewer than 20,000 copies by October 1925. Fitzgerald died in 1940 believing himself a failure and his work forgotten.
During World War II, the novel experienced a surge in popularity when the Council on Books in Wartime distributed 155,000 free copies to American soldiers overseas. By the 1950s, a full-scale Fitzgerald revival had occurred, led by literary critic Edmund Wilson. By 1960, the book was selling 100,000 copies per year. As of early 2020, The Great Gatsby had sold nearly 30 million copies worldwide and continues to sell an additional 500,000 copies annually. It has been translated into 42 languages. The novel's U.S. copyright expired on January 1, 2021, entering the public domain.
Major Themes
Scholars emphasize the novel's treatment of the American Dream (and its unattainability), class permanence (the inability of the lower class to transcend their station), gender relations (the marginalization of women in elite society), race and displacement (anxieties over immigration and national identity), and sexuality and identity (queer readings of characters). The novel also explores technology and environment, with the valley of ashes representing the man-made wasteland produced by industrialization.
Adaptations
The novel has been adapted across numerous media:
- Stage: A 1926 Broadway play directed by George Cukor; a 2006 Guthrie Theater production; the 2010 Off-Broadway staging Gatz; and a 1999 Metropolitan Opera adaptation.
- Film: A 1926 silent film (now lost); a 1949 version starring Alan Ladd; a 1974 version starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow; and a 2013 version directed by Baz Luhrmann starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
- Television: Adaptations in 1955 (NBC), 1958 (CBS), and 2000 (A&E).
- Musicals: Productions at Yale (1956), in Wales (1998), on Broadway (2024), and at the American Repertory Theater (2024).
- Literature: Retellings and expansions published after the 2021 copyright expiration, including Nick by Michael Farris Smith, The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo, and Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore.
- Radio: Multiple BBC adaptations, including the award-winning 2025 Gatsby in Harlem.
- Video games: A 2010 hidden object game, an 8-bit-style online game, and a 2013 symbolic adaptation by Slate.
