The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsbyis a 1925novelby American writerF. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in theJazz AgeonLong Island, near New York City, the novel depictsfirst-personnarratorNick Carraway's interactions withJay Gatsby, the mysterious millionaire with an obsession to reunite with his former lover,Daisy Buchanan.
The novel was inspired by a youthful romance Fitzgerald had withsocialiteGinevra King, and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island'sNorth Shorein 1922. Following a move to theFrench Riviera, Fitzgerald completed a rough draft of the novel in 1924. He submitted it to editorMaxwell Perkins, who persuaded Fitzgerald to revise the work over the following winter. After making revisions, Fitzgerald was satisfied with the text, but remained ambivalent about the book's title and considered several alternatives. PainterFrancis Cugat's dust jacket art, namedCelestial Eyes, greatly impressed Fitzgerald, and he incorporated its imagery into the novel.
After its publication byScribner'sin April 1925,The Great Gatsbyreceived generally favorable reviews, though some literary critics believed it did not equal Fitzgerald's previous efforts. Compared to his earlier novels,This Side of Paradise(1920) andThe Beautiful and Damned(1922), the novel was a commercial disappointment. It sold fewer than 20,000 copies by October, and Fitzgerald's hopes of a monetary windfall from the novel were unrealized. When the author died in 1940, he believed himself to be a failure and his work forgotten.
DuringWorld War II, the novel experienced an abrupt surge in popularity when theCouncil on Books in Wartimedistributed free copies to American soldiers serving overseas. This new-found popularity launched a critical and scholarly re-examination, and the work soon became a core part of most American high school curricula and a part of American popular culture. Numerous stage and film adaptations followed in the subsequent decades.
Gatsbycontinues to attract popular and scholarly attention. Scholars emphasize the novel's treatment ofsocial class,inheritedversusself-made wealth,gender,race, andenvironmentalism, and its cynical attitude towards theAmerican Dream.The Great Gatsbyis widely considered to be a literarymasterpieceand a contender for the title of theGreat American Novel.
Set on the prosperous Long Island of 1922,The Great Gatsbyprovides a critical social history ofProhibition-era Americaduring the Jazz Age.F. Scott Fitzgerald's fictional narrative fully renders that period—known for itsjazzmusic,economic prosperity,flapperculture,libertinemores,rebellious youth,and ubiquitousspeakeasies. Fitzgerald uses many of these 1920s societal developments to tell his story, from simple details likepettingin automobiles to broader themes such asbootleggingas the illicit source of Gatsby's fortune.
Fitzgerald conveys thehedonismof Jazz Age society by following a down-to-earth narrator as a spectator of the most raucous and flashiest era in American history.In Fitzgerald's eyes, the era represented a morally permissive time when Americans of all ages became disillusioned with prevailingsocial normsand obsessed with pleasure-seeking.Fitzgerald himself had a certain ambivalence towards the Jazz Age, an era whose themes he would later regard as reflective of events in his own life.
The Great Gatsbyreflects various events in Fitzgerald's youth.He was a young Midwesterner fromMinnesota. Like the novel's narrator who went toYale, he was educated at anIvy Leagueschool,Princeton.There the 18-year-old Fitzgerald metGinevra King, a 16-year-old socialite with whom he fell deeply in love.Although Ginevra was madly in love with him,her upper-class family openly discouraged his courtship of their daughter because of his lower-class status, and her father purportedly told him that "poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls".
Rejected by Ginevra's family as a suitor because of his lack of financial prospects, a suicidal Fitzgerald enlisted in theUnited States ArmyamidWorld War Iand was commissioned as asecond lieutenant.While awaiting deployment to theWestern frontwhere he hoped to die in combat,he was stationed atCamp SheridaninMontgomery, Alabama, where he metZelda Sayre, a vivacious 17-year-oldSouthern belle.After learning that Ginevra had married wealthy Chicago businessman William "Bill" Mitchell, Fitzgerald asked Zelda to marry him.Zelda agreed but postponed their marriage until he became financially successful.Fitzgerald is thus similar to Jay Gatsby in that he became engaged while a military officer stationed far from home and then sought immense wealth in order to provide for the lifestyle to which his fiancée had become accustomed.
After his success as a short-story writer and as a novelist, Fitzgerald married Zelda in New York City, and the newly-wed couple soon relocated to Long Island.Despite enjoying the exclusive Long Island milieu, Fitzgerald quietly disapproved of the extravagant parties,and the wealthy persons he encountered often disappointed him.While striving to emulate the rich, he found their privileged lifestyle to be morally disquieting.Although Fitzgerald—like Gatsby—had always admired the rich, he nonetheless possessed a smoldering resentment towards them.
In spring 1922,Nick Carraway—a Yale alumnus from theMidwestand a World War I veteran—journeys toNew York Cityto obtain employment as abond salesman. He rents abungalowin theLong Islandvillage of West Egg, next to a luxurious estate inhabited byJay Gatsby, an enigmatic multi-millionaire who hosts dazzling soirées yet does not partake in them.
One evening, Nick dines with a distant cousin,Daisy Buchanan, in the old money town of East Egg. Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan, formerly a Yale football star whom Nick knew during his college days. The couple has recently relocated fromChicagoto a mansion directly across the bay from Gatsby's estate. There, Nick encounters Jordan Baker, an insolent flapper and golf champion who is a childhood friend of Daisy's. Jordan confides to Nick that Tom keeps a mistress, Myrtle Wilson, who brazenly telephones him at his home and who lives in the "valley of ashes", a sprawling refuse dump.That evening, Nick sees Gatsby standing alone on his lawn, staring at a green light across the bay.
Days later, Nick reluctantly accompanies a drunken and agitated Tom to New York City by train. En route, they stop at a garage inhabited by mechanic George Wilson and his wife Myrtle. Myrtle joins them, and the trio proceed to a small New York apartment that Tom has rented for trysts with her. Guests arrive and a party ensues, which ends with Tom slapping Myrtle and breaking her nose after she mentions Daisy.
One morning, Nick receives a formal invitation to a party at Gatsby's mansion. Once there, Nick is embarrassed that he recognizes no one and begins drinking heavily until he encounters Jordan. While chatting with her, he is approached by a man who introduces himself as Jay Gatsby and insists that both he and Nick served in the3rd Infantry Divisionduring the war. Gatsby attempts to ingratiate himself with Nick and when Nick leaves the party, he notices Gatsby watching him.
In late July, Nick and Gatsby have lunch at aspeakeasy. Gatsby tries impressing Nick with tales of his war heroism and hisOxforddays. Afterward, Nick meets Jordan again at thePlaza Hotel. Jordan reveals that Gatsby and Daisy met around 1917 when Gatsby was an officer in theAmerican Expeditionary Forces. They fell in love, but when Gatsby was deployed overseas, Daisy reluctantly married Tom. Gatsby hopes that his newfound wealth and dazzling parties will make Daisy reconsider. Gatsby uses Nick to stage a reunion with Daisy, and the two embark upon an affair.
In September, Tom discovers the affair when Daisy carelessly addresses Gatsby with unabashed intimacy in front of him. Later, at a Plaza Hotel suite, Gatsby and Tom argue about the affair. Gatsby insists Daisy declare that she never loved Tom. Daisy claims she loves Tom and Gatsby, upsetting both. Tom reveals Gatsby is a swindler whose money comes from bootlegging alcohol. Upon hearing this, Daisy chooses to stay with Tom. Tom scornfully tells Gatsby to drive her home, knowing that Daisy will never leave him.
While returning to East Egg, Gatsby and Daisy drive by Wilson's garage and their car strikes Myrtle, killing her instantly. Later Gatsby reveals to Nick that Daisy was driving the car, but that he intends to take the blame for the accident to protect her. Nick urges Gatsby to flee to avoid prosecution, but he refuses. After Tom tells George that Gatsby owns the car that struck Myrtle, a distraught George assumes the owner of the vehicle must be Myrtle's lover. George fatally shoots Gatsby in his mansion's swimming pool, then kills himself.
Several days after Gatsby's murder, his father Henry Gatz arrives for the sparsely attended funeral. After Gatsby's death, Nick comes to hate New York and decides that Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and he were all Midwesterners unsuited toEastern life.Nick encounters Tom and initially refuses to shake his hand. Tom admits he was the one who told George that Gatsby owned the vehicle that killed Myrtle. Before returning to the Midwest, Nick returns to Gatsby's mansion and stares across the bay at the green light emanating from the end of Daisy's dock.
Fitzgerald began outlining his third novel in June 1922.He longed to produce an exquisite work that was beautiful and intricately patterned,but the troubled production of hisstage playThe Vegetablerepeatedly interrupted his progress.The play flopped, and Fitzgerald wrote magazine stories that winter to pay debts incurred by its production.He viewed these stories as all worthless,although included among them was "Winter Dreams", which Fitzgerald described as his first attempt at the Gatsby idea."The whole idea of Gatsby", he later explained to a friend, "is the unfairness of a poor young man not being able to marry a girl with money. This theme comes up again and again because I lived it".
In October 1922, after the birth of their only child,Frances Scott "Scottie" Fitzgerald, the Fitzgeralds moved toGreat Neck, New York, on Long Island.Their neighbors in Great Neck included such newly wealthy personages as writerRing Lardner, actorLew Fieldsand comedianEd Wynn.These figures were all considered to benouveau riche, unlike those who came fromManhasset Neck, which sat across the bay from Great Neck—places that were home to many of New York's wealthiest established families.This real-life juxtaposition gave Fitzgerald his idea for "West Egg" and "East Egg". In the novel, Great Neck (Kings Point) became the "new money" peninsula of West Egg and Port Washington (Sands Point) became the "old money" East Egg.SeveralGold Coast mansionsin the area served as inspiration for Gatsby's estate including Land's End,Oheka Castle,and the since-demolishedBeacon Towers.
While living on Long Island, the Fitzgeralds' enigmatic neighbor wasMax Gerlach.Purportedly born in America to a German immigrant family,Gerlach had been a major in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I, and he later became a gentleman bootlegger who lived like a millionaire in New York.Flaunting his new wealth,Gerlach threw lavish parties,never wore the same shirt twice,used the phrase "old sport",and fostered myths about himself including that he was a relation of theGerman Kaiser.These details about Gerlach inspired Fitzgerald in his creation ofJay Gatsby.
During this same time period, the daily newspapers sensationalized theHall–Mills murder caseover many months, and the highly publicized case likely influenced the plot of Fitzgerald's novel.The case involved the double-murder of a man and his lover on September 14, 1922, mere weeks before Fitzgerald arrived in Great Neck. Scholars have speculated that Fitzgerald based certain aspects of the ending ofThe Great Gatsbyand various characterizations on this factual incident.
Inspired by the Halls–Mills case, the mysterious persona of Gerlach and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island, Fitzgerald had written 18,000 words for his novel by mid-1923 but discarded most of his new story as a false start.Some of this early draft resurfaced in the 1924 short story "Absolution".In earlier drafts,Daisy was originally named Ada and Nick was Dud,and the two characters had shared a previous romance prior to their reunion on Long Island.These earlier drafts were written from the viewpoint of an omniscient narrator as opposed to Nick's perspective.A key difference in earlier drafts is a less complete failure of Gatsby's dream.Another difference is that the argument between Tom Buchanan and Gatsby is more balanced, although Daisy still returns to Tom.
Work onThe Great Gatsbyresumed in earnest in April 1924.Fitzgerald decided to depart from the writing process of his previous novels and told Perkins that he was intent on creating an artistic achievement.He wished to eschew the realism of his previous two novels and to compose a creative work of sustained imagination.To this end, he consciously imitated the literary styles ofJoseph ConradandWilla Cather.He was particularly influenced by Cather's 1923 work,A Lost Lady,which features a wealthy married socialite pursued by a variety of romantic suitors and who symbolically embodies the American dream.He later wrote a letter to Cather apologizing for any unintentional plagiarism.During this period of revisions, Scott saw and was influenced by early sketches for the book's dust jacket art.Soon after this burst of effort, work slowed while the Fitzgeralds moved to the Villa Marie in Saint-Raphaël on theFrench Riviera, where a marital crisis soon developed.
Despite his ongoing marital tension, Fitzgerald continued to write steadily and submitted a near-final version of the manuscript to his editor,Maxwell Perkins, on October 27.Perkins informed him in a November letter that Gatsby was too vague as a character and that his wealth and business, respectively, needed a convincing explanation.Fitzgerald thanked Perkins for his detailed criticisms and claimed that such feedback would enable him to perfect the manuscript.Having relocated with his wife to Rome,Fitzgerald made revisions to the manuscript throughout the winter.
Content after a few rounds of revision, Fitzgerald submitted the final version in February 1925.Fitzgerald's alterations included extensive revisions of the sixth and eighth chapters.He declined an offer of $10,000 for theserial rightsto the book so that it could be published sooner.He received a $3,939 advance in 1923 and would receive $1,981.25 upon publication.
Fitzgerald had difficulty choosing a title for his novel and entertained many choices before reluctantly deciding onThe Great Gatsby,a title inspired byAlain-Fournier'sLe Grand Meaulnes.Previously he had shifted betweenAmong Ash Heaps and Millionaires,Trimalchio,Trimalchio in West Egg,On the Road to West Egg,Under the Red, White, and Blue,The Gold-Hatted Gatsby,andThe High-Bouncing Lover.The titlesThe Gold-Hatted GatsbyandThe High-Bouncing Lovercame from Fitzgerald'sepigraphfor the novel, one which he wrote himself under the pen name ofThomas Parke D'Invilliers.
Fitzgerald initially preferred titles referencingTrimalchio,the crude upstart inPetronius'sSatyricon, and even refers to Gatsby as Trimalchio once in the novel.Unlike Gatsby's spectacular parties, Trimalchio participated in the orgies he hosted but, according to literary criticTony Tanner, there are subtle similarities between the two characters.By November 1924, Fitzgerald wrote to Perkins that he had settled upon the title ofTrimalchio in West Egg.
Disliking Fitzgerald's chosen title ofTrimalchio in West Egg, editor Max Perkins persuaded him that the reference was too obscure and that people would be unable to pronounce it.Zelda and Perkins both expressed their preference forThe Great Gatsby, and the next month Fitzgerald agreed.A month before publication, after a final review of the proofs, he asked if it would be possible to re-title itTrimalchioorGold-Hatted Gatsby, but Perkins advised against it. On March 19, 1925,Fitzgerald expressed enthusiasm for the titleUnder the Red, White, and Blue, but it was too late to change it at that stage.The novel was published asThe Great Gatsbyon April 10, 1925.Fitzgerald believed the book's final title to be merely acceptable and often expressed his ambivalence with the name.
The artwork for the first edition ofThe Great Gatsby,known asCelestial Eyes,is among the most celebrated in American literature and represents a unique instance in literary history in which a novel's commissioned artwork directly influenced the composition of the text.Rendered in anArt Decovisual style,the artwork depicts the disembodied face of a Jazz Age flapper with celestial eyes and rouged mouth over a dark blue skyline.A little-knownBarcelonanpainter namedFrancis Cugat—born Francisco Coradal-Cougat—was commissioned by an unknown individual in Scribner's art department to illustrate the cover while Fitzgerald was composing the novel.
In a preliminary sketch, Cugat drew a concept of a dismal gray landscape inspired by Fitzgerald's original title for the novel,Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires.Discarding this gloomy concept, Cugat next drew a divergent study which became the prefiguration to the final cover: A pencil and crayon drawing of a flapper's half-hidden visage over Long Island Sound with scarlet lips, one celestial eye, and a single diagonal tear.Expanding upon this study, his subsequent drawing featured two bright eyes looming over a shadowy New York cityscape.In later iterations, Cugat replaced the shadowy cityscape with dazzling carnival lights evoking aFerris wheeland likely referencing the glittering amusement park at New York'sConey Island.Cugat affixed reclining nudes within the flapper's irises and added a green tint to the streaming tear.Cugat's final cover,which Max Perkins hailed as a masterpiece, was the only work he completed for Scribner's and the only book cover he ever designed.
Although Fitzgerald likely never saw the finalgouachepainting prior to the novel's publication,Cugat's preparatory drafts influenced his writing.Upon viewing Cugat's drafts before sailing for France in April–May 1924,Fitzgerald was so enamored that he later told editor Max Perkins that he had incorporated Cugat's imagery into the novel.This statement has led many to analyze interrelations between Cugat's art and Fitzgerald's text.One popular interpretation is that the celestial eyes are reminiscent of those of optometrist T. J. Eckleburg depicted on a faded commercial billboard near George Wilson's auto repair shop.AuthorErnest Hemingwaysupported this latter interpretation and claimed that Fitzgerald had told him the cover referred to a billboard in the valley of the ashes.Although this passage has some resemblance to the imagery, a closer explanation can be found in Fitzgerald's explicit description of Daisy Buchanan as the "girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs".
Charles Scribner's SonspublishedThe Great Gatsbyon April 10, 1925.Fitzgerald cabled Perkins the day after publication to monitor reviews: "Any news?""Sales situation doubtful [but] excellent reviews", read a telegram from Perkins on April 20.Fitzgerald responded on April 24, saying the cable dispirited him, closing the letter with "Yours in great depression".Fitzgerald soon received letters from contemporariesWilla Cather,Edith Wharton, and poetT. S. Eliotpraising the novel.Although gratified by such correspondence, Fitzgerald sought public acclaim from professional critics.
The Great Gatsbyreceived generally favorable reviews from literary critics of the day.Edwin Clark ofThe New York Timesfelt the novel was a mystical and glamorous tale of the Jazz Age.Similarly, Lillian C. Ford of theLos Angeles Timeshailed the novel as a revelatory work of art that "leaves the reader in a mood of chastened wonder".TheNew York Postdescribed Fitzgerald's prose style as scintillating and genuinely brilliant.TheNew York Herald Tribunewas less impressed, referring toThe Great Gatsbyas "a literary lemon meringue" that nonetheless "contains some of the nicest little touches of contemporary observation you could imagine—so light, so delicate, so sharp".InThe Chicago Daily Tribune,H. L. Menckenjudged the work's plot to be highly improbable, although he praised the writing as elegant and the "careful and brilliant finish".
Several reviewers felt the novel left much to be desired following Fitzgerald's previous works and criticized him accordingly. Harvey Eagleton ofThe Dallas Morning Newspredicted that the novel signaled the end of Fitzgerald's artistic success.Ralph Coghlan of theSt. Louis Post-Dispatchdismissed the work as an inconsequential performance by a once-promising author who had grown bored and cynical.Ruth Snyder ofNew York Evening Worldlambasted the book's style as painfully forced and declared the editors of her newspaper were "quite convinced after readingThe Great Gatsbythat Mr. Fitzgerald is not one of the great American writers of today".John McClure ofThe Times-Picayuneinsisted the plot was implausible and the book itself seemed raw in its construction.
After reading these reviews, Fitzgerald believed that many critics misunderstood the novel.He despaired that "of all the reviews, even the most enthusiastic, not one had the slightest idea what the book was about".In particular, Fitzgerald resented criticisms of the novel's plot as implausible since he had never intended for the story to be realistic.Instead, he crafted the work to be a romanticized depiction that was largely scenic and symbolic.According to his friendJohn Peale Bishop, Fitzgerald further resented the fact that critics failed to perceive the many parallels between the author's life and the character of Jay Gatsby; in particular, that both created a mythical version of themselves and attempted to live up to this legend.Dispirited by critics failing to understand the novel, Fitzgerald remained hopeful that the novel would at least be a commercial success, perhaps selling as many as 75,000 copies.
To Fitzgerald's great disappointment,Gatsbywas a commercial failure in comparison with his previous efforts,This Side of Paradise(1920) andThe Beautiful and Damned(1922). By October, the book had sold fewer than 20,000 copies.Although the novel went through two initial printings, many copies remained unsold years later.Fitzgerald attributed the poor sales to the fact that women tended to be the primary audience for novels during this time, andGatsbydid not contain an admirable female character.According to his ledger, he earned only $2,000 from the book.AlthoughOwen Davis' 1926 stage adaptation and theParamount-issuedsilent film versionbrought in money for the author, Fitzgerald lamented that the novel fell far short of the success he had hoped for and would not bring him recognition as a serious novelist in the public eye.With the onset of theGreat Depression,The Great Gatsbywas regarded as little more than a nostalgic period piece.By the time Fitzgerald died in 1940, the novel had fallen into near obscurity.
In 1940, Fitzgerald suffered a third and fatal heart attack and died believing his work forgotten.His obituary inThe New York Timeshailed him as a brilliant novelist and citedGatsbyas his greatest work.In the wake of Fitzgerald's death, a strong appreciation for the book gradually developed in writers' circles. Future authorsBudd SchulbergandEdward Newhousewere deeply affected by it, andJohn O'Haraacknowledged its influence on his work.By the time thatGatsbywas republished inEdmund Wilson's edition ofThe Last Tycoonin 1941, the prevailing opinion in writers' circles deemed the novel to be an enduring work of fiction.
In the spring of 1942, mere months after the United States' entrance intoWorld War II, an association of publishing executives created theCouncil on Books in Wartimewith the stated purpose of distributing paperbackArmed Services Editionsbooks tocombat troops.The Great Gatsbywas one of them.Within the next several years, 155,000 copies ofGatsbywere distributed to U.S. soldiers overseas,and the book proved popular among beleaguered troops, according to theSaturday Evening Post's 1945 report.
By 1944, a full-scale Fitzgerald revival had occurred.Full-length scholarly articles on Fitzgerald's works were being published inperiodicalsand, by the following year, the earlier consensus among professional critics thatThe Great Gatsbywas merely a sensational story or a nostalgicperiod piecehad effectively vanished.The tireless promotional efforts of literary critic Edmund Wilson, who was Fitzgerald's Princeton classmate and his close friend, led this Fitzgerald revival.In 1951, three years afterZelda's deathin a hospital fire, ProfessorArthur MizenerofCornell UniversitypublishedThe Far Side of Paradise, the first biography of Fitzgerald.Mizener's bestselling biography emphasizedThe Great Gatsby's positive reception by literary critics, which may have further influenced public opinion and renewed interest in it.
By 1960—thirty-five years after the novel's original publication—the book was steadily selling 100,000 copies per year.Renewed interest in it ledThe New York Timeseditorialist Mizener to proclaim the novel was amasterworkof 20th-centuryAmerican literature.By 1974,The Great Gatsbyhad attained its status as a literary masterwork and was deemed a contender for the title of the "Great American Novel".Hunter S. Thompsonretyped pages ofThe Great Gatsby"just to get a feeling of what it was like to write that way."According to Thompson's friendWilliam Nack, Thompson once retyped the entirety of the novel.Roger Ebertwrote that "perhaps Fitzgerald's words 'compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired'is the best possible description of Thompson's life's work."
By the mid-2000s, many literary critics consideredThe Great Gatsbyto be one of the greatest novels ever written,and the work was part of the assigned curricula in the near majority of U.S. high schools.As of early 2020,The Great Gatsbyhad sold almost 30 million copies worldwide and continues to sell an additional 500,000 copies annually.Numerous foreign editions of the novel have been published,and the text has been translated into 42 different languages.The work is Scribner's most popular title; in 2013, thee-bookalone sold 185,000 copies.The novel's U.S. copyright expired on January 1, 2021, when all works published in 1925 entered thepublic domain.Since then, numerous altered and incomplete reprints have flooded the market.
Following the novel's revival, later critical writings onThe Great Gatsbyfocused on Fitzgerald's disillusionment with theAmerican Dreamin the hedonistic Jazz Age,a name for the era which Fitzgerald claimed to have coined.In 1970, scholarRoger L. Pearsonasserted that Fitzgerald's work—more so than other twentieth century novels—is especially linked with this conceptualization of the American dream.Pearson traced the literary origins of this dream toColonial America. The dream is the belief that every individual, regardless of their origins, may seek and achieve their desired goals, "be they political, monetary, or social. It is the literary expression of the concept of America: The land of opportunity".
However, Pearson noted that Fitzgerald's particular treatment of this theme is devoid of the discernible optimism in the writings of earlier American authors.He suggests Gatsby serves as a false prophet of the American dream, and pursuing the dream only results in dissatisfaction for those who chase it, owing to its unattainability.In this analytical context, the green light on the Buchanans' dock (visible acrossLong Island Soundfrom Gatsby's house) is frequently interpreted as a symbol of Gatsby's unrealizable goal to win Daisy and, consequently, to achieve the American Dream.Also, scholarSarah Churchwellpoints out that adultery in the novel is linked to the loss of faith and broken promises, which symbolizes the corruption of the American Dream.
Scholars and writers commonly ascribe Gatsby's inability to achieve the American Dream to entrenched class disparities in American society.The novel underscores the limits of the American lower class to transcend theirstation of birth.Scholar Sarah Churchwell contends that Fitzgerald's novel is a tale ofclass warfarein a status-obsessed country that refuses to acknowledge publicly it even has a class system.
Although scholars posit different explanations for the continuation ofclass differencesin the United States, there is a consensus regarding the novel's message in conveying its underlying permanence.AlthoughGatsby's fundamental conflict occurs between entrenched sources of socio-economic power and upstarts like Gatsby who threaten their interests,Fitzgerald's novel shows that a class permanence persists despite the country's capitalist economy that prizes innovation and adaptability.Dianne Bechtel argues Fitzgerald plotted the novel to illustrate that class transcends wealth in America. Even if the poorer Americans become rich, they remain inferior to those Americans with "old money".Consequently, Gatsby and other characters in the novel are trapped in a rigid American class system.
Besides exploring the difficulties of achieving the American dream,The Great Gatsbyexploressocietal gender expectationsduring the Jazz Age.The character of Daisy Buchanan has been identified specifically as personifying the emerging culturalarchetypeof the flapper.Flappers were typically young,modern womenwhobobbed their hairand wore short skirts.They also drank alcohol and hadpremarital sex.
Despite the newfound societal freedoms attained by flappers in the 1920s,Fitzgerald's work critically examines the continued limitations upon women'sagencyduring this period.In this context, although early critics viewed the character of Daisy to be a "monster ofbitchery",later scholars such as Leland S. Person Jr. asserted that Daisy's character exemplifies the marginalization of women in the elite social environment that Fitzgerald depicts.
Writing in 1978, Person noted Daisy is more of a hapless victim than a manipulative victimizer.She is the target first of Tom's callous domination and next of Gatsby's dehumanizing adoration.She involuntarily becomes theholy grailat the center of Gatsby's unrealistic quest to be steadfast to a youthful concept of himself.The ensuing contest of wills between Tom and Gatsby reduces Daisy to atrophy wifewhose sole existence is to augment her possessor's socio-economic success.
As anupper-classwhite woman living in East Egg during this time period, Daisy must adhere to societal expectations andgender normssuch as actively fulfilling the roles of dutiful wife, nurturing mother, and charmingsocialite.Many of Daisy's choices—ultimately culminating in the fatal car crash and misery for all those involved—can be partly attributed to her prescribed role as a "beautiful little fool" who is reliant on her husband for financial and societal security.Her decision to remain with her husband, despite her feelings for Gatsby, is because of the security that her marriage to Tom Buchanan provides.
Many scholars have analyzed the novel's treatment of race and displacement; in particular, a perceived threat posed by newer immigrants to older Americans, triggering concerns over a loss ofsocio-economic status.In one instance, Tom Buchanan—the novel's antagonist—claims that he, Nick, and Jordan areracially superior Nordics. Tom decriesimmigrationand advocateswhite supremacy.A fictional book alluded to by Tom is Goddard'sThe Rise of the Colored Empires, which is a parody by Fitzgerald ofLothrop Stoddard'sThe Rising Tide of Color,a 1920sbestseller.Stoddard warned that immigration would alter America's racial composition and destroy the country.
Analyzing these elements,literary theoristWalter Benn Michaelscontends that Fitzgerald's novel reflects a historical period in American literature characterized by fears over the influx ofSouthernandEastern Europeanimmigrants whose "otherness" challenged Americans' sense ofnational identity.Such anxieties were more salient in national discourse than the societal consequences of World War I,and the defining question of the period was who constituted "a real American".
In this context of immigration and displacement, Tom's hostility towards Gatsby, who is the embodiment of "latest America",has been interpreted as partly embodyingstatus anxietiesof the time involving anti-immigrant sentiment.Gatsby—whom Tom belittles as "Mr. Nobody from Nowhere"—functions as a cipher because of his obscure origins, his unclear ethno-religious identity and his indeterminate class status.Although his ethnicity is vague, his last name Gatz and his father's adherence to theLutheranreligion indicate his family are recent German immigrants.This would preclude them from the coveted status ofOld Stock Americans.Consequently, Gatsby's socio-economic ascent is deemed a threat not only due to his status asnouveau riche, but because he is perceived as an outsider.
Because of such themes,The Great Gatsbycaptures the perennial American experience as it is a story about change and those who resist it—whether such change comes in the form of a new wave of immigrants, thenouveau riche, or successful minorities.Since Americans living in the 1920s to the present are largely defined by their fluctuating socio-economic circumstances and must navigate a society with entrenched racial and ethnic prejudices, Fitzgerald's depiction of resultant status anxieties and social conflict has been highlighted by scholars as still enduringly relevant nearly a hundred years after the novel's publication.
Questions regarding the sexuality of characters have been raised for decades and—augmented by biographical details about the author—have given rise toqueer readings.During his lifetime, Fitzgerald's sexuality became a subject of debate among his friends and acquaintances.As a youth, Fitzgerald had a close relationship with Father Sigourney Fay,a possiblygayCatholic priest,and Fitzgerald later used his last name for the idealized romantic character of Daisy Fay.After college, Fitzgeraldcross-dressedduring outings in Minnesota.Years later, while draftingThe Great Gatsby, rumors dogged Fitzgerald among the American expat community in Paris that he was gay.Soon after, Fitzgerald's wife Zelda Fitzgerald likewise doubted his heterosexuality and asserted that he was acloseted homosexual.She publicly belittled him withhomophobic slurs,and she alleged that Fitzgerald and fellow writerErnest Hemingwayengaged in homosexual relations.These incidents strained the Fitzgeralds' marriage at the time of the novel's publication.
Although Fitzgerald's sexuality is a subject of scholarly debate,such biographical details lent credence to critical interpretations that his fictional characters are either gay or bisexual surrogates.As early as 1945, critics such asLionel Trillingnoted that characters inThe Great Gatsby, such as Jordan Baker, were implied to be "vaguely homosexual",and, in 1960, writerOtto Friedrichcommented upon the ease of examining the thwarted relations depicted in Fitzgerald's fiction through a queer lens.In recent decades, scholarship has focused sharply on the sexuality of Nick Carraway.In one instance in the novel, Carraway departs a drunken orgy with a "pale, feminine" man named Mr. McKee and—following suggestive ellipses—Nick next finds himself standing beside a bed while McKee sits between the sheets clad only in his underwear.Such scenes have led scholars to describe Nick as possessing an overt queerness and prompted analyses about his emotional attachment to Jay Gatsby.For these reasons, the novel has been described as an exploration of sexual identity during a historical era typified by the societal transition towardsmodernity.
Technological and environmental criticisms ofGatsbyseek to place the novel and its characters in a broader historical context.In 1964,Leo Marxargued inThe Machine in the Gardenthat Fitzgerald's work evinces a tension between a complexpastoral idealof a bygone America and the societal transformations caused byindustrializationandmachine technology.Specifically, the valley of the ashes, in between East and West Egg, represents a man-made wasteland which is a byproduct of the industrialization that has made Gatsby's booming lifestyle, including his automobile, possible.Marx argues that Fitzgerald, via Nick, expresses a pastoral longing typical of other 1920s American writers likeWilliam Faulknerand Ernest Hemingway.Although such writers cherish the pastoral ideal, they accept that technological progress has deprived this ideal of nearly all meaning.In this context, Nick's repudiation of the eastern United States represents a futile attempt to withdraw into nature.Yet, as Fitzgerald's work shows, any technological demarcation between the eastern and western United States has vanished,and one cannot escape into a pastoral past.
In 2018, scholar Kyle Keeler argued that the voracious pursuit of wealth as criticized in Fitzgerald's novel offers a warning about the perils ofenvironmental destructionin pursuit ofself-interest.According to Kyle Keeler, Gatsby's quest for greater status manifests as self-centered,anthropocentricresource acquisition.Inspired by the predatorymining practicesof his fictional mentor Dan Cody, Gatsby participates in extensivedeforestationamid World War I and then undertakes bootlegging activities reliant upon exploitingSouth American agriculture.Gatsby conveniently ignores the wasteful devastation of the valley of ashes to pursue aconsumerist lifestyleand exacerbates thewealth gapthat became increasingly salient in 1920s America.For these reasons, Keeler argues that—while Gatsby's socioeconomic ascent and self-transformation depend upon these very factors—each one is nonetheless partially responsible for the ongoingecological crisis.
The Great Gatsbyhas been accused ofantisemitismbecause of its use ofJewish stereotypes.One of the novel's supporting characters is Meyer Wolfsheim,aJewishfriend and mentor of Gatsby. A corrupt profiteer who assists Gatsby's bootlegging operations and whofixed the 1919 World Series, he appears only twice in the novel, the second time refusing to attend Gatsby's funeral. Fitzgerald describes Wolfsheim as "a small, flat-nosed Jew", with "tiny eyes" and "two fine growths of hair" in his nostrils.Evoking ethnic stereotypes regarding theJewish nose, he describes Wolfsheim's nose as "expressive", "tragic", and able to "flash... indignantly".The fictional character of Wolfsheim is an allusion to real-life Jewish gamblerArnold Rothstein,a notorious New Yorkcrime kingpinwhom Fitzgerald met once in undetermined circumstances.Rothstein was blamed for match fixing in theBlack Sox Scandalthat tainted the1919 World Series.
Wolfsheim has been interpreted as representing theJewish miser stereotype.Richard Levy, author ofAntisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution, claims that Wolfsheim serves to link Jewishness with corruption.In a 1947 article forCommentary, Milton Hindus, an assistant professor of humanities at theUniversity of Chicago, stated that while he believed the book was a superb literary achievement, Wolfsheim was its most abrasive character, and the work contains an antisemitic undertone.However, Hindus argued the Jewish stereotypes displayed by Wolfsheim were typical of the time when the novel was written and set and that its antisemitism was of the "habitual, customary, 'harmless,' unpolitical variety".A 2015 article by essayistArthur Krystalagreed with Hindus' assessment that Fitzgerald's use of Jewish caricatures was not driven by malice and merely reflected commonly held beliefs of his time. He notes the accounts ofFrances Kroll, a Jewish woman and secretary to Fitzgerald, who claimed that Fitzgerald was hurt by accusations of antisemitism and responded to critiques of Wolfsheim by claiming he merely "fulfilled a function in the story and had nothing to do with race or religion".
The first stage adaptation was produced byWilliam Brady, a veteran theatrical producer and promoter of prize fights, who acquired the rights only a few days after first reading the novel in the spring of 1925. The script was written by the American dramatistOwen Davis, who had won a Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for his play,Icebound.Davis dramatically altered the structure of the novel, rearranging the action in chronological order, eliminating prominent elements such as the valley of ashes and the scene in the Plaza Hotel, and inventing many minor characters.
The play, directed byGeorge Cukorand starringJames Rennieas Gatsby andFlorence Eldridgeas Daisy, opened onBroadwayon February 2, 1926. It was well received by critics and the public, and the run was extended past the originally scheduled closing date, finally ending on May 22, after 112 performances.The production, with some changes in the cast, then moved to Chicago, where it opened on August 1. Its popularity again led to an extension of the run, which came to an end in late September.A brief one-week return engagement at New York'sShubert Theaterbegan on October 4, after which a road production traveled to several other cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, Detroit, St. Louis, Denver, and Minneapolis.
In July 2006, a stage adaptation by written bySimon Levyand directed byDavid Esbjornsonpremiered at theGuthrie Theaterin Minneapolis to celebrate the opening of its new building.In 2010, criticBen BrantleyofThe New York Timeshighly praised the debut ofGatz, anOff-Broadwaystaging of the novel's full text byElevator Repair Service.
TheNew York Metropolitan OperacommissionedJohn Harbisonto compose anoperatictreatment of the novel to commemorate the 25th anniversary ofJames Levine's debut. The work, calledThe Great Gatsby, premiered on December 20, 1999.
The novel has also been adapted for ballet performances. In 2009,BalletMetpremiered a version at the Capitol Theatre inColumbus, Ohio.In 2010,The Washington Balletpremiered a version at theKennedy Center. The show received an encore run the following year. TheComedy Theatre of Budapestcreated a musical.
Also, in 2023,the second musical adaptation, with music and lyrics byJason HowlandandNathan Tysenand a book byKait Kerriganannounced a one-month limited engagement at thePaper Mill Playhouse.The Broadway tryout began its previews on October 12, 2023, followed by an official opening night scheduled for ten days later. The production concluded on November 12 of the same year.Jeremy JordanandEva Noblezadastarred as the leading roles ofJay GatsbyandDaisy Buchanan, withSamantha Paulyand Noah J. Ricketts as Jordan Baker and Nick Carraway.The production transferred toBroadwayfor previews on March 29, 2024, and opened officially on April 25th, 2024.
In Spring 2024,Gatsby: An American Myth, a third musical adaptation with music and lyrics byFlorence WelchandThomas Bartlettand a book byMartyna Majokpremiered at theAmerican Repertory Theater.On May 25, 2024, the show began previews and opened officially on June 5 of the same year. It plans to run until closing night set for August 3rd, 2024.
The first film version of the novelappeared in 1926. A version of Owen Davis's Broadway play of the same year, it was directed byHerbert Brenonand starredWarner Baxter,Lois WilsonandWilliam Powell. It is a famous example of alost film. Reviews suggest it may have been the most faithful adaptation of the novel, but a trailer of the film at theNational Archivesis all that is known to exist.Reportedly, Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda loathed the silent version. Zelda wrote to an acquaintance that the film was "rotten". She and Scott left the cinema midway through the film.
Following the 1926 film was 1949'sThe Great Gatsby, directed byElliott Nugentand starringAlan Ladd,Betty FieldandMacdonald Carey.Twenty-five years later in 1974,The Great Gatsbyappeared onscreen again. It was directed byJack Claytonand starredRobert Redfordas Gatsby,Mia Farrowas Daisy, andSam Waterstonas Nick Carraway.Most recently,The Great Gatsbywas directed byBaz Luhrmannin 2013 and starredLeonardo DiCaprioas Gatsby,Carey Mulliganas Daisy, andTobey Maguireas Nick.
In 2021, visual effects companyDNEG Animationannounced they would be producing an animated film adaptation of the novel directed byWilliam Joyceand written byBrian Selznick.
Gatsbyhas been retold as a short-form television movie multiple times. The first was in 1955 as anNBCepisode forRobert Montgomery PresentsstarringRobert Montgomery,Phyllis Kirk, andLee Bowman. The episode was directed by Alvin Sapinsley.In 1958,CBSfilmed another adaptation as an episode ofPlayhouse 90, also titledThe Great Gatsby,which was directed byFranklin J. Schaffnerand starredRobert Ryan,Jeanne CrainandRod Taylor.Most recently, the novel was adapted as anA&E moviein 2000.The Great Gatsbywas directed byRobert Markowitzand starredToby Stephensas Gatsby,Mira Sorvinoas Daisy, andPaul Ruddas Nick.
Since entering the public domain in 2021, retellings and expansions ofThe Great Gatsbyhave become legal to publish.NickbyMichael Farris Smith(2021) imagines the backstory of Nick Carraway.That same year saw the publication ofThe Chosen and the BeautifulbyNghi Vo, a retelling with elements of thefantasygenre while tackling issues of race and sexuality,andThe Pursued and the PursuingbyAJ Odasso, a queer partial retelling and sequel in which Jay Gatsby survives.Anna-Marie McLemore'sown queer retelling,Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix, was released in 2022 and was longlisted for theNational Book Award for Young People's Literature.
The Great Gatsbyhas been adapted into three graphic novels. The first was in 2007 by Nicki Greenberg, who publishedThe Great Gatsby: A Graphic Adaptationin Australia. Because the original novel was still protected by United States copyright laws, this version was never published in the U.S. The second version,The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel, was adapted by Fred Fordham and illustrated by Aya Morton in 2020. In 2021, K. Woodman-Maynard adapted and illustratedThe Great Gatsby: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, which was published byCandlewick Press.This was the first graphic novel adaptation of the original novel to be published after it entered the public domain in 2021. In June 2021, Clover Press debuted the first of seven periodical comic books, faithfully adaptingThe Great Gatsby.
In 2024,IDW PublishingannouncedGodzilla's Monsterpiece Theater, a three-part miniseries where Gatsby will team up withSherlock Holmes,Draculaand the Time Traveller fromH.G. Wells'The Time Machineto battle theKing of the Monsters, with Gatsby funding a version of the anti-kaiju defense team G-Force.
The novel has been adapted into a series of radio episodes. The first radio episode was a 1950 half-hour-long adaptation for CBS'Family Hour of StarsstarringKirk Douglasas Gatsby.The novel was read aloud by theBBC World Servicein ten parts in 2008. In a 2012BBC Radio 4broadcast,The Great Gatsbytook the form of aClassic Serialdramatization. It was created by dramatistRobert Forrest.
In 2010,Oberon Mediareleased a casualhidden object gamecalledClassic Adventures: The Great Gatsby.In 2011, developer Charlie Hoey and editor Pete Smith created an8-bit-styleonline game ofThe Great GatsbycalledThe Great Gatsby for NES;in 2022, after theAdobe Flash end of lifethey adapted this game to an actualNESROM file, which can also be played on their website.In 2013,Slatereleased a short symbolic adaptation calledThe Great Gatsby: The Video Game.