The Great Gatsby Summary: A Tale of Love, Wealth, and Tragedy

Summary of the Great Gatsby: Primary Introduction 

Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby is the third novel written by the writer that was published in 1925.

In simple words, the novel tells us about the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his avocation of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman he used to love a lot.

One of The Favourite The Great Gatsby Quotes:

“I wasn’t actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Main Characters Involved in The Novel 

1. Nick Carraway: Nick, the narrator of the story, is a young man from Minnesota who often serves as a confidant for those with troubling secrets. 
2. Daisy Buchanan: Daisy is Nick’s cousin, who is also the lover of Gatsby and promised to wait for him. 
3. Jay Gatsby: Jay is the novel’s main protagonist, a fabulously wealthy young man living in West Egg. 
4. Tom Buchanan: Tom is Daisy’s wealthy husband, an arrogant and hypocritical bully. His social attitudes are all laced with sexism and racism.

Some other characters include- Jordan Baker, Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson, Owl Eyes, Klipspringer, and Meyer Wolfsheim. 

The Great Gatsby Summary Chapter 01 

The story starts with Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, who recounts the advice given by his father, due to which he has become a tolerant and forgiving person.

In 1923, Nick, a Yale graduate, moved from Minnesota to work in New York. Nick intends to become a bond salesman as almost everyone is entering this field, and Nick is interested in finding a taste of excitement and a sense of possibility that was sweeping the nation in the 1920s.

Nick rents a house in West Egg directly across a bay from East Egg. 

After settling over there, Nick observes that the two communities differed greatly in every except. As such, the people of West Egg are the “new rich” who have made their fortune recently, and that of East Egg are the “old money” families.

The people of West Egg were neither having social connections nor cultural refinement to be accepted among the families of East Egg. The people of West Egg are characterized by garish displays of wealth, and Nick’s small house sits exactly next to Gatsby’s mansion.

The main story begins when Nick, who is from West Egg, has connections in East Egg and drives over there to have dinner at the Buchanans at her cousin’s house, Daisy Buchanan. 

At dinner, Nick meets Jordan Baker, a professional and beautiful golfer who is constantly bored by her surroundings. Soon, Tom launches into stricture about the downfall of civilization, with which he identifies himself, created civilization, and was threatened by the rise of inferior races.

Upon returning from dinner, Nick saw Jay Gatsby standing on his lawn.

He considered calling out to Gatsby but stopped himself as he suddenly saw him extending his arms toward the far side of the water, where he could only see a tiny green light blinking at the end of a dock. 

The Great Gatsby Summary Chapter 02 

In this chapter, Nick describes the “wasteland” between West Egg and New York City covered with ashes. Even the men living there were covered with ashes. This “Valley of Ashes” stares out two huge spectacled eyes for an eye doctor’s defunct practice as these haunting unblinking eyes of Doctor T.J.

Eckleburg watched everything over there. One day when Tom and Nick are riding by train, Tom and Nick get off at the stop in Valley of Ashes. 

Then Tom leads Nick to George Wilson’s auto garage, from where Nick learns that Tom’s mistress is Wilson’s wife, Myrtle. Tom talks with Wilson about selling a car and tells Myrtle to meet them at the train station briefly.

Then all three of them, Tom, Nick, and Myrtle, go to Tom’s apartment to conduct his affair.

That day everyone gets very drunk, including Nick, who says that it’s the second time he has been drunk, and the very topic of their conversation is Nick’s neighbor, Gatsby. 

The Great Gatsby Summary Chapter 03

One of the main reasons Gatsby became so famous around New York is that he used to throw elaborate parties at his mansion every weekend.

One fine day, Gatsby’s chauffeur brings an invitation to join this party. Nick joins the festivities but finds himself amid the throng of jubilant strangers. There, Nick heard that Gatsby was a graduate of Oxford who had killed a man in cold blood.

If you are talking about Gatsby’s party, that was unbelievably luxurious as the guests entered the party with their Rolls-Royce, everyone was enjoying the swimming pool and beach, and there were buffet tents in the garden followed by a live orchestra playing under the stars.

The crowd was growing rowdier and louder as everyone was drunk. Liquor was flowing there freely. 

At midnight, Nick and his friend Jordan go outside to watch entertainment. They sit at a table with a handsome young man who introduces himself as none other than Jay Gatsby.

Nick becomes fascinated with Gatsby and observes that Gatsby does not prefer drinking or enjoying the party. He loves to stand alone, watching his guests in silence. At two o’clock, when husbands and wives argue over each other for leaving, Nick says goodbye to Gatsby and walks towards his home.

On the way to his home, he sees Owl Eyes struggling to get his car out of a ditch, which declares that he washes his hands of the whole business. Chapter 3 focuses on the gap between perception and reality and substance and appearance. 

The Great Gatsby Summary Chapter 04

In this chapter, Nick elaborates on the list of the people who attended Gatsby’s parties and describes the trip he took to New York with Gatsby to have lunch. When they are driving in the city, Gatsby tells everything about his past to Nick.

Where he claims to be the son of wealthy deceased parents, he lists a long and preposterously detailed set of accomplishments, including that he has been educated at Oxford, had collected jewels in the capital of Europe, to have hunted big game, and has also been awarded medals in World War I.

On reaching the Valley of Ashes, Gatsby’s car speeds, and they enter the city where the policeman pulls Gatsby for speeding. He then apologizes to Gatsby when he shows him his white card. 

After having lunch in New York, Nick sees Jordan Baker, who tells him about the mysterious conversation with Gatsby at the party. She relates that Gatsby told her he was in love with Daisy Buchanan.

Both Daisy and Gatsby are in love with each other, but when Gatsby leaves for the war, Daisy chooses to marry Tom. After this, Tom realizes that the night he saw Gatsby stretching his arms out to the water and looking at the green light, he was looking at the end of Daisy’s dock.

Jordan tells Nick that Gatsby wants her to convince him (Nick) to arrange a reunion between Gatsby and Daisy so that Daisy won’t refuse to see him. 

The Great Gatsby Summary Chapter 05

Nick came home after having a date with Jordan and was surprised to see Gatsby’s mansion lit up brightly, but it was silent. Nick continued walking home, where Gatsby approached him from across the lawn.

Gatsby looks so agitated and desperate to make Nick happy that he invites him to Coney Island. Nick realized that Gatsby was getting nervous because he (Nick) had agreed to arrange a meeting for Gatsby and Daisy.

Gatsby offers Nick to make some money by joining the business that he does on his side, which makes Nick offended as he feels that Gatsby wants to pay him for arranging this meeting, so he refuses Gatsby’s offer and calls Daisy to invite her to his house. 

Gatsby becomes nervous as it is raining heavily on the day of their meeting, but Daisy arrives, and Nick brings her into his house. After some time, Gatsby enters from a walk around the house in the rain.

Their reunion is awkward at first glance, but when Nick leaves them alone for some time, he finds them radiantly happy as Daisy is shedding tears of joy, and Gatsby is glowing. Rain has also stopped, so Gatsby invites Nick and Daisy to his house, where he shows them his possessions.

Then Nick realizes to leave them alone to enjoy their romance, so he quietly gets up and leaves both of them together to spend quality time. 

The Great Gatsby Summary Chapter 06

The reporters continued to travel to Gatsby’s mansion, hoping to interview him as the humor about Gatsby continued to circulate in New York.

During his early days, he used to work on Lake Superior, and one fine day, he saw a yacht owned by Dan Cody and rowed out to warn him about an impending storm. Cody became happy and onboarded his yacht as his assistant. Traveling with Cody made Gatsby fall in love with wealth and luxury.

When Cody died, he left $25000 for Gatsby; therefore, he dedicated himself to becoming a wealthy and successful man. 

Tom is contemptuous of Gatsby’s lack of social grace and is highly critical of Daisy’s habit of visiting Gatsby’s house alone, as he has not yet discovered Gatsby and Daisy’s love. Tom and Daisy go to a party at Gatsby’s mansion the following night.

Truly speaking, Tom was not interested in the party. He just wanted to keep an eye on Daisy. When Tom and Daisy leave the party, Gatsby seeks out Nick as he is unhappy because Daisy has had such an unpleasant time. He wants Daisy to leave Tom so that she can live happily with him in his mansion.

The Great Gatsby Summary Chapter 07

Gatsby calls off his parties as he is preoccupied with his love for Daisy. Not only this, but he also fires his servants to prevent gossip. On the hottest day, when Nick takes a train to East Egg for lunch at Daisy’s house, he also finds Gatsby and Jordan there.

The nurse brings Daisy’s baby girl in. Gatsby is stunned and can hardly believe that the baby is real, but he sees that Daisy seems almost uninterested in her child. Tom suggested that they all should go to New York together. In the New York City heat, the group takes a suite at Plaza Hotel.

On that day, Tom asks Gatsby about his intentions for Daisy, and Gatsby replies that Daisy loves him. Daisy feels herself moving closer to Tom after the quarrel that she observed.

When driving back to Long Island, Tom, Nick, and Jordan discover a frightening scene on the border of the Valley of Ashes as someone has been fatally hit by an automobile. When Nick reached Tom’s house, he decided to wait outside, where he found Gatsby hiding in the bushes.

When asked, Gatsby says that he has been waiting there to make sure that Tom did not hurt Daisy, and then after the discussion, Nick leaves Gatsby standing alone in the moonlight. 

The Great Gatsby Summary Chapter 08

Nick passes a sleepless night after the traumatic day, rises restlessly before dawn, and visits Gatsby at his mansion. Nick suggests Gatsby should try to forget about Daisy, but he refuses to consider leaving Daisy.

Gatsby then told Nick that he loved her for her youth and vitality, and she was the first girl to whom he felt close. The Gardener interrupts this story as he enters to tell his plan of draining the pool to Gatsby as he (the Gardener) is worried that the falling leaves would clog the pool drains. 

Nick goes to his office but feels too distracted and even refuses to meet Jordan for a date. Then something strange happens, and Wilson eventually goes to Gatsby’s house, shoots him, and then shoots himself, which kills them instantly.

Nick hurriedly comes back to West Egg and finds Gatsby floating dead in his pool. Nick imagines Gatsby’s final thoughts and pictures him disillusioned by the meaninglessness and emptiness of life without Daisy. 

Winding up 

The Great Gatsby is a fantastic novel that shows something fascinating and classic about English novels. It is written with such a profound emotion that it attracts the readers towards it. That’s why we thought to come up with The Great Gatsby summary book, I hope you liked it and if you want to read more summaries can check out our summary section and can visit thesoftbook.com for freshly written summaries on a regular basis.

I’ll meet you in the next blog till then bye-bye 👋.