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The Great Gatsby

 

            
             Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is a specific portrait of American society during the Roaring Twenties, yet tells the quintessential American story of a man rising from rags to riches only to find that whatever benefits his wealth affords, it cannot grant him the privileges of class and status. The central character is Jay Gatsby, a wealthy New Yorker of an undetermined occupation known mostly for the lavish parties he throws every weekend at his mansion but suspected of being involved in illegal bootlegging and other clandestine activities. However, the narrator is Nick Carraway, a young mid-westerner from a prominent family who came to New York to enter the bond business. Carraway is involved in all of the events of the novel, yet does not play a significant active role; he is only a passive observer. .
             When Nick arrives in New York, he soon visits his relatives, the Buchanans, who live in East Egg. Nick resides in the nearby (and less fashionable) West Egg, where Gatsby also lives. Like Nick, Tom Buchanan is from a prominent family from the mid-west. Tom is a former athlete at Yale, a vulgar and insecure man preoccupied with the decline of society and of class boundaries. It is soon revealed that Tom is having an affair with a woman in the city. His wife, Daisy, is Nick's second cousin. She carries herself with an insubstantial manner. While seemingly nave, she claims to be terribly sophisticated. Also at the Buchanans' home is Jordan Baker, a professional golfer and close friend of Daisy. After visiting Tom and Daisy, Nick goes home that night, where he sees Gatsby watching a green light across the bay. He stretches his arms out toward it, as if to grasp the green light. .
             Tom Buchanan takes Nick into New York, and on the way they stop at George Wilson's garage. Tom has been having an affair with his wife, Myrtle, and Tom tells her to join them later in the city. The garage is in the 'valley of ashes,' as Fitzgerald describes it, a vast, desolate area.


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