Overview & Summary (Leaving Cert English): Revision Notes
Overview & Summary
Introduction to the novel
The Great Gatsby is a classic American novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and published in 1925. Set during the summer of 1922 in New York, this nine-chapter masterpiece is considered one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century and represents Fitzgerald's most celebrated work.
The story takes place during the Roaring Twenties, also known as the Jazz Age, and explores themes of wealth, love, dreams and disillusionment through the eyes of Nick Carraway, the novel's unreliable narrator. Nick tells us about his wealthy neighbour Jay Gatsby, who throws extravagant parties in his Long Island mansion whilst desperately trying to win back his lost love, Daisy Buchanan.
The novel's enduring popularity stems from its masterful portrayal of the American experience during a pivotal moment in the nation's history, when traditional values clashed with modern materialism and the promise of unlimited prosperity.
Literary context and structure
Genre and influences
Fitzgerald wrote during the Modernist period, when society was experiencing rapid technological change and moving towards modernity. However, his poetic language shows clear inspiration from the Romantic literary tradition, particularly the English Romantic poet John Keats.
The novel can be understood as a modern tragedy. Like classical tragedies where audiences witnessed the fall of noble characters punished by the gods, The Great Gatsby presents a twentieth-century version where the hero's downfall comes not from divine punishment, but from society itself. The 'chorus' of classical drama is replaced by multiple narrators and characters who comment on events.
Understanding the novel as a modern tragedy helps explain why Gatsby's pursuit of his dream inevitably leads to his destruction - it follows the classical tragic structure where the hero's fatal flaw brings about his downfall.
Narrative structure
The novel uses a retrospective narrative structure. Nick Carraway tells Gatsby's story from memory, which means the events are not presented in chronological order of Gatsby's life, but rather in the chronological order of Nick's memories. This creates an unreliable narrator situation where readers must question Nick's perspective and biases.
Freytag's plot structure applies to the novel:
- Rising action: Nick meets the characters and learns about Gatsby's past
- Turning point: Gatsby and Tom fight over Daisy at the Plaza Hotel
- Falling action: Gatsby waits for Daisy while Tom finds both Nick and Daisy reconciled
- Resolution: Gatsby tells Nick about his first kiss with Daisy
- Denouement: Gatsby dies and Nick reflects on the meaning of his story
Historical and social context
The Jazz Age (1920s America)
The period following World War I brought significant changes to American society that directly influenced the novel's themes and characters:
- Economic boom: More jobs were created, leading to increased prosperity and consumption
- Consumer culture: Brands and advertising flourished, influencing people's desires and lifestyle choices
- Prohibition (1919): The ban on alcohol led to bootlegging, organised crime, and secret speakeasies
- Immigration restrictions: The 1924 Immigration Act limited southern and eastern Europeans and prohibited Asian immigrants
- Gender roles: The rise of 'flappers' challenged traditional feminine roles, though society remained largely patriarchal
The Prohibition era (1920-1933) created the perfect conditions for Gatsby's mysterious wealth accumulation, as bootlegging became a lucrative illegal business that enabled rapid social mobility for those willing to break the law.
Social class divisions
Fitzgerald presents three distinct social classes that define the novel's social geography and character relationships:
- 'Old Money': Established wealthy families like Tom and Daisy Buchanan who live in East Egg
- 'New Money': Recently wealthy individuals like Gatsby who live in West Egg
- 'No Money': Working-class people like George and Myrtle Wilson who live in the Valley of Ashes
The geographical separation of these classes (East Egg vs. West Egg vs. Valley of Ashes) is crucial to understanding the novel's social commentary - physical distance represents social barriers that cannot be crossed regardless of wealth.
Major themes
The American Dream
The American Dream represents the belief that anyone can achieve success and prosperity through hard work and determination. Gatsby embodies both the promise and the corruption of this dream. Whilst he achieves material success, his dream costs him his life, showing how the American Dream can become corrupted by materialism and class prejudice.
Literary Example: Gatsby's Pursuit of the Dream
Gatsby's transformation from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby demonstrates both the possibility and the cost of the American Dream. He achieves wealth and status, but his methods (bootlegging) and motivation (winning Daisy) reveal how the dream has become corrupted by materialism rather than genuine achievement or moral worth.
Past, present and future
Time is a crucial theme in the novel. Gatsby tries to "repeat the past" by recreating his romance with Daisy, but Nick recognises that Gatsby is "stuck in the past". The famous quote about being "borne back ceaselessly into the past" captures how characters struggle between nostalgia and the need to move forwards.
Love and relationships
The novel explores different types of love and relationships to reveal the shallow nature of 1920s society:
- Gatsby and Daisy: An idealised, romantic love that may be more about fantasy than reality
- Tom and Daisy: A material, convenience-based marriage
- Myrtle and George: A relationship destroyed by class differences and infidelity
- Nick's observations: Show how shallow and corrupt many relationships have become
Religion and morality
Traditional religious values have been replaced by materialism and the pursuit of pleasure. Characters search for new meaning and values, with consumerism becoming a kind of substitute religion. The novel presents a world where moral corruption is widespread and rarely condemned.
Key symbols
The green light
The green light at the end of Daisy's dock represents hope and dreams, particularly Gatsby's dream of winning Daisy back. Green is associated with money and envy, showing how Gatsby's love is connected to wealth and status. The light becomes a symbol of the American Dream itself - always visible but ultimately unreachable.
The green light's symbolic power comes from its dual nature - it represents both hope (the possibility of achieving one's dreams) and futility (the impossibility of recapturing the past). This duality reflects the novel's complex view of the American Dream.
The Valley of Ashes
This wasteland between New York City and West Egg symbolises the moral and social decay hidden beneath the glamour of the Roaring Twenties. It represents the forgotten working class and the environmental cost of America's industrial progress.
The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg
The billboard advertisement featuring these giant eyes represents the absence of moral authority in modern society. George Wilson sees them as the eyes of God, but they are actually just a commercial advertisement, showing how materialism has replaced traditional religious values.
Cars and clocks
Cars symbolise modernity, status and destruction. They show social progress but also bring death - ultimately killing both Myrtle and Gatsby. Clocks represent time and Gatsby's futile attempt to stop or reverse it. When Gatsby nearly knocks over Nick's mantelpiece clock, it symbolises his desire to control time itself.
The symbolism of cars and clocks working together emphasises the novel's central conflict: the tension between progress (cars/modernity) and the desire to return to the past (clocks/time manipulation). This tension ultimately destroys Gatsby.
Main characters
Jay Gatsby
Born James Gatz, Gatsby represents the self-made man who achieves wealth through questionable means during Prohibition. He embodies both the promise and corruption of the American Dream. His lavish parties and mansion are all designed to attract Daisy, making him a romantic idealist destroyed by his inability to accept that the past cannot be repeated.
Nick Carraway
The unreliable narrator who tells Gatsby's story while claiming to be "one of the few honest people" he has ever known. As Daisy's cousin and Gatsby's neighbour, Nick serves as both participant and observer, though his judgements are clearly influenced by his own class background and personal biases.
Daisy Buchanan
Gatsby's lost love who represents the unattainable American Dream. She is described as having a voice "full of money", suggesting her appeal lies in her wealth and status rather than her personal qualities. Her carelessness and materialism ultimately contribute to the novel's tragic ending.
Tom Buchanan
Daisy's husband who represents "old money" wealth and aristocratic privilege. His racist attitudes, physical brutality, and sense of entitlement make him the novel's antagonist. His "vast carelessness" allows him to destroy others' lives without facing consequences.
Myrtle Wilson
Tom's mistress who seeks to escape her working-class life through her affair with him. She represents those who are exploited and ultimately destroyed by the wealthy, dying in her attempt to reach what she believes is Tom's car.
Chapter summary highlights
The novel's nine chapters can be grouped into three main sections that trace the rise and fall of Gatsby's dream:
Chapters 1-3: Nick moves to West Egg and meets his neighbours, including the mysterious Gatsby who throws elaborate parties. Nick reconnects with his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom in East Egg, where he also meets Jordan Baker.
Chapters 4-6: Gatsby's background begins to emerge through rumours and his own stories. Nick arranges a reunion between Gatsby and Daisy at his house. Gatsby's real past is revealed - his transformation from James Gatz and his lost love affair with Daisy five years earlier.
Chapters 7-9: The climax occurs during a confrontation at the Plaza Hotel, where Tom exposes Gatsby's criminal connections and wins Daisy back. Myrtle is killed by Daisy driving Gatsby's car, and George Wilson shoots Gatsby in revenge. Nick arranges Gatsby's funeral and reflects on the meaning of the story.
Key quotations for analysis
Literary Analysis: Essential Quotations
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" - the novel's famous closing line about the impossibility of escaping the past. This metaphor suggests that despite our efforts to move forwards, we are constantly pulled backwards by memory and nostalgia.
"He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it" - on Gatsby's proximity to his dream yet ultimate failure to achieve it. The irony lies in how close Gatsby appears to be to success, making his failure all the more tragic.
"I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool" - Daisy on her daughter, revealing the limited options for women in 1920s society. This quote demonstrates how women were expected to remain ignorant to survive in a male-dominated world.
Key Points to Remember:
- The Great Gatsby critiques the American Dream by showing how wealth and status corrupt relationships and moral values
- The novel's structure uses an unreliable narrator whose memories shape how we understand the story
- Key symbols (green light, Valley of Ashes, eyes of Eckleburg) represent larger themes about hope, decay, and lost moral authority
- The contrast between East Egg and West Egg highlights class divisions in American society
- Gatsby's tragedy lies in his inability to accept that "you can't repeat the past" - his romantic idealism ultimately destroys him