The Great Gatsby

Nick Carraway, a young bond trader from the Midwest, befriends his neighbor Jay Gatsby, an extremely wealthy man known for hosting lavish soirées in his Long Island mansion.

Gatsby's great wealth is a subject of much rumor; none of the guests Nick meets at Gatsby's parties know much about his past.

Nick also visits Tom Buchanan, a phenomenally wealthy former college athlete, and his wife Daisy, who is Nick's cousin.

Gatsby is famous for his parties, hosted at his West Egg mansion.

Every Saturday, hundreds of people come to Gatsby's house for the lavish parties. Nick soon finds himself in this party scene, although he states that he despises the entire concept of mindless entertainment.

Later, Nick learns from Gatsby that Gatsby was holding these parties in hopes that Daisy, his former lover, would stumble into one of them by chance.

Daisy and Gatsby soon begin an affair after a meeting arranged by Nick, at Gatsby's request, which is at first strained (unnerving Nick), but turns more communicative when Gatsby begins to relax.

In the meantime, Nick and Jordan, a character first introduced during Nick's first visit to Tom and Daisy's home, start a relationship, which Nick already predicts will be superficial.

Eventually, in an explosive scene at a hotel in Manhattan, Tom notices Gatsby's love for Daisy and alleges that Gatsby is a bootlegger.

Tom claims that he's been "researching" about Gatsby and expresses his hatred towards Gatsby by accusing Gatsby of illegal activities.

During this scene, Gatsby forces Daisy to claim that she has never loved Tom in hopes of erasing the last five years of her past so that she may simply come back to him.

Daisy says what Gatsby tells her to say, but hesitantly. Tom, noticing this uncomfortable bond between Daisy and Gatsby, orders them to drive back home from the hotel back to Tom's house on Long Island together, mocking Gatsby by saying that he knows nothing can happen between Daisy and Gatsby.

Tom takes his time getting home with Nick and Jordan.

Garage-owner George Wilson (with whom Tom is friends) and his wife, Myrtle (with whom Tom is having an affair), are also having an argument.

She runs out of the house, only to be hit by Gatsby's car, driven by Daisy, and is killed instantly.

On the way back home, Tom, Jordan, and Nick notice the car accident. Tom remarks that Wilson, who is an auto repairman, will finally have some business, but stops shortly after noticing something wrong.

Tom soon realizes that his lover is dead. During this grotesque scene, Wilson comes out of his shop, half-insane and half in shock and talks about a yellow car.

Tom leads Wilson into a private place and tells him that the yellow car was not his; that Tom was driving Gatsby's yellow car earlier when they were driving to the hotel and stopped by at Wilson's for gasoline.

Wilson does not seem to listen and from that point and after that confrontation, Wilson is portrayed as an insane character.

He stays up all night rocking back and forth, muttering nonsense while his neighbor patiently watches over him. He finally makes the connection that whoever driving that yellow car must have been the man Myrtle was having an affair with and makes up his mind to find that yellow car.
He finds himself in Tom's house with a gun and Tom - while packing for an escape trip with Daisy - gives Gatsby's name to Wilson.

In the meantime, Gatsby is floating in his pool, overwhelmed with depression, thinking that Daisy no longer loves him. While he is still hoping for a call from Daisy, Wilson comes and shoots Gatsby. He then commits suicide on the lawn not too far away.


With Gatsby dead, Nick tries to find people who will attend his funeral only to find that not even his crooked business partners will be there to mourn for him. Finally, Mr Gatz, Gatsby's father (Gatsby gave himself a new name after leaving home) comes to the funeral, apparently still trapped in the past. He shows Nick a well-worn photograph of Gatsby's house and a book that Gatsby wrote in as a child.


Only three people attend Gatsby's actual funeral - Nick, Mr Gatz, and "Owl Eyes," a random man who had enjoyed one of Gatsby's parties earlier that summer, but whom Nick hadn't seen since. After permanently severing connections between himself and Jordan, Tom, and Daisy, Nick leaves New York and goes back to the Midwest.