The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Chapter One  Nick Carraway – Graduated from Yale in 1915 – Served in WWI – Went into bond business when he returned from the War – Moved from the Midwest to West Egg

Chapter one  Tom and Daisy Buchanan – Nick met Tom at Yale – Daisy is Nick’s second cousin – Moved from Chicago to East Egg

Chapter One  Nick meets Jordan Baker when he goes to the Buchanan's house for dinner.  Nick learns that Tom has a mistress. – He also learns that Daisy is very unhappily married: “Well I’ve had a very bad time, Nick, and I’m pretty cynical about everything” (Fitzgerald 21).

Chapter One  Nick sees his neighbor, Gatsby, staring across the water at a green light at the end of the dock.  The dock is a part of the Buchanan property.

Chapter two  The valley of ashes – halfway between West Egg and New York – “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (Fitzgerald 27).

Chapter two  The valley of ashes – Location of the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg – Location of George Wilson’s garage George is the husband of Tom’s mistress, Myrtle Wilson  Tom brings Nick here to pick up his mistress  Tom takes Nick and Myrtle to the apartment he keeps on the Upper West side of New York – Tom buys Myrtle an airedale puppy on the way to the apartment.

Chapter two  Myrtle calls her sister Catherine, and the neighbors, the McKees, and they have a small party  Nick starts to see Tom’s true colors when he is told that Tom will not divorce Daisy because she is supposedly Catholic  Tom and Myrtle get in a fight and Tom breaks her nose  This is only the second time in Nick’s life that he has been drunk

Chapter three  Gatsby has large, elaborate parties at his house every weekend  The narrator describes the transformation of the house in great detail  Gatsby sends over a chauffeur to invite Nick to a party

Chapter three  Nick encounters and socializes with Jordan Baker the entire party  Nick finally meets Gatsby – He hears rumors about Gatsby having been educated at Oxford

Chapter three  Nick hears other rumors about Gatsby’s background  Nick sees the aftermath of a car accident upon leaving Gatsby’s party

Chapter three  “after exiting the car the driver says, Wha’s matter…Did we run outa gas” (Fitzgerald 59)? – Fitzgerald uses events like this to emphasize the “devil may care” attitude that was prevalent at the time.

Chapter three  Nick develops feelings for Jordan and describes her in the following way: – She was incurably dishonest. She wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage, and given this unwillingness I suppose she had been dealing with subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard jaunty body. (Fitzgerald 63)  Morals and values were questionable at the time --- could always find a way to justify behavior.

Chapter four  The narrator lists the names of people who frequented Gatsby’s parties – A wide variety of backgrounds and professions are represented  Gatsby takes Nick to lunch in New York – He is curious about Nick’s opinion of him – He is aware of the rumors about him and he wants to “set the record straight”

Chapter four  Gatsby shows Nick two souvenirs – A medal for valor – A picture from Oxford Evidence to validate his identity

Chapter four  They eat lunch with Meyer Wolfsheim – A well known gambler who fixed the 1919 World Series – This is Gatsby’s connection and Nick’s introduction to the underworld – Nick is beginning to see how everything in society can be tainted by corruption

Chapter four  Jordan reveals to Nick that Daisy and Gatsby knew each other before she married Tom – She tells Nick to invite Daisy to tea so that Gatsby can see her again, but Daisy is not to know the reason for the invitation

Chapter five  Gatsby offers Nick work, but Nick refuses  Nick invites Daisy over for tea and Gatsby becomes very anxious, particularly about outward appearances  He has someone cut Nick’s lawn and sends over flowers

Chapter five  Gatsby almost has a breakdown / panic attack when Daisy arrives  Nick calms Gatsby down and sends him into the living room to talk to Daisy while he takes a walk outside

Chapter five  Gatsby brings Nick and Daisy to his house and gives them a tour – He wakes up Klipspringer, “the boarder” and has him play the piano  Nick finally says goodbye and leaves Daisy with Gatsby

Chapter six  A reporter comes to Gatsby’s house to ask him questions based on rumors he has heard about Gatsby’s past – Most of these rumors have been spread by visitors to his house who know nothing about him

Chapter six  The narrator gives a description of Gatsby’s real past – James Gatz is his legal name – He is from North Dakota – He befriended and obtained a job working for a wealthy yachtsman, Dan Cody

Chapter six  Cody made his money from Nevada silver fields and Montana copper  Cody was in love with a woman named Ella Kaye, who inherited his millions after his sudden death  Gatsby only inherited $25,000

Chapter six  One Sunday afternoon Tom and two friends stop by Gatsby’s house while horseback riding  Gatsby is invited to a party and then is rudely left behind

Chapter six  Tom and Daisy attend a party at Gatsby’s house  Tom insults Gatsby and Daisy defends him  Gatsby tells Nick about his hopes of repeating the past

Chapter six  Gatsby wants Daisy to tell Tom she never loved him and then marry Gatsby in Louisville  Nick tries to discourage Gatsby’s delusions, but Gatsby insists he can win back her heart

Chapter Seven  When the lights in Gatsby’s house fail to go on “one Saturday,” Nick journeys over to discover the house has been taken over by unfamiliar help.  The next day Gatsby calls Nick on the phone and tells him he wanted servants “who wouldn’t gossip. Daisy comes over quite often – in the afternoon” (114).

Chapter Seven  Gatsby and later Daisy herself invite Nick over for lunch at the Buchanan house. – “The next day was broiling, almost the last, certainly the warmest, of the summer” (114).  Thus on Monday, a little more than three months after Nick first visits the Buchanan’s, he returns again, supposedly to witness Daisy making a public break with Tom and professing her love openly for Gatsby.

Chapter Seven  Despite the fact that it is a workday, the group is looking for something to do.  They travel into New York for bootlegged drinks at a suite in the Plaza Hotel, where Daisy’s intended break with Tom fails once she learns the source of Gatsby’s money.

Chapter Seven  It is 7:00 pm when Daisy and Gatsby in one car and Nick, Jordan, and Tom in another start back to Long Island.  This is the hour of dusk, when the sun is going down in the valley of ashes as Daisy runs over Myrtle Wilson.  Gatsby drives his car to his garage in West Egg and then takes Daisy home in a taxi (181).

Chapter Seven  Tom, who has stopped at the accident, arrives shortly thereafter.  Now at dark, Nick sees Gatsby emerge from the bushes and later witnesses the Buchanan’s “conspiring together” at the kitchen table, before he taxis to West Egg, leaving Gatsby standing “vigil” in the moonlight(146).

Chapter Eight  About 4:00 am – Gatsby takes a taxi back to West Egg; Gatsby and Nick then talk until dawn – Retrospective narration – Gatsby tells Nick the story of how he fell in love with Daisy.  12:00 pm – Nick speaks with Jordan by phone; he tries to speak with Gatsby by phone, but he is unable to get through to him.  3:50 pm Nick takes the train back to West Egg.

Chapter Eight  After Myrtle’s death, George is consoled by Michaelis until he leaves around 6:00 am.  10:00 am George has left the garage.  12:00 pm – George has reached Gad’s Hill.  George then stops at the Buchanan’s and Tom tells him that Gatsby ran over his wife without stopping.

Chapter Eight  2:00 pm – Gatsby heads for his pool.  2:30 pm – Wilson is in West Egg asking for directions to Gatsby’s house.  3:00 pm – Wilson finds Gatsby floating in his pool and he kills him with a revolver before shooting himself.

Chapter Nine  The day after Gatsby is killed, Nick takes on the responsibility of arranging for Gatsby’s funeral.  A telegram arrives from Gatsby’s father, Henry Gatz, who is on the way to New York and requests that the funeral be postponed until he arrives.  Gatsby is thus buried on Monday, September 25, 1922.

Chapter Nine  The morning of the funeral Nick calls on Wolfsheim, who tells him that he shows “friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead” (173).  5:00 pm the procession of three cars reached the cemetery where, shortly after, Gatsby is buried in the rain. – The rain that fell on the reunion of Gatsby and Daisy foreshadows the rain that falls on Gatsby’s burial.

Chapter Nine  Some time in the early autumn Nick decides to head back West. – Before he leaves he breaks up with Jordan Baker and has his final confrontation with Tom Buchanan.  Nick’s last night in the East is spent in the moonlight at Gatsby’s mansion, thinking of the first sailor to see the shores of America, who, like Gatsby, was “…face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder” (182).