The Great Gatsby at a Glance
F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel,The Great Gatsby, follows Jay Gatsby, a man who orders his life around one desire: to be reunited with Daisy Buchannan, the love he lost five years earlier. Gatsby's quest leads him from poverty to wealth, into the arms of his beloved, and eventually to death. Published in 1925, The Great Gatsby is a classic piece of American fiction. It is a novel of triumph and tragedy, noted for the remarkable way Fitzgerald captured a cross-section of American society.
Type of Work: novel
Genres: social commentary; American fiction; Jazz Age
First Published: 1925
Setting: 1920s in West Egg, Long Island
Motifs: weather; geography; types of money
Major Symbols: eyes; Gatsby's parties
The three most important aspects of The Great Gatsby:
