Jay Gatsby is born with
the name James Gatz, the son of poor farmers in Minnesota, he dreams of being
rich, but he doesn’t just want to get rich, he wants to seem like he was always
rich with the style, the manners the, clothes, and the way of talking of
someone from the upper class, so he studies how to speak and have poise even
when he’s poor, he runs away when he was seventeen to seek his fortune, he goes
to st. Olaf’s College for two weeks, but he hates having to work as a janitor
to pay for it, so he quits he meets a millionaire named Dan Cody who’s on his
yacht, and Lake Superior and he becomes Cody’s best friend, and right-hand man
for five years, Cody dies and even though he leaves got to be some money.
Gatsby doesn’t get it
when World War one breaks out, Gatsby joins the army and becomes an officer and
while he’s in training at Camp Taylor in Louisville Kentucky, he meets a rich
young woman named Daisy, he falls in love with her in large part because of her
wealth and background, she represents the life he’s always wanted because he
has the uniform and acts like he’s high-class, it’s pretty easy for him to
pretend he’s from the same class as her they sleep together, and she falls in
love with him but they can’t get married because he doesn’t have any money to
support her, even when she finds this out she doesn’t leave him, but waits for
him when he goes to war, in the war he performs heroically and gets promoted to
major, when the war ends he gets sent to Oxford to study for five months along
with some other officers.
Daisy gets tired of
waiting and needs to move on with her life, so she marries a rich man named Tom
Buchanan, she has some regrets especially when she gets a letter from Gatsby
the day before the wedding, but her friends pull her together , and she carries
on Gatsby gets to Daisy’s town when she’s left for her honeymoon, he’s
completely broke he has no money even for food, and he has to wear his uniform
he meets Meyer Wolfsheim, an organized crime leader who seats Gatsby is useful
because he acts high-class, the two make millions together selling grain,
alcohol, and doing other illegal things, Gatsby buys a palace on Long Island
Sound across the bay from Daisy’s house, he hosts lavish parties every night
hoping she’ll show up, when she doesn’t , he starts asking people if they know
her, finally connecting with Daisy’s friend Jordan Baker having found out from
Jordan Baker that his neighbor Nick Carraway knows Daisy, he asks Nick to
invite Daisy to tea.
Nick agrees Daisy
meanwhile has a daughter with Tom, and she’s unhappy because he cheats on her,
Gatsby meets Daisy at Nick’s house, and the two are embarrassed at first, but
then they find out that they still love each other, they go to Gatsby’s house
and Daisy starts to see Gatsby, Gatsby wants Daisy to tell Tom that she never
loved him, so he and Daisy can start a new life together, on a very hot day
Gatsby visits the Buchanans with Jordan and Nick, Tom sees that Daisy is in
love with Gatsby, they all drive into New York together , and get a suite at
the Plaza Hotel, Tom and Gatsby get in a fight and Gatsby asks Daisy to say she
never loved Tom, and that she’s leaving him, Daisy does say this at first, but
Tom reminds her of some of their memories together , showing that it’s not
really true that Daisy never loved him she loved both of them , then Tom
accuses Gatsby of being a criminal and confronts Daisy with some of the facts
he’s dug up about the illegal liquor sales, now Daisy doesn’t want to leave Tom
anymore, Tom knows he’s won so he sends Daisy back home with Gatsby, in
Gatsby’s car Daisy drives and on the way back she hits and kills Myrtle Wilson
who happens to be Tom’s lover, Daisy doesn’t stop and Gatsby finishes driving
her home, and hides the car.
Gatsby has trouble
admitting that he’s lost , Daisy and he waits outside Daisy’s house all night,
but she doesn’t come out to see him Myrtle Wilson’s husband George Wilson
finds out Gatsby’s address from Tom and believing that Myrtle was sleeping with
Gatsby, and Gatsby was the hit-and-run driver he sneaks in to Gatsby’s yard and
shoots him while he’s lying in his pool, then he kills himself hardly anyone
comes to Gatsby’s funeral , gatsby is a very appealing character because he has
a lot of style, and because he is so driven by this dream of being upper-class
that he becomes a millionaire , and has this remarkable lifestyle but he can’t
get Daisy, and he actually dies trying to get her back , Gatsby’s problem is
that it’s not enough for him to be rich.
Now he doesn’t care
about the parties or the lifestyle he needs to reach back into his past, and
start a life with Daisy at the moment he met her because that moment when she
was young and innocent and rich and, when he was young and full of promise that
was the moment when he needed to be a rich kid, but he can’t change the past
and the reality is that Daisy does get married, and sort of loves her husband
and has a life with him, Gatsby can’t undo that so his need to go back to the
past is what kills him.