RESUME OF F. SCOTT
FITZGERARLD NOVEL
‘THE
GREAT GATSBY’
CHAPTER
1
Nick
Caraway was a son of a prominent
family in Middle Western. His father worked at hardware business which had been a tradition in
his family. He graduated from Yale and fought in World War I. After the war, he
went through a period of restlessness so he decided to go to the East in summer
in order to learn about the bond business. He lived in New York, specifically
in West Egg, a part of Long Island and had a Finnish woman as his servant. His neighbour in next door was a gentleman named Gatsby
who had a mansion like some
Hotel de Ville in Normandy.
On
the evening, Nick had dinner with Tom Buchanan, his cousin’s husband, Daisy in
East Egg. Nick knew Tom when they were in Yale. His family was enormously
wealthy. The bad side of him was that he’s got some woman in New York. Daisy’s
friend also attended. She named Jordan Baker. They had conversation during the
dinner. After that Nick went home in West Egg. When he arrived at home, he saw
a handsome young man, Jay Gatsby, was standing on his wide lawn.
CHAPTER
2
Nick was taken
by Tom to George Wilson's garage at the edge of the valley of ashes. There,
Nick met Tom’s mistress for the first time. The woman who had been having an affair with Tom, no other was Myrtle,
Wilson’s wife. Tom forced
both Myrtle and Nick to go together him to New York. In an apartment on the top
floor in which Tom maintained
his affair, they had
a vulgar party and drunk with Myrtle's sister, Catherine,
and a couple named McKee who came after got a call from Myrtle.
In the middle of
the talk, Catherine
said that Gatsby is a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm and all Gatsby’s
money was from him. They became exceedingly drunk. Towards midnight, Mrs.
Wilson and Tom discussed in impassioned voice and she mentioned Daisy's name
several times to irritate Tom. Tom told
her that she had
no right to say Daisy's name, and he suddenly broke Mrs. Wilson’s nose with his
open hand. Then, Tom
left her and Nick was following.
CHAPTER
3
Nick described
the great parties which were always held in Gatsby’s house almost everyday in his
life. It included the music, the
foods and drinks, the
swimming pool, and
the garden which was
decorated enormously. Nick was eventually invited to one of these parties in
Saturday night, but not by Gatsby himself, instead by Gatsby's chauffeur who brought
an invitation to Nick's door in Saturday morning.
Nick came to the party. Only few of the
guests seem to be invited guests, and even had not met Gatsby face to face.
Nick turned to Jordan Baker who was more casually bitter than usual because she had recently lost a golf tournament. All around them,
people gossiped about their mysterious host. Jordan
and Nick were looking for Gatsby in his mansion but they found a man in enormous eyeglasses. Nick called him Owl Eyes skimming
through the books in Gatsby's library. Outside, in the garden, Nick struck up a conversation with a handsome, youthful man who
looked familiar to him. This man was the mysterious Gatsby. The fact was that they served
in the same division during the war. He prefered watching the party from a distance rather than taking part in it.
Gatsby left to take a phone call. Later, he sent his butler to ask Jordan Baker
if he may speak with her privately.
He did not merely attend parties
during the summer of 1922 because he worked in New York. He began to like New York and its vibranty. He missed
Jordan Baker and he felt different in his heart. It had to be love.
CHAPTER
4
In summer, as
always, a party was held in Gatsby’s house. All the people of families from
East Egg, West Egg, and New York came to the party. At nine o’clock in July, Gatsby
came to Nick’s house by riding his luxurious car. Then, they went to town for
lunch. On the way to town, Gatsby told the truth about him in order not to make
Nick got a wrong idea about
him. Actually, he was son of wealth people in the Middle West and educated in
Oxford which became a family tradition. However, his parents died so he was
brought up in America. After they died, Gatsby had glamour life. He tried to
forget bad memories that had happened in his life long ago. He was even being a first lieutenant
in the war in Montenegro and from there he got a piece of metal as a souvenir.
When they arrived in a restaurant named Old Metro pole, they lunched with Meyer
Wolf shier, Gatsby’s friend. Here also Nick met Tom who had been gone for a
long time.
CHAPTER
5
When
Nick came home at two o’clock, he saw that Gatsby’s house lit from tower to
cellar. Then when Nick got out from the taxi, Gatsby walked toward him. He
asked Nick if he want to go to Corey Island with him but it was rejected by
Nick. Gatsby offered another job for him and for the second times Nick had
rejected the thing offered by Gatsby for some reasons. The next morning Nick called
Daisy and invited her to come to tea in his house. The day was raining. At
eleven o’clock Gatsby sent someone to cut the grass in Nick’s lawn. Nick went
out by his self to buy some cups, lemons, and flowers because his Finn had not
came back.
Next,
at 3 o’clock Gatsby came to his house. It was still raining outside. They had
waited for Daisy for an hour. Finally, she arrived with her driver. Gatsby and
Daisy met again after five years. Then they had a conversation and continued by
visiting Gatsby’s house. There they saw
around the house and heard Klipspringer, a boarder in Gatsby house,
played piano while the rain was pouring.
CHAPTER
6
Nick
didn’t see Gatsby for several weeks so he went over to his house one Sunday
afternoon. It had not been two minutes Nick was there then Tom, Mr. Sloane and
his lady came. Then they all had
a conversation except Mr. Sloane and his lady. No sooner they came then Mr.
Sloane took leave but Gatsby urged him not to be hurry. The lady tempted Nick
and Gatsby by inviting them to dinner. However Nick rejected it when he saw
that Mr. Sloane didn’t like to his lady attitude.
The
following Saturday night, Tom came with Daisy to Gatsby’s party. There were not
only famous people, such as a celebrity of movies with her director who seems
like have a special relationship but also the people who hadn’t been invited. Nick
stayed late in Gatsby house that night after the party was over. Gatsby told him a lot about the love
story about him and Daisy in the past five years.
CHAPTER
7
One
day, Gatsby career was
over. Nick was worried about him and wondered if he were sick. Thus he went
over Gatsby’s house to find
out but only an unfamiliar butler who was met by him and he said that Gatsby
was not sick. He heard from his Finn that Gatsby had fired all of his servants
and replaced them with the people employed by Meyer
Wolfsheim. Daisy began to visit Gatsby in
the afternoons.
In
the warmest in summer, Gatsby
and Nick went to the Daisy’s house because they had been invited for lunch by
her. Jordan Baker was also there. Then Tom appeared and came to join them. Then
he left the room for a while to take a cold-drink. Gatsby was surprised by
Daisy’s daughter who came into the room with the nurse. He found hard to
believe that Daisy had been a mother. When they had luncheon, Tom realized as he saw
Daisy told Gatsby that she loved him. After knowing that fact, he forced all the
people there to go to town. Gatsby and Daisy drive in Tom's car, while Nick,
Jordan, and Tom drive in Gatsby's.
As
arrived in town, they went into
the parlour of a suite in the Plaza Hotel. They had a long conversation which
was dominated by Tom’s investigation of Gatsby. Then Gatsby told that Daisy
never loved Tom and she only loved him. However when Gatsby asked Daisy to tell
that the statement was true, she didn’t do it because she feel that she ever
loved him though just for once. She loved both of them.
On the way went home,Nick, Jordan and Tom found that someone had
been struck and killed by an automobile. The young Greek named Michaelis, Wilson's neighbour, told them that the victim was Myrtle Wilson. Before the accident, he
heard loud voice of Mrs.Wilson as a fight had occured between her and her
husband,Mr. Wilson. Then she
ran out into the road and she was struck by an yellow car. The policemen and some witnesses
were there after the accident. Nick
realizes that the “died
car”must have been
Gatsby's car. Tom
presumed that Gatsby
was the driver. However, Nick guessed that Daisy who had driven the car.
His assumption was true after he heard from Gatsby so.
CHAPTER
8
That night,
Nick found himself
unable to sleep, since the terrible events of the day. He hurried to Gatsby's house shortly before dawn. He advised Gatsby to leave Long Island until
the case of Mrs.Wilson's death has quieted down. Gatsby
refused because he
cannot leave Daisy. In contrary, he told Nick
that he spent the entire night in front of the Daisy’s house just to ensure that Daisy was safe.
Gatsby
told Nick the story of his
first meeting with Daisy. Gatsby and Daisy first met in Louisville in 1917
and he was instantly interested with her wealth, her beauty, and
her youthful innocence. Realizing that Daisy would reject him if she knew of his poverty,
Gatsby determined to lie to her about his past and his circumstances. Daisy
promised to wait for him during he left for the war. Then they slept together, as though to seal their pact. Finally,Daisy could not wait anymore. She married Tom, who was equal to her social and the choice of her parents.
George
Wilson told Michaelis
that he realized what had been done by his wife. She had an affair with
another man. Even tough she tried to deny it but she could not hide it from God.
He searched
for Tom Buchanan, in the hope that Tom would know the driver's identity. Tom told him that Gatsby was the driver. Wilson
drove to Gatsby's
mansion. There, he found Gatsby floating in his pool,
staring contemplatively at the sky. Wilson shoted Gatsby, and then turned the gun on himself. He had
killed Gatsby and himself. It was Nick who found Gatsby's body.
