The Great Gatsby 解析

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Setting: The story takes place during the 1920's, there are four major settings:

1.East egg

2.West Egg

3.The valley of ashes

4.New York City.

The West Egg is the "less fashionable" side of Long Island where Gatsby and Nick live. The East Egg is the "fashionable" side of Long Island where the Buchanans and other "old money" people live. The Valley of Ashes is the desolate wasteland where the Wilsons live. New York City is a symbol of what America has become in the 1920's : a place where anything goes, where money is made and bootleggers flourish, and where the World Series can be fixed by a man such as Meyer Wolfsheim.

Background Information:

Nick Carraway, the narrator is a young midwesterner who, having graduated from Yale, had fought in World War I and returned home to begin a career. He decides to move east to New York and learn the bond business. The novel opened early in the summer of 1922 in West Egg, Long Island where Nick has rented a house. Next to his house is a huge mansion which belongs to Mr. Gatsby. Before leaving the Midwest, Nick's father tells Nick not to be quick to judge. Nick believes his father means never to judge at all. That created a problem. In the 1920's money was very abundant. This was known as "the golden age." People were very materialistic during this time period. The wealthy families in the novel such as Gatsby or the Buchanans, were always trying to impress rather than trying to be themselves. This was a period of drinking, partying, and endless talk, which was best portrayed by the Buchanans. They seem to be very self-centered people who couldn't give up a bit of the "ritzy" life to take care of their own child.

Major Characters:

∙Nick Carraway - The narrator of the novel; moves from the Midwest to New York to learn the bond business.

∙Jay Gatsby - Lives next to Nick in a mansion; throws huge parties, complete with catered food, open bars, and orchestras; people come from everywhere to attend these parties, but no one seems to know much about the host.

∙Daisy Buchanan - Shallow girl who is the emodiment of Gatsby's dreams; she was going to marry Gatsby but he went off to war.

∙Tom Buchanan- Husband of Daisy; a cruel man who lives life irresponsibly.

∙Jordan Baker - A cynical and conceited woman who cheats in golf;

wants Nick to go out with her.

∙Myrtle Wilson- Tom has an affair with this married woman, and then abandons her after he become bored with her.

Plot Summary: Nick Carraway having graduated from Yale and fought in

World War I, has returned home to begin a career. He is restless and has decided to move to New York to learn the bond business. The novel opens early in the summer of 1922 in West Egg, Long Island, where Nick has rented a house. Next to his place is the Gatsby's mansion.

Tom and Daisy Buchanan live in East Egg. Daisy is Nick's cousin and Tom had been in the same senior society at Yale. They invite Nick to dinner at their mansion, and he meets a young woman golfer named Jordan Baker, whom Daisy wants Nick to be interested in. During dinner the phone rings, and when Tom and Daisy leave the room, Jordan informs Nick that the caller is Tom's woman from New York.

Myrtle Wilson, Tom's woman, lives is a section of Long Island known as the Valley of Ashes. In the Valley of Ashes is George Wilson's garage. Painted on a large billboard nearby is a fading advertisment for an optician with the eyes of a Doctor looking over them with a pair of glasses.

One day Tom takes Nick to meet the Wilsons. The party breaks up when Myrtle starts using Daisy's name, and Tom breaks her nose with a blow of his open hand. Several weeks later Nick is invited to one of Gatsby's elaborate parties. Nick watches Gatsby and notices that he does not drink or join in the revelry of the party.

At a luncheon with Nick in New York, Gatsby tells Nick that he graduated from Oxford. During lunch Gatsby introduces Nick to his business associate, Meyer Wolfsheim, who fixed the World Series in 1919.