The summer of 1922 in West Egg was thick with glamour, wealth, and mystery, yet Nick Carraway, a newcomer to the scene, found himself fascinated most by one man: his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s mansion stood just next to Nick’s modest house: it was a colossal estate that gleamed under moonlight, where parties erupted every weekend. Strangers flocked there from all over New York, spilling into his gardens; sipping his champagne; and dancing beneath crystal chandeliers. However, no one seemed to truly know Gatsby himself.
Nick, a young man from the Midwest, had come to New York to try his hand in the bond business. He rented a modest home in West Egg – a place filled with those who had recently come into wealth, unlike East Egg, where old money reigned. In East Egg lived his cousin Daisy Buchanan, a charming and beautiful woman who had married Tom Buchanan, a man of immense fortune and old money but an equally immense ego. Tom’s arrogance and aggression clashed with Daisy’s gentler nature, but still, she seemed bound to him, trapped in a gilded cage of wealth and status.
One day, Nick received an invitation to one of Gatsby’s famous parties, which was a rare gesture, for most guests simply showed up without an invitation. Intrigued, Nick attended and watched the endless parade of glamorous people swirling through Gatsby’s world. There, he finally met Gatsby himself; a courteous, soft-spoken man with a disarming smile, Gatsby was young, handsome, and mysteriously polished, but despite his hospitality, he was always watching, waiting for something—someone.
Soon, Nick discovered the reason behind Gatsby’s longing: Daisy Buchanan, his cousin, was the woman Gatsby had loved in his youth, before he went off to fight in the war. Daisy had married Tom while Gatsby was away, unaware of the depth of Gatsby’s devotion or his plans to return for her. Now, Gatsby was wealthy beyond measure, but his fortune had been amassed for one purpose: to win Daisy back. Every party; every extravagant display; every whispered word about him had all been in the hope that she might walk back into his life.
Thus, Gatsby, unable to bear the distance any longer, convinced Nick to invite Daisy to tea, to which Nick agreed, and when Daisy arrived, Gatsby was a bundle of nerves – his usual confidence shaken. However, the moment he saw her, the spark between them was reignited. The two spent hours talking, reminiscing about their past, and as the days went on, they began to meet in secret, rekindling a love that had never quite died.
Gatsby’s happiness, nevertheless, came with a shadow. Tom, ever suspicious, noticed Daisy’s strange moods and growing distance, and he soon realized the truth—that Gatsby was trying to take Daisy from him. In a confrontation at the Plaza Hotel, Tom exposed Gatsby’s questionable sources of wealth, accusing him of being nothing more than a common bootlegger. Daisy was shaken and overwhelmed; she could not find the courage to stand by Gatsby despite her love for him. The golden image of Gatsby she had cherished began to shatter under Tom’s words, and she retreated, afraid to abandon her secure life.
That evening, tragedy struck: Daisy, driving Gatsby’s car home with Gatsby by her side, accidentally struck Tom’s lover, Myrtle Wilson, who had run into the road in a desperate bid to escape from her own life. Panicked, Daisy drove away, leaving Myrtle dead. On the other hand, Gatsby, ever faithful, vowed to take the blame if necessary, waiting outside Daisy’s home all night to ensure she was safe.
But Daisy never came to him again.
Distraught, Tom redirected all of Myrtle’s grief-stricken husband’s suspicions toward Gatsby. And believing Gatsby to be his wife’s lover and murderer, George Wilson sought him out. One day, he found Gatsby alone by his pool and shot him, taking Gatsby’s life in a tragic act of revenge. The dazzling dream Gatsby had built for himself, his tireless efforts to attain love and acceptance, all crumbled in an instant.
After Gatsby’s death, Nick tried to arrange a proper funeral, but none of the glamorous partygoers came. The only ones to attend were Nick, Gatsby’s father, and a few servants. The people who had crowded Gatsby’s estate, who had spoken about him as if they knew him, vanished as quickly as they had come. Even Daisy and Tom disappeared, fleeing to some distant city and leaving Nick to grapple with the disillusionment of the world around him.
In the end, Nick returned to the Midwest, disenchanted by the East’s hollow promises of wealth and success. He reflected on Gatsby’s relentless pursuit of his dream, remembering him as a man who had tried to bend reality to fit his desires. Gatsby had believed in the green light—the symbol of his hope for Daisy—that glowed from her dock across the bay. It was a dream that had kept him moving forward, even as it led him to his destruction.
Yet, for all Gatsby’s flaws, Nick could not help but admire his unwavering hope: Gatsby had dared to chase a dream so fiercely that he seemed larger than life – a figure of pure aspiration – tragically unsuited for the cynicism and betrayal that surrounded him. Nick left New York haunted by Gatsby’s fate, and by the knowledge that the American Dream—so powerful in its promise—was often a mirage, glimmering just out of reach, only to dissolve when one drew near.
Hence, Nick closed the chapter on Gatsby, the friend who had shown him both the brilliance and the folly of dreaming too hard and of reaching too far.
