Summary of The Great Gatsby and The How the Life of F Scott Fitzgerald Influenced the Work

Nick Carraway, a young man from a comfortable background, moves from Minnesota to New York in order to pursue business. He rents a house in the West Egg district of Long Island, an area filled with the newly rich but considered unfashionable. Upon arriving, Nick visits his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom whom he attended Yale with. The Buchanans live in the East Egg district, just across the harbor from West Egg and inhabited with those who come from wealthy families. While at his cousin’s house, he meets a cynical woman named Jordan Baker and learns about his legendary neighbor, Mr. Gatsby. In addition, Nick learns that Tom is currently engaged in an extramarital affair with a woman named Myrtle Wilson.

A couple days later, Nick and Tom are going to New York City when Tom decides to stop in an ashen, industrial dumping ground town in order to pick up his lover, Myrtle. Although her husband, George Wilson, greets the two men, he remains oblivious to the fact that his wife is involved in an affair. Nick, Tom, and Myrtle then continue on to New York City and hold a gaudy party at a small apartment Tom keeps in the city to carry on his relationship with Myrtle. The party promptly comes to an end when Myrtle begins taunting Tom about Daisy and he ends the argument by breaking her nose.

As the summer continues, Nick is invited to attend one of the famous parties at Gatsby’s mansion. After initially feeling uncomfortable in the grandeur, he finds Jordan Baker and the two remain together for the majority of the night, leading to the development of a romantic relationship. Towards the end of the night, Jordan is invited to speak with Mr. Gatsby alone. He reveals a great deal about himself to her including the fact that he ...

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... 1935 and 1936. His stories had lost their appeal and while they were printed in magazines, editors sought passionate tales of triumphant young love, stories he could no longer produce. Instead, he wrote of what was closest to him, as he always had. His stories consisted of the trials of raising his daughter, Scottie, his alcoholism, and encounters with nurses; all subjects that carried little or no appeal to the mass market the magazines were appealing to. On the verge of bankruptcy, Fitzgerald wrote Tender is the Night, desperate for success, but it did not sell as well as he had hoped and failed to advance his reputation. He developed a conviction that life was not supposed to be happy and that the only thing that mattered, the only dignity, came from work. With school bills from Scottie and hospital bills from Zelda piling up, Fitzgerald returned to Hollywood