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132-603: In the Fitzgerald canon, the story is considered to be in the "Gatsby-cluster" as many of its themes were later expanded upon in his famous novel The Great Gatsby in 1925. Writing his editor Max Perkins in June 1925, Fitzgerald described "Winter Dreams" as "a sort of first draft of the Gatsby idea." The short story was based upon Fitzgerald's unsuccessful romantic pursuit of socialite Ginevra King . A wealthy heiress from

264-478: A Chicago banking family, Ginevra enjoyed a privileged upbringing and was feted in the Chicago social scene as a member of the elite " Big Four " debutantes during World War I . While teenagers, Ginevra and Fitzgerald met at a sledding party and shared an unconsummated romance from 1915 to 1917, but their budding relationship soon ended when Ginevra's imperious father, Charles G. King, publicly humiliated

396-436: A Ferris wheel and likely referencing the glittering amusement park at New York's Coney Island . Cugat affixed reclining nudes within the flapper's irizes and added a green tint to the streaming tear. Cugat's final cover, which Max Perkins hailed as a masterpiece, was the only work he completed for Scribner's and the only book cover he ever designed. Although Fitzgerald likely never saw the final gouache painting prior to

528-481: A Jewish gambler who purportedly fixed the World Series in 1919 . In 1922, Gatsby purchased a Long Island estate in the nouveau riche area of West Egg , a town on the opposite side of Manhasset Bay from " old money " East Egg , where Daisy, Tom, and their three-year-old daughter Pammy lived. At his mansion, Gatsby hosted elaborate soirées with hot jazz music in an attempt to attract Daisy as

660-402: A "shallow pretty boy". Siskel declared there was little resemblance between Redford's suave portrayal and the ambitious parvenu in the novel. In more recent decades, Leonardo DiCaprio played the role in director Baz Luhrmann 's 2013 film adaptation . In a 2011 interview with Time magazine prior to the film's production, DiCaprio explained he was attracted to the role of Gatsby due to

792-496: A 17-year-old Gatz traveled to Lake Superior , where he met copper tycoon Dan Cody whose yacht Tuolomee was anchored in Little Girl Bay. Introducing himself as Jay Gatsby, the ragged young man saved Cody's yacht from destruction by warning him of weather hazards. In gratitude, Cody invited him to join his yachting trip. Now known as Gatsby, he served as Cody's protégé over the next five years and voyaged around

924-588: A 1986 exposé on disgraced journalist R. Foster Winans who engaged in insider trading with stockbroker Peter N. Brant, the Seattle Post Intelligencer described Brant as "Winan's Gatsby". Brant had changed his name from Bornstein and said he was "a man who turned his back on his heritage and his family because he felt that being recognized as Jewish would be a detriment to his career". In more recent years, Gatsby's voracious pursuit of wealth has been referenced by scholars as exemplifying

1056-551: A Plaza Hotel suite, Gatsby and Tom argue about the affair. Gatsby insists Daisy declare that she never loved Tom. Daisy claims she loves Tom and Gatsby, upsetting both. Tom reveals Gatsby is a swindler whose money comes from bootlegging alcohol. Upon hearing this, Daisy chooses to stay with Tom. Tom scornfully tells Gatsby to drive her home, knowing that Daisy will never leave him. While returning to East Egg, Gatsby and Daisy drive by Wilson's garage and their car strikes Myrtle, killing her instantly. Later Gatsby reveals to Nick that Daisy

1188-531: A boy whose ambitions become identified with a selfish rich girl. Indeed, Fitzgerald removed Dexter Green's response to Judy Jones' home from the magazine text and wrote it into the novel as Jay Gatsby 's response to Daisy Fay 's home. Scholar Tim Randell has asserted that "Winter Dreams" should be regarded as a crowning literary achievement as Fitzgerald "achieves a dialectical metafiction " in which he deftly criticizes "class relations and print culture ." Fitzgerald's short story "identifies ruling class interests as

1320-531: A certain ambivalence towards the Jazz Age, an era whose themes he would later regard as reflective of events in his own life. The Great Gatsby reflects various events in Fitzgerald's youth. He was a young Midwesterner from Minnesota . Like the novel's narrator who went to Yale , he was educated at an Ivy League school, Princeton . There the 18-year-old Fitzgerald met Ginevra King , a 16-year-old socialite with whom he fell deeply in love. Although Ginevra

1452-518: A dark blue skyline. A little-known Barcelonan painter named Francis Cugat —born Francisco Coradal-Cougat—was commissioned by an unknown individual in Scribner's art department to illustrate the cover while Fitzgerald was composing the novel. In a preliminary sketch, Cugat drew a concept of a dismal gray landscape inspired by Fitzgerald's original title for the novel, Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires . Discarding this gloomy concept, Cugat next drew

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1584-435: A divergent study which became the prefiguration to the final cover: A pencil and crayon drawing of a flapper's half-hidden visage over Long Island Sound with scarlet lips, one celestial eye, and a single diagonal tear. Expanding upon this study, his subsequent drawing featured two bright eyes looming over a shadowy New York cityscape. In later iterations, Cugat replaced the shadowy cityscape with dazzling carnival lights evoking

1716-402: A false start. Some of this early draft resurfaced in the 1924 short story "Absolution". In earlier drafts, Daisy was originally named Ada and Nick was Dud, and the two characters had shared a previous romance prior to their reunion on Long Island. These earlier drafts were written from the viewpoint of an omniscient narrator as opposed to Nick's perspective. A key difference in earlier drafts

1848-525: A final review of the proofs, he asked if it would be possible to re-title it Trimalchio or Gold-Hatted Gatsby , but Perkins advised against it. On March 19, 1925, Fitzgerald expressed enthusiasm for the title Under the Red, White, and Blue , but it was too late to change it at that stage. The novel was published as The Great Gatsby on April 10, 1925. Fitzgerald believed the book's final title to be merely acceptable and often expressed his ambivalence with

1980-408: A guest. With the help of Daisy's cousin and bond salesman Nick Carraway , Gatsby succeeded in seducing her. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to

2112-691: A letter to Cather apologizing for any unintentional plagiarism. During this period of revisions, Scott saw and was influenced by early sketches for the book's dust jacket art. Soon after this burst of effort, work slowed while the Fitzgeralds moved to the Villa Marie in Saint-Raphaël on the French Riviera , where a marital crisis soon developed. Despite his ongoing marital tension, Fitzgerald continued to write steadily and submitted

2244-603: A man of wealth and influence in order to win Daisy's affections. With dreams of amassing immense wealth, a penniless Gatsby settled in New York City as it underwent the birth pangs of the Jazz Age . It is speculated—but never confirmed—that Gatsby took advantage of the newly enacted National Prohibition Act by making a fortune via bootlegging and built connections with organized crime figures such as Meyer Wolfsheim,

2376-509: A monetary windfall from the novel were unrealized. When the author died in 1940, he believed himself to be a failure and his work forgotten. During World War II , the novel experienced an abrupt surge in popularity when the Council on Books in Wartime distributed free copies to American soldiers serving overseas. This new-found popularity launched a critical and scholarly re-examination, and

2508-634: A month later. Unable to cope with this recurrent heartbreak , Dexter joins the American Expeditionary Forces to fight in the Great War . Seven years later, Dexter has become a successful businessman in New York . He has become wealthy but hasn't visited his home in years. One particular day, a Detroit man named Devlin visits Dexter on a business pretext. During the meeting, Devlin reveals that Judy Simms—formerly Judy Jones—is

2640-522: A mysterious neighbor and World War I veteran whom the author met in New York during the raucous Jazz Age . Like Gatsby, Gerlach threw lavish parties, never wore the same shirt twice, used the phrase "old sport", claimed to be educated at Oxford University , and fostered myths about himself, including that he was a relation of the German Kaiser . The character of Jay Gatsby has been analyzed by scholars for many decades and has given rise to

2772-399: A mythical version of themselves and attempted to live up to this legend. Born circa 1890 to impoverished Lutheran farmers in rural North Dakota , James Gatz was a poor Midwesterner who briefly attended St. Olaf College , a small Lutheran institution in southern Minnesota . He dropped out after two weeks as he disliked supporting himself by working as a lowly janitor . In 1907,

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2904-456: A mythical version of themselves and attempted to live up to this legend. Dispirited by critics failing to understand the novel, Fitzgerald remained hopeful that the novel would at least be a commercial success, perhaps selling as many as 75,000 copies. To Fitzgerald's great disappointment, Gatsby was a commercial failure in comparison with his previous efforts, This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and Damned (1922). By October,

3036-459: A near-final version of the manuscript to his editor, Maxwell Perkins , on October 27. Perkins informed him in a November letter that Gatsby was too vague as a character and that his wealth and business, respectively, needed a convincing explanation. Fitzgerald thanked Perkins for his detailed criticisms and claimed that such feedback would enable him to perfect the manuscript. Having relocated with his wife to Rome, Fitzgerald made revisions to

3168-498: A number of critical interpretations. Scholars posit that Gatsby functions as a cipher because of his obscure origins, his unclear religio-ethnic identity and his indeterminate class status . Accordingly, Gatsby's socio-economic ascent is deemed a threat by other characters in the novel not only due to his status as nouveau riche , but because he is perceived as a societal outsider. The character's biographical details indicate his family are recent immigrants which precludes Gatsby from

3300-573: A partnership in a laundry business. He returns to the Sherry Island Golf Club and is invited to play golf with the affluent men for whom he once caddied. He encounters Judy Jones again on the golf course, only now she is older and more beautiful. Later in the evening on Black Bear Lake , Dexter swims to a raft where he encounters Judy who is piloting a motor boat . She asks him to drive the boat while she rides behind, aquaplaning . After this encounter, Judy invites Dexter to dinner, and

3432-426: A party ensues, which ends with Tom slapping Myrtle and breaking her nose after she mentions Daisy. One morning, Nick receives a formal invitation to a party at Gatsby's mansion. Once there, Nick is embarrassed that he recognizes no one and begins drinking heavily until he encounters Jordan. While chatting with her, he is approached by a man who introduces himself as Jay Gatsby and insists that both he and Nick served in

3564-527: A poor boy in a rich man's club at Princeton." He "sensed a corruption in the rich and mistrusted their might." Consequently, he became a vocal critic of America's leisure class and his works satirized their lives. While living in New York, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald's enigmatic neighbor was Max Gerlach . Gerlach claimed to be born in America to a German immigrant family, and he served as an officer in

3696-517: A romance blossoms. However, he soon discovers that he is merely one of a dozen beaus whom she is clandestinely romancing. After eighteen months, while Judy is vacationing in Florida , Dexter becomes engaged to Irene Scheerer , a kind-hearted but ordinary-looking girl. When Judy returns, however, she again ensnares Dexter's affections and asks him to marry her. Dexter breaks off his engagement with Irene, only to be unceremoniously dropped again by Judy

3828-403: A rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together." I've always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end. —F. Scott Fitzgerald, Chapter VIII, The Great Gatsby Mirroring Gerlach's background, Fitzgerald's fictional creation of James Gatz has a Germanic surname, and

3960-590: A self-made millionaire. The character of Jay Gatsby has become a cultural touchstone in American culture and is often invoked in popular discourse in the context of rags-to-riches grandeur. Commentator Chris Matthews views the character as personifying the eternal American striver, albeit one is keenly aware that his nouveau riche status is a detriment: "Gatsby needed more than money: he needed to be someone who had always had it.... this blind faith that he can retrofit his very existence to Daisy's specifications

4092-507: A third and fatal heart attack and died believing his work forgotten. His obituary in The New York Times hailed him as a brilliant novelist and cited Gatsby as his greatest work. In the wake of Fitzgerald's death, a strong appreciation for the book gradually developed in writers' circles. Future authors Budd Schulberg and Edward Newhouse were deeply affected by it, and John O'Hara acknowledged its influence on his work. By

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4224-611: A title for his novel and entertained many choices before reluctantly deciding on The Great Gatsby , a title inspired by Alain-Fournier 's Le Grand Meaulnes . Previously he had shifted between Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires , Trimalchio , Trimalchio in West Egg , On the Road to West Egg , Under the Red, White, and Blue , The Gold-Hatted Gatsby , and The High-Bouncing Lover . The titles The Gold-Hatted Gatsby and The High-Bouncing Lover came from Fitzgerald's epigraph for

4356-516: A wardrobe about as long as this room. He opened it up and there must have been hundreds of suits, sport jackets, slacks and suits. He looked at me and said, 'Not bad for an Okie kid, eh?'... I remembered when Gatsby took Daisy to show her his mansion, he also showed her his wardrobe and said, 'I've got a man in England who buys me clothes. He sends over a selection of things at the beginning of each season, spring and fall.' I said to myself, 'My God, he

4488-642: Is a middle-class young man born in rural Minnesota who aspires to be part of the " old money " elite of the American Midwest . His father owns the second most profitable grocery store in the town. To earn money, Dexter works part-time as a teenage caddie at a golf club in Black Bear Lake, Minnesota , where he meets the eleven-year-old Judy Jones. He quits his job rather than be Judy's caddie as he cannot abide acting as one of her obsequious servants. After college, Dexter becomes involved in

4620-407: Is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald . Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island , near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway 's interactions with Jay Gatsby , the mysterious millionaire with an obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan . The novel was inspired by a youthful romance Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra King , and

4752-461: Is a less complete failure of Gatsby's dream. Another difference is that the argument between Tom Buchanan and Gatsby is more balanced, although Daisy still returns to Tom. Work on The Great Gatsby resumed in earnest in April 1924. Fitzgerald decided to depart from the writing process of his previous novels and told Perkins that he was intent on creating an artistic achievement. He wished to eschew

4884-708: Is interpreted as a symbol of Gatsby's unrealizable goal to win Daisy and, consequently, to achieve the American dream. Reporting in 2009 on the economic effects of the Great Recession on Long Island —the fictional setting of Gatsby's mansion— The Wall Street Journal quoted a struggling hotelier as saying "Jay Gatsby is dead". The term "Gatsby" is also often used in the United States to refer to real-life figures who have reinvented themselves; in particular, wealthy individuals whose rise to prominence involved an element of deception or self-mythologizing. In

5016-441: Is married to Tom Buchanan, formerly a Yale football star whom Nick knew during his college days. The couple has recently relocated from Chicago to a mansion directly across the bay from Gatsby's estate. There, Nick encounters Jordan Baker, an insolent flapper and golf champion who is a childhood friend of Daisy's. Jordan confides to Nick that Tom keeps a mistress, Myrtle Wilson, who brazenly telephones him at his home and who lives in

5148-447: Is not one of the great American writers of today". John McClure of The Times-Picayune insisted the plot was implausible and the book itself seemed raw in its construction. After reading these reviews, Fitzgerald believed that many critics misunderstood the novel. He despaired that "of all the reviews, even the most enthusiastic, not one had the slightest idea what the book was about". In particular, Fitzgerald resented criticisms of

5280-481: Is that the celestial eyes are reminiscent of those of optometrist T. J. Eckleburg depicted on a faded commercial billboard near George Wilson's auto repair shop. Author Ernest Hemingway supported this latter interpretation and claimed that Fitzgerald had told him the cover referred to a billboard in the valley of the ashes. Although this passage has some resemblance to the imagery, a closer explanation can be found in Fitzgerald's explicit description of Daisy Buchanan as

5412-625: Is the Great Gatsby.'" In 1974, Robert Redford portrayed Gatsby in a film adaptation that year. Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times believed that Redford was "too substantial, too assured, even too handsome" as Gatsby and would have been better suited in the role of antagonist Tom Buchanan. Likewise, film critic Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune criticized Redford's interpretation of Gatsby as merely

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5544-455: Is the embodiment of "latest America", has been interpreted as partly embodying status anxieties typical of the 1920s era, involving anti-immigrant sentiment. Accordingly, Gatsby—whom Tom belittles as "Mr. Nobody from Nowhere" —functions as a cipher because of his obscure origins, his unclear religio-ethnic identity and his indeterminate class status. Due to Gatsby's nouveau riche background and indeterminate class status, Fitzgerald viewed

5676-407: Is the heart and soul of The Great Gatsby . It's the classic story of the fresh start, the second chance". However, in contrast to Gatsby as "the eternal American striver", folklorist Richard Dorson sees Gatsby as a radically different American archetype who rejects the traditional approach to earning wealth via hard work in favor of quick riches via bootlegging . In Dorson's view, Gatsby "rejected

5808-448: Is the literary expression of the concept of America: The land of opportunity". However, Pearson noted that Fitzgerald's particular treatment of this theme is devoid of the discernible optimism in the writings of earlier American authors. He suggests Gatsby serves as a false prophet of the American dream, and pursuing the dream only results in dissatisfaction for those who chase it, owing to its unattainability. In this analytical context,

5940-469: Is the literary expression of the concept of America: The land of opportunity". Echoing Mizener's earlier interpretation, Pearson suggests Gatsby serves as a false prophet of the American dream, and pursuing the dream only results in dissatisfaction for those who chase it, owing to its unattainability. In this context, the green light emanating across the Long Island Sound from Gatsby's house

6072-461: Is the literary expression of the concept of America: The land of opportunity". Gatsby has been described by scholars as a false prophet of the American dream as pursuing the dream often results in dissatisfaction for those who chase it, owing to its unattainability. The character has appeared in various media adaptations of the novel, including stage plays, radio shows, video games, and feature films. Canadian-American actor James Rennie originated

6204-431: Is the titular fictional character of F. Scott Fitzgerald 's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby . The character is an enigmatic nouveau riche millionaire who lives in a luxurious mansion on Long Island where he often hosts extravagant parties and who allegedly gained his fortune by illicit bootlegging during prohibition in the United States . Fitzgerald based many details about the fictional character on Max Gerlach ,

6336-463: Is thus similar to Jay Gatsby in that he became engaged while a military officer stationed far from home and then sought immense wealth in order to provide for the lifestyle to which his fiancée had become accustomed. After his success as a short-story writer and as a novelist, Fitzgerald married Zelda in New York City, and the newly-wed couple soon relocated to Long Island. Despite enjoying

6468-485: The 3rd Infantry Division during the war. Gatsby attempts to ingratiate himself with Nick and when Nick leaves the party, he notices Gatsby watching him. In late July, Nick and Gatsby have lunch at a speakeasy . Gatsby tries impressing Nick with tales of his war heroism and his Oxford days. Afterward, Nick meets Jordan again at the Plaza Hotel . Jordan reveals that Gatsby and Daisy met around 1917 when Gatsby

6600-593: The American Dream in the hedonistic Jazz Age, a name for the era which Fitzgerald claimed to have coined. In 1970, scholar Roger L. Pearson asserted that Fitzgerald's work—more so than other twentieth century novels—is especially linked with this conceptualization of the American dream. Pearson traced the literary origins of this dream to Colonial America . The dream is the belief that every individual, regardless of their origins, may seek and achieve their desired goals, "be they political, monetary, or social. It

6732-758: The American Dream . The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary masterpiece and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel . Set on the prosperous Long Island of 1922, The Great Gatsby provides a critical social history of Prohibition-era America during the Jazz Age. F. Scott Fitzgerald 's fictional narrative fully renders that period—known for its jazz music, economic prosperity, flapper culture, libertine mores, rebellious youth, and ubiquitous speakeasies . Fitzgerald uses many of these 1920s societal developments to tell his story, from simple details like petting in automobiles to broader themes such as bootlegging as

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6864-485: The American Expeditionary Forces during World War I . He later became a gentleman bootlegger who lived like a millionaire in New York. Flaunting his new wealth, Gerlach threw lavish parties, never wore the same shirt twice, used the phrase "old sport", claimed to be educated at Oxford University , and fostered myths about himself, including that he was a relation of the German Kaiser . These details about Gerlach inspired Fitzgerald in his creation of Jay Gatsby. With

6996-537: The Midwest and a World War I veteran—journeys to New York City to obtain employment as a bond salesman . He rents a bungalow in the Long Island village of West Egg, next to a luxurious estate inhabited by Jay Gatsby , an enigmatic multi-millionaire who hosts dazzling soirées yet does not partake in them. One evening, Nick dines with a distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan , in the old money town of East Egg. Daisy

7128-591: The Paramount -issued silent film version brought in money for the author, Fitzgerald lamented that the novel fell far short of the success he had hoped for and would not bring him recognition as a serious novelist in the public eye. With the onset of the Great Depression , The Great Gatsby was regarded as little more than a nostalgic period piece. By the time Fitzgerald died in 1940, the novel had fallen into near obscurity. In 1940, Fitzgerald suffered

7260-525: The Protestant ethic in favor of a much more extravagant form of ambition". The character is often evoked as an indicator of social mobility ; in particular, the likelihood of the average American amassing wealth and achieving the American dream . In 1951, Fitzgerald biographer Arthur Mizener first interpreted the final pages of the novel in the context of the American dream. "The last two pages of

7392-645: The United Kingdom in 1919 where he briefly attended Trinity College, Oxford , for five months. While there, he received a letter from Daisy, informing him that she had married Thomas "Tom" Buchanan, a wealthy Chicago businessman. Gatsby departed the United Kingdom and traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to Louisville, but Daisy had already departed the city on her honeymoon . Undaunted by Daisy's marriage to Tom, Gatsby decided to become

7524-465: The " valley of ashes ", a sprawling refuse dump. That evening, Nick sees Gatsby standing alone on his lawn, staring at a green light across the bay. Days later, Nick reluctantly accompanies a drunken and agitated Tom to New York City by train. En route, they stop at a garage inhabited by mechanic George Wilson and his wife Myrtle. Myrtle joins them, and the trio proceed to a small New York apartment that Tom has rented for trysts with her. Guests arrive and

7656-423: The "girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs". Charles Scribner's Sons published The Great Gatsby on April 10, 1925. Fitzgerald cabled Perkins the day after publication to monitor reviews: "Any news?" "Sales situation doubtful [but] excellent reviews", read a telegram from Perkins on April 20. Fitzgerald responded on April 24, saying the cable dispirited him, closing

7788-411: The 1926 film adaptation of his novel and stormed out midway through a viewing of the film at a cinema. "We saw The Great Gatsby at the movies," Zelda wrote to an acquaintance in 1926, "It's ROTTEN and awful and terrible and we left." Nearly a decade after Fitzgerald's death by a heart attack in 1940, Gatsby was portrayed by Oklahoma actor Alan Ladd in the 1949 film adaptation . Ladd's Gatsby

7920-472: The American Dream to entrenched class disparities in American society. The novel underscores the limits of the American lower class to transcend their station of birth . Scholar Sarah Churchwell contends that Fitzgerald's novel is a tale of class warfare in a status-obsessed country that refuses to acknowledge publicly it even has a class system. Although scholars posit different explanations for

8052-413: The Jazz Age. The character of Daisy Buchanan has been identified specifically as personifying the emerging cultural archetype of the flapper. Flappers were typically young, modern women who bobbed their hair and wore short skirts. They also drank alcohol and had premarital sex . Despite the newfound societal freedoms attained by flappers in the 1920s, Fitzgerald's work critically examines

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8184-425: The author to abandon his original title of Trimalchio in West Egg in favor of The Great Gatsby . Following The Great Gatsby ' s publication in April 1925, Fitzgerald was dismayed that many literary critics misunderstood the novel, and he resented the fact that they failed to perceive the many parallels between the author's own life and his fictional character of Jay Gatsby; in particular, that both created

8316-498: The bay at the green light emanating from the end of Daisy's dock. Fitzgerald began outlining his third novel in June 1922. He longed to produce an exquisite work that was beautiful and intricately patterned, but the troubled production of his stage play The Vegetable repeatedly interrupted his progress. The play flopped, and Fitzgerald wrote magazine stories that winter to pay debts incurred by its production. He viewed these stories as all worthless, although included among them

8448-470: The bay from Great Neck—places that were home to many of New York's wealthiest established families. This real-life juxtaposition gave Fitzgerald his idea for "West Egg" and "East Egg". In the novel, Great Neck ( Kings Point ) became the "new money" peninsula of West Egg and Port Washington ( Sands Point ) became the "old money" East Egg. Several Gold Coast mansions in the area served as inspiration for Gatsby's estate including Land's End, Oheka Castle , and

8580-437: The book had sold fewer than 20,000 copies. Although the novel went through two initial printings, many copies remained unsold years later. Fitzgerald attributed the poor sales to the fact that women tended to be the primary audience for novels during this time, and Gatsby did not contain an admirable female character. According to his ledger, he earned only $ 2,000 from the book. Although Owen Davis ' 1926 stage adaptation and

8712-550: The book," Mizener wrote in his 1951 biography The Far Side of Paradise , "make overt Gatsby's embodiment of the American dream as a whole by identifying his attitude with the awe of the Dutch sailors" when first glimpsing the New World . Mizener noted the dream's enchantment is qualified by Fitzgerald via his emphasis on the dream's unreality. Mizener argued that Fitzgerald viewed the American dream itself as "ridiculous." Following

8844-428: The character of Jay Gatsby in the 2013 film The Great Gatsby , the fourth cinematic adaptation of Fitzgerald's 1925 novel. Various writers such as the American playwright and critic Terry Teachout have likened Gershwin himself to the character of Gatsby due to his attempt to transcend his lower-class background, his abrupt meteoric success, and his early death while in his thirties. The first individual to portray

8976-531: The character to be a contemporary Trimalchio , the crude upstart in Petronius 's Satyricon , and even refers to Gatsby as Trimalchio once in the novel. Unlike Gatsby's spectacular parties, Trimalchio participated in the orgies he hosted, although the characters are otherwise similar. Intent on emphasizing the connection to Trimalchio, Fitzgerald entitled an earlier draft of the novel as Trimalchio in West Egg . Fitzgerald's editor, Maxwell Perkins , convinced

9108-450: The character's father adheres to Lutheranism . These biographical details indicate Gatsby's family are recent German immigrants. Such origins preclude them from the status of Old Stock Americans . Consequently, scholars have posited that Gatsby's socio-economic ascent is deemed a threat not only due to his status as nouveau riche , but because he is perceived as an ethnic and societal outsider. Tom Buchanan's hostility towards Gatsby, who

9240-400: The collective origin of meaning and 'reality' for the entire social body" and "conveys the possibility of counter, collective meanings" driven by class antagonism . Randell argues that the story chronicles a young man's alienation with modernity due to a "lack of communal meaning" and his self-conscious descent into despair and melancholy . The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby

9372-415: The company of Carraway and Daisy's friend Jordan Baker. Tom borrowed Gatsby's yellow Rolls-Royce to drive into the city. He detoured to a filling station in the " valley of ashes ", a refuse dump on Long Island. The impoverished proprietor, George Wilson, voiced his concern that his wife Myrtle was having an affair with another man—unaware that Tom was the individual in question. At a hotel suite in

9504-496: The continuation of class differences in the United States, there is a consensus regarding the novel's message in conveying its underlying permanence. Although Gatsby ' s fundamental conflict occurs between entrenched sources of socio-economic power and upstarts like Gatsby who threaten their interests, Fitzgerald's novel shows that a class permanence persists despite the country's capitalist economy that prizes innovation and adaptability. Dianne Bechtel argues Fitzgerald plotted

9636-417: The continued limitations upon women's agency during this period. In this context, although early critics viewed the character of Daisy to be a "monster of bitchery ", later scholars such as Leland S. Person Jr. asserted that Daisy's character exemplifies the marginalization of women in the elite social environment that Fitzgerald depicts. Jay Gatsby Jay Gatsby (originally named James Gatz )

9768-612: The double-murder of a man and his lover on September 14, 1922, mere weeks before Fitzgerald arrived in Great Neck. Scholars have speculated that Fitzgerald based certain aspects of the ending of The Great Gatsby and various characterizations on this factual incident. Inspired by the Halls–Mills case, the mysterious persona of Gerlach and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island, Fitzgerald had written 18,000 words for his novel by mid-1923 but discarded most of his new story as

9900-474: The earlier consensus among professional critics that The Great Gatsby was merely a sensational story or a nostalgic period piece had effectively vanished. The tireless promotional efforts of literary critic Edmund Wilson, who was Fitzgerald's Princeton classmate and his close friend, led this Fitzgerald revival. In 1951, three years after Zelda's death in a hospital fire, Professor Arthur Mizener of Cornell University published The Far Side of Paradise ,

10032-465: The edges, so patently an up-from-the-street poseur that no one could fall for his stories for a second" and his "blunt performance turns Gatsby's entrancing smile into a suspicious smirk". In The Simpsons episode " The Great Phatsby ", Mr. Burns assumes Jay Gatsby's role, with the storyline spoofing the 2013 film adaptation. In the Family Guy episode " High School English ", Brian Griffin

10164-429: The end of prohibition and the onset of the Great Depression , Gerlach lost his immense wealth. Living in reduced circumstances, he attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head in 1939. Blinded after his suicide attempt, he lived as a helpless invalid for many years before dying on October 18, 1958, at Bellevue Hospital , New York City. He was buried in a pine casket at Long Island National Cemetery . "They're

10296-606: The entirety of the novel. Roger Ebert wrote that "perhaps Fitzgerald's words 'compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired ' is the best possible description of Thompson's life's work." By the mid-2000s, many literary critics considered The Great Gatsby to be one of the greatest novels ever written, and the work was part of the assigned curricula in the near majority of U.S. high schools. As of early 2020, The Great Gatsby had sold almost 30 million copies worldwide and continues to sell an additional 500,000 copies annually. Numerous foreign editions of

10428-437: The exclusive Long Island milieu, Fitzgerald quietly disapproved of the extravagant parties, and the wealthy persons he encountered often disappointed him. While striving to emulate the rich, he found their privileged lifestyle to be morally disquieting. Although Fitzgerald—like Gatsby—had always admired the rich, he nonetheless possessed a smoldering resentment towards them. In spring 1922, Nick Carraway —a Yale alumnus from

10560-427: The first biography of Fitzgerald. Mizener's bestselling biography emphasized The Great Gatsby ' s positive reception by literary critics, which may have further influenced public opinion and renewed interest in it. By 1960—thirty-five years after the novel's original publication—the book was steadily selling 100,000 copies per year. Renewed interest in it led The New York Times editorialist Mizener to proclaim

10692-534: The green light on the Buchanans' dock (visible across Long Island Sound from Gatsby's house) is frequently interpreted as a symbol of Gatsby's unrealizable goal to win Daisy and, consequently, to achieve the American Dream. Also, scholar Sarah Churchwell points out that adultery in the novel is linked to the loss of faith and broken promises, which symbolizes the corruption of the American Dream. Scholars and writers commonly ascribe Gatsby's inability to achieve

10824-399: The idea of portraying "a man who came from absolutely nothing, who created himself solely from his own imagination. Gatsby's one of those iconic characters because he can be interpreted in so many ways: a hopeless romantic, a completely obsessed wacko or a dangerous gangster intent on clinging to wealth". The character of Jay Gatsby has appeared many times in television adaptations. The first

10956-432: The illicit source of Gatsby's fortune. Fitzgerald conveys the hedonism of Jazz Age society by placing a relatable plotline within the historical context of the most raucous and flashiest era in American history. In Fitzgerald's eyes, the era represented a morally permissive time when Americans of all ages became disillusioned with prevailing social norms and obsessed with pleasure-seeking. Fitzgerald himself had

11088-449: The impressionable young writer and bluntly told him that "poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls." Heeding her father's advice, Ginevra spurned Fitzgerald due to his lack of financial prospects. Fitzgerald later claimed that Ginevra had rejected him "with the most supreme boredom and indifference." Purportedly, "Fitzgerald was so smitten by King that for years he could not think of her without tears coming to his eyes." Dexter Green

11220-467: The letter with "Yours in great depression". Fitzgerald soon received letters from contemporaries Willa Cather , Edith Wharton , and poet T. S. Eliot praising the novel. Although gratified by such correspondence, Fitzgerald sought public acclaim from professional critics. The Great Gatsby received generally favorable reviews from literary critics of the day. Edwin Clark of The New York Times felt

11352-511: The manuscript throughout the winter. Content after a few rounds of revision, Fitzgerald submitted the final version in February 1925. Fitzgerald's alterations included extensive revisions of the sixth and eighth chapters. He declined an offer of $ 10,000 for the serial rights to the book so that it could be published sooner. He received a $ 3,939 advance in 1923 and would receive $ 1,981.25 upon publication. Fitzgerald had difficulty choosing

11484-439: The name. The artwork for the first edition of The Great Gatsby, known as Celestial Eyes , is among the most celebrated in American literature and represents a unique instance in literary history in which a novel's commissioned artwork directly influenced the composition of the text. Rendered in an Art Deco visual style, the artwork depicts the disembodied face of a Jazz Age flapper with celestial eyes and rouged mouth over

11616-479: The nicest little touches of contemporary observation you could imagine—so light, so delicate, so sharp". In The Chicago Daily Tribune , H. L. Mencken judged the work's plot to be highly improbable, although he praised the writing as elegant and the "careful and brilliant finish". Several reviewers felt the novel left much to be desired following Fitzgerald's previous works and criticized him accordingly. Harvey Eagleton of The Dallas Morning News predicted that

11748-508: The novel have been published, and the text has been translated into 42 different languages. The work is Scribner's most popular title; in 2013, the e-book alone sold 185,000 copies. The novel's U.S. copyright expired on January 1, 2021, when all works published in 1925 entered the public domain . Since then, numerous altered and incomplete reprints have flooded the market. Following the novel's revival, later critical writings on The Great Gatsby focused on Fitzgerald's disillusionment with

11880-476: The novel signaled the end of Fitzgerald's artistic success. Ralph Coghlan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch dismissed the work as an inconsequential performance by a once-promising author who had grown bored and cynical. Ruth Snyder of New York Evening World lambasted the book's style as painfully forced and declared the editors of her newspaper were "quite convinced after reading The Great Gatsby that Mr. Fitzgerald

12012-403: The novel to illustrate that class transcends wealth in America. Even if the poorer Americans become rich, they remain inferior to those Americans with "old money". Consequently, Gatsby and other characters in the novel are trapped in a rigid American class system. Besides exploring the difficulties of achieving the American dream, The Great Gatsby explores societal gender expectations during

12144-410: The novel was a masterwork of 20th-century American literature . By 1974, The Great Gatsby had attained its status as a literary masterwork and was deemed a contender for the title of the " Great American Novel ". Hunter S. Thompson retyped pages of The Great Gatsby "just to get a feeling of what it was like to write that way." According to Thompson's friend William Nack , Thompson once retyped

12276-535: The novel was a mystical and glamorous tale of the Jazz Age. Similarly, Lillian C. Ford of the Los Angeles Times hailed the novel as a revelatory work of art that "leaves the reader in a mood of chastened wonder". The New York Post described Fitzgerald's prose style as scintillating and genuinely brilliant. The New York Herald Tribune was less impressed, referring to The Great Gatsby as "a literary lemon meringue" that nonetheless "contains some of

12408-415: The novel's plot as implausible since he had never intended for the story to be realistic. Instead, he crafted the work to be a romanticized depiction that was largely scenic and symbolic. According to his friend John Peale Bishop , Fitzgerald further resented the fact that critics failed to perceive the many parallels between the author's life and the character of Jay Gatsby; in particular, that both created

12540-453: The novel's publication, Cugat's preparatory drafts influenced his writing. Upon viewing Cugat's drafts before sailing for France in April–May 1924, Fitzgerald was so enamored that he later told editor Max Perkins that he had incorporated Cugat's imagery into the novel. This statement has led many to analyze interrelations between Cugat's art and Fitzgerald's text. One popular interpretation

12672-438: The novel, one which he wrote himself under the pen name of Thomas Parke D'Invilliers . Fitzgerald initially preferred titles referencing Trimalchio , the crude upstart in Petronius 's Satyricon , and even refers to Gatsby as Trimalchio once in the novel. Unlike Gatsby's spectacular parties, Trimalchio participated in the orgies he hosted but, according to literary critic Tony Tanner , there are subtle similarities between

12804-428: The novel. After its publication by Scribner's in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received generally favorable reviews, though some literary critics believed it did not equal Fitzgerald's previous efforts. Compared to his earlier novels, This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and Damned (1922), the novel was a commercial disappointment. It sold fewer than 20,000 copies by October, and Fitzgerald's hopes of

12936-478: The perils of environmental destruction in pursuit of self-interest . According to Kyle Keeler, Gatsby's quest for greater status manifests as self-centered, anthropocentric resource acquisition. Inspired by the predatory mining practices of his fictional mentor Dan Cody, Gatsby participates in extensive deforestation amid World War I and then undertakes bootlegging activities reliant upon exploiting South American agriculture . Gatsby conveniently ignores

13068-469: The promises of life.... It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again. No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams.... —F. Scott Fitzgerald, Chapter I, The Great Gatsby Soon after, Gatsby accompanied Daisy and her husband to Midtown Manhattan in New York City in

13200-403: The publication and commercial success of his debut novel This Side of Paradise in 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda Sayre relocated to a wealthy enclave on Long Island near New York City . Despite enjoying the exclusive Long Island milieu, Fitzgerald disapproved of the extravagant parties, and the wealthy persons he encountered often disappointed him. While striving to emulate

13332-509: The publication of his 1951 biography, Mizener popularized his interpretation of the novel as an explicit criticism of the American dream in a series of talks titled " The Great Gatsby and the American Dream." Expanding upon Mizener's thesis, scholar Roger L. Pearson traced in 1970 the literary origins of this dream to Colonial America . The dream is the belief that every individual, regardless of their origins, may seek and achieve their desired goals, "be they political, monetary, or social. It

13464-603: The rank of Major in the U.S. 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division and garnered decorations for extraordinary valor during the Meuse–Argonne offensive in 1918 from every Allied government, including the one of Montenegro , which King Nicholas I gave him the Order of Danilo , to "Major Jay Gatsby For Valour Extraordinary". After the Allied Powers signed an armistice with Imperial Germany , Gatsby resided in

13596-416: The realism of his previous two novels and to compose a creative work of sustained imagination. To this end, he consciously imitated the literary styles of Joseph Conrad and Willa Cather . He was particularly influenced by Cather's 1923 work, A Lost Lady , which features a wealthy married socialite pursued by a variety of romantic suitors and who symbolically embodies the American dream. He later wrote

13728-455: The return trip to East Egg, Daisy struck and killed—either intentionally or unintentionally—her husband's mistress Myrtle standing in the highway. At Daisy's house in East Egg, Gatsby assured Daisy he would take the blame if they were caught. The next day, Tom informed George that it was Gatsby's car that killed Myrtle. Visiting Gatsby's mansion, George killed Gatsby with a revolver while he

13860-402: The rich, he found their privileged lifestyle to be morally disquieting, and he felt repulsed by their careless indifference to less wealthy persons. Like Gatsby, Fitzgerald admired the rich, but he nonetheless harbored a deep resentment towards them. This recurrent theme is ascribable to Fitzgerald's life experiences in which he was "a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy's school;

13992-570: The riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922. Following a move to the French Riviera , Fitzgerald completed a rough draft of the novel in 1924. He submitted it to editor Maxwell Perkins , who persuaded Fitzgerald to revise the work over the following winter. After making revisions, Fitzgerald was satisfied with the text, but remained ambivalent about the book's title and considered several alternatives. Painter Francis Cugat 's dust jacket art, named Celestial Eyes , greatly impressed Fitzgerald, and he incorporated its imagery into

14124-563: The role in Florence Welch 's musical Gatsby: An American Myth . A number of actors later portrayed Jay Gatsby in cinematic adaptations of Fitzgerald's novel. Warner Baxter played the role in the lost 1926 silent film . Although the film received mixed reviews, Warner Baxter's portrayal of Gatsby was praised by several critics, although other critics found his acting to be overshadowed by Lois Wilson as Daisy. Purportedly, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda Sayre loathed

14256-552: The role of Gatsby on the stage when he headlined the 1926 Broadway adaptation of Fitzgerald's novel at the Ambassador Theatre in New York City. He repeated the role for 112 performances. That same year, screen actor Warner Baxter played the role in the lost 1926 silent film adaptation . During the subsequent decades, the role has been played by many actors including Alan Ladd , Kirk Douglas , Robert Ryan , Robert Redford , Leonardo DiCaprio , and others. After

14388-504: The role of Jay Gatsby was 37-year-old James Rennie , a stage actor who headlined the 1926 Broadway adaptation of Fitzgerald's novel at the Ambassador Theatre in New York City. As "a handsome Canadian with a good voice", Rennie's portrayal of Gatsby was met with rave reviews from theater critics. He repeated the role for 112 performances and then paused when he had to voyage to England due to an ailing family member. After returning from England, Rennie continued to appear as Gatsby when

14520-493: The same shirt twice, used the phrase "old sport", and fostered myths about himself including that he was a relation of the German Kaiser . These details about Gerlach inspired Fitzgerald in his creation of Jay Gatsby . During this same time period, the daily newspapers sensationalized the Hall–Mills murder case over many months, and the highly publicized case likely influenced the plot of Fitzgerald's novel. The case involved

14652-507: The since-demolished Beacon Towers . While living on Long Island, the Fitzgeralds' enigmatic neighbor was Max Gerlach . Purportedly born in America to a German immigrant family, Gerlach had been a major in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I, and he later became a gentleman bootlegger who lived like a millionaire in New York. Flaunting his new wealth, Gerlach threw lavish parties, never wore

14784-468: The sparsely attended funeral. After Gatsby's death, Nick comes to hate New York and decides that Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and he were all Midwesterners unsuited to Eastern life . Nick encounters Tom and initially refuses to shake his hand. Tom admits he was the one who told George that Gatsby owned the vehicle that killed Myrtle. Before returning to the Midwest, Nick returns to Gatsby's mansion and stares across

14916-536: The stage play embarked upon a successful nationwide tour. As Fitzgerald was vacationing in Europe at the time, he never saw the 1926 Broadway play, but his agent Harold Ober sent him telegrams which quoted the many positive reviews of the production. In later stage adaptations, many actors have played Jay Gatsby. The Yale Dramatic Association performed a musical production of The Great Gatsby in May–June 1956. This

15048-538: The status of an Old Stock American . As the embodiment of "latest America", Gatsby's rise triggers status anxieties typical of the 1920s era, involving xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment . A century after the novel's publication in April 1925, Gatsby has become a touchstone in American culture and is often evoked in popular media in the context of the American dream —the belief that every individual, regardless of their origins, may seek and achieve their desired goals, "be they political, monetary, or social. It

15180-549: The time that Gatsby was republished in Edmund Wilson 's edition of The Last Tycoon in 1941, the prevailing opinion in writers' circles deemed the novel to be an enduring work of fiction. In the spring of 1942, mere months after the United States' entrance into World War II , an association of publishing executives created the Council on Books in Wartime with the stated purpose of distributing paperback Armed Services Editions books to combat troops . The Great Gatsby

15312-453: The twenty-story Plaza Hotel , Tom confronted Gatsby over his ongoing affair with his wife in the presence of Daisy, Nick, and Jordan. Gatsby urged Daisy to disavow her love for Tom and to declare that she had only married Tom for his money. Daisy asserted that she loved both Tom and Gatsby. Leaving the hotel, Daisy departed with Gatsby in his yellow Rolls-Royce while Tom departed in his car with Jordan and Nick. While driving Gatsby's car on

15444-463: The two characters. By November 1924, Fitzgerald wrote to Perkins that he had settled upon the title of Trimalchio in West Egg . Disliking Fitzgerald's chosen title of Trimalchio in West Egg , editor Max Perkins persuaded him that the reference was too obscure and that people would be unable to pronounce it. Zelda and Perkins both expressed their preference for The Great Gatsby , and the next month Fitzgerald agreed. A month before publication, after

15576-660: The wasteful devastation of the valley of ashes to pursue a consumerist lifestyle and exacerbates the wealth gap that became increasingly salient in 1920s America. For these reasons, Keeler argues that—while Gatsby's socioeconomic ascent and self-transformation depend upon these very factors—each one is nonetheless partially responsible for the ongoing ecological crisis . Both the character of Jay Gatsby and Fitzgerald's novel have been linked to composer George Gershwin 's 1924 song Rhapsody in Blue . As early as 1927, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald opined that Rhapsody in Blue idealized

15708-477: The wife of one of his friends. Devlin recounts how Judy's beauty has faded, and her husband treats her callously. This news demoralizes Dexter as he still loves Judy. Later Dexter realizes that his dream is gone and that he can never return home. Fitzgerald biographer Matthew J. Bruccoli described "Winter Dreams" as "the strongest of the Gatsby-cluster stories." He continues: Like the novel, it examines

15840-422: The work soon became a core part of most American high school curricula and a part of American popular culture. Numerous stage and film adaptations followed in the subsequent decades. Gatsby continues to attract popular and scholarly attention. Scholars emphasize the novel's treatment of social class , inherited versus self-made wealth , gender , race , and environmentalism , and its cynical attitude towards

15972-580: The world. When Cody died in 1912, he left Gatsby $ 25,000 in his will (equivalent to $ 789,310 in 2023), but Cody's mistress Ella Kaye cheated Gatsby out of the inheritance. In 1917, after the United States' entrance into World War I , Gatsby enlisted as a doughboy in the American Expeditionary Forces . During infantry training at Camp Taylor near Louisville, Kentucky , 27-year-old Gatsby met and fell deeply in love with 18-year-old debutante Daisy Fay . Dispatched to Europe, Gatsby attained

16104-420: The youthful zeitgeist of the Jazz Age . In subsequent decades, both the latter era and Fitzgerald's literary works were often linked by critics and scholars with Gershwin's composition. In 1941, historian Peter Quennell opined that Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby embodied "the sadness and the remote jauntiness of a Gershwin tune". Accordingly, Rhapsody in Blue was used as a dramatic leitmotif for

16236-711: Was " Winter Dreams ", which Fitzgerald described as his first attempt at the Gatsby idea. "The whole idea of Gatsby", he later explained to a friend, "is the unfairness of a poor young man not being able to marry a girl with money. This theme comes up again and again because I lived it". In October 1922, after the birth of their only child, Frances Scott "Scottie" Fitzgerald , the Fitzgeralds moved to Great Neck, New York , on Long Island. Their neighbors in Great Neck included such newly wealthy personages as writer Ring Lardner , actor Lew Fields and comedian Ed Wynn . These figures were all considered to be nouveau riche , unlike those who came from Manhasset Neck , which sat across

16368-444: Was an officer in the American Expeditionary Forces . They fell in love, but when Gatsby was deployed overseas, Daisy reluctantly married Tom. Gatsby hopes that his newfound wealth and dazzling parties will make Daisy reconsider. Gatsby uses Nick to stage a reunion with Daisy, and the two embark upon an affair. In September, Tom discovers the affair when Daisy carelessly addresses Gatsby with unabashed intimacy in front of him. Later, at

16500-598: Was commissioned as a second lieutenant . While awaiting deployment to the Western front where he hoped to die in combat, he was stationed at Camp Sheridan in Montgomery, Alabama , where he met Zelda Sayre , a vivacious 17-year-old Southern belle . After learning that Ginevra had married wealthy Chicago businessman William "Bill" Mitchell, Fitzgerald asked Zelda to marry him. Zelda agreed but postponed their marriage until he became financially successful. Fitzgerald

16632-429: Was criticized by Bosley Crowther of The New York Times who felt that Ladd was overly solemn in the title role and gave the impression of "a patient and saturnine fellow who is plagued by a desperate love". The film's producer Richard Maibaum claimed that he cast Ladd as Gatsby based on the actor's rags-to-riches similarity to the character: "I was in his house and he took me up to the second floor, where he had

16764-453: Was driving the car, but that he intends to take the blame for the accident to protect her. Nick urges Gatsby to flee to avoid prosecution, but he refuses. After Tom tells George that Gatsby owns the car that struck Myrtle, a distraught George assumes the owner of the vehicle must be Myrtle's lover. George fatally shoots Gatsby in his mansion's swimming pool, then kills himself. Several days after Gatsby's murder, his father Henry Gatz arrives for

16896-543: Was in May 1955 as an NBC episode for Robert Montgomery Presents starring Robert Montgomery as Gatsby. In May 1958, CBS filmed the novel as an episode of Playhouse 90 , also titled The Great Gatsby , which starred 50-year-old Robert Ryan as the 32-year-old Jay Gatsby. Toby Stephens later portrayed the character in a 2000 television film adaptation . In a 2001 review of the television film, The New York Times criticized Stephens' performance as "so rough around

17028-670: Was its first musical adaptation. In 1999, Jerry Hadley portrayed the character in John Harbison 's operatic adaptation of the work performed at the New York Metropolitan Opera , and Lorenzo Pisoni portrayed Gatsby in Simon Levy 's 2006 stage adaptation of Fitzgerald's novel. In 2023, Jeremy Jordan played Gatsby in The Great Gatsby: A New Musical , and, in 2024, Isaac Cole Powell played

17160-473: Was madly in love with him, her upper-class family openly discouraged his courtship of their daughter because of his lower-class status, and her father purportedly told him that "poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls". Rejected by Ginevra's family as a suitor because of his lack of financial prospects, a suicidal Fitzgerald enlisted in the United States Army amid World War I and

17292-487: Was one of them. Within the next several years, 155,000 copies of Gatsby were distributed to U.S. soldiers overseas, and the book proved popular among beleaguered troops, according to the Saturday Evening Post ' s 1945 report. By 1944, a full-scale Fitzgerald revival had occurred. Full-length scholarly articles on Fitzgerald's works were being published in periodicals and, by the following year,

17424-418: Was relaxing in his swimming pool and then committed suicide by shooting himself with the revolver. Despite the many flappers and sheiks who frequented Gatsby's lavish parties on a weekly basis, only one reveler referred to as "Owl-Eyes" attended Gatsby's funeral. Also present at the funeral were bond salesman Nick Carraway and Gatsby's father Henry C. Gatz, who stated his pride in his son's achievement as

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