The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby Summary | Chapter 1 Summary

The Great Gatsby opens up with a comment by the narrator on some advice given to him by his father, advice which conditioned his relationship to many people during his young adulthood. "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone…just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages you've had." It is obvious, from the very beginning of the book, that the narrator, Nick Carraway, is well aware of his membership in the upper class of society and defines his outlook based on that position. His father is a successful hardware company owner, a business supervised by three generations of Carraways since its inception during the Civil War. Young Carraway, a graduate of Yale, has decided to move upwards into the bond business, an aspiration common among young men in his society.

In preparation for this new career, Carraway has bought several volumes of books dedicated to his emergence in the bond industry and has rented a small cottage on West Egg, an island in Long Island Sound. His humble dwelling is in plain sight of a prestigious mansion, owned by his neighbor, a Mr. Gatsby.

The summer begins for him with a visit to Tom and Daisy Buchanan's home. Tom is an old buddy from Yale, a football superstar, who may never recover from his moments of national notoriety in college. He and Daisy, a distant cousin of Carraway, have gotten back from Europe and are now dedicating their lives to the upper middle class society, with an emphasis on Polo, currently Tom's passion. They have a new baby, a little girl, who is sleeping soundly when Nick ventures in.

Nick joins Daisy and a Ms. Baker on a candle-lit patio with Tom, as Nick is initiated into this strange passionate world of sadness and subterfuge. Large and "hulking," Tom is carving out a new life on the East Coast, a life of passionate, racially motivated ideology, a none-too-well-disguised affair with another woman and an abundance of enormously expensive polo ponies. The affair is broken to Nick by Daisy's friend, Ms. Baker, with the understanding that this is nothing but an open secret. Daisy had called Nick a rose, but actually it is Daisy, alone for a moment with Nick, who is like a flower, a wounded flower, radiant, flowing with life but somehow abnormally disconsolate, a broken petal waving in the wind. It is the affair that is probably crushing Daisy and Nick wishes she would take her child in arms and flee from her wanton, racist husband. But this doesn't seem to be in the cards.

There is small talk. Nick, although related to Daisy, did not appear at her wedding. But she excuses him when he reminds her that he had not yet returned from the War. She hears he has been taken, meaning, perhaps engaged. But Nick denies this. It was a rumor, a reflection of a friendship, which he refused to bury. Still, he found solace from these rumors in his escape to the East. Daisy, half serious, promises to match him with Ms. Barker, who, in the end, turns out to be no less than the famous and athletic Jordan Baker, a high profile golf player. Nick has often seen on the covers of society magazines. Ms. Baker, hearing of Daisy's somewhat romantic intentions towards her friend, does not protest, but goes towards her own bedroom quite easily so as to be ready for the challenge of tomorrow's tournament. . Nick, a little puzzled by his experience of the Buchanans, returns home.

He stands outside his tiny house, overshadowed by his neighbor's mansion, when he sees no less a person, hands in pocket, eyes riveted on the star-studded sky, than Gatsby himself.

He motions to Gatsby but Gatsby makes clear that he is busily alone in his world and does not want to be bothered. He stretches out his arms towards the ocean, in a curious gesture. Nick almost thinks he sees him tremble and then, momentarily, looks away. He looks back and Gatsby has vanished.