The Great Gatsby
Jazz Age tragedy
The Great Gatsby is F.
Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel about wealth, obsession, and the American Dream in the Jazz Age.
The title character, Jay Gatsby, throws lavish parties hoping to reunite with a lost love.
The book is a staple of American high school curricula and widely considered a masterpiece of twentieth-century literature: We're reading The Great Gatsby in English class.
Strong desire for achievement
- reinventionComplete self-transformation
- greenlightAuthorization to proceed
- self-madeSuccessful through own efforts
- bootleggingIllegal alcohol production/sale
ambition · success · prosperity · corruption · disillusionment · failure · hollowness · façade
Authorization to proceed
- DaisyFemale name, often bovine
- dreamSleeping mind's narrative
- façadeFalse outward appearance
- fantasyImaginative mental wandering
deception · unreality · disillusionment · mirage · delusion · romanticism · idealization · past
Illicit liquor establishment
- flapperTwenties unconventional young woman
- prohibitionAuthoritative legal ban
- bootleggingIllegal alcohol production/sale
- CharlestonSouthern Atlantic port city
jazz · parties · 1920s · Fitzgerald · postwar · modernity · freedom · youth
Organized social gatherings
- champagneEffervescent celebratory wine
- excessSurplus beyond need
- extravaganceExcessive, wasteful spending
- hedonismPursuit of gratification
corruption · mansion · opulence · indulgence · moral decay · dissipation · orgy · revelry
Patronymic from Gerald
- classicOf lasting excellence
- literatureBody of written works
- narratorOne who tells events
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
greenlight · prose · modernism · American · canon · 1925 · Scribner · chapters
Cessation of life
- MyrtleFeminine name from botany
- WilsonAnglo-Saxon patronymic surname
- shootingDischarging a weapon
- poolCollective fund or basin
funeral · carelessness · recklessness · betrayal · loneliness · abandonment · solitude · violence
aspiration
Strong desire for achievement
- reinventionComplete self-transformation
- greenlightAuthorization to proceed
- self-madeSuccessful through own efforts
bootlegging · ambition · success · prosperity · corruption · disillusionment · failure · hollowness · façade · wealth
greenlight
Authorization to proceed
fantasy · deception · unreality · disillusionment · mirage · delusion · romanticism · idealization · past · memory
speakeasy
Illicit liquor establishment
- flapperTwenties unconventional young woman
- prohibitionAuthoritative legal ban
- bootleggingIllegal alcohol production/sale
Charleston · jazz · parties · 1920s · Fitzgerald · postwar · modernity · freedom · youth · rebellion
parties
Organized social gatherings
- champagneEffervescent celebratory wine
- excessSurplus beyond need
- extravaganceExcessive, wasteful spending
hedonism · corruption · mansion · opulence · indulgence · moral decay · dissipation · orgy · revelry · squander
Fitzgerald
Patronymic from Gerald
- classicOf lasting excellence
- literatureBody of written works
- narratorOne who tells events
symbolism · greenlight · prose · modernism · American · canon · 1925 · Scribner · chapters · epigraph
death
Cessation of life
pool · funeral · carelessness · recklessness · betrayal · loneliness · abandonment · solitude · violence · accident
- 2013 FilmsGravity, American Hustle, Dallas Buyers Club, Captain Phillips, Nebraska
- 20th Century Books1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Catch-22, Grapes of Wrath
- Classic BooksPride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, Moby-Dick, Wuthering Heights
- School ClassicsTo Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, Romeo and Juliet, The Scarlet Letter, Hamlet
- American LiteratureTo Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Moby Dick, Grapes of Wrath
- American BooksTo Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, Catch-22, Walden, Uncle Tom's Cabin
The Great Gatsbyhappily ever after
Traditional story's final promise
Pride and Prejudice · romantic comedy · A Christmas Carol · redemption narrative · Jane Eyre
The Great GatsbyMoby-Dick
Epic whaling novel
Infinite Jest · Ulysses · Atlas Shrugged · War and Peace · Les Misérables
The Great GatsbyRocky
Boxing film protagonist
rags-to-riches · Atlas Shrugged · The Fountainhead · prosperity gospel