The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
“A devastating critique of the American Dream, written by a man who lived it and lost everything.”
EraModernist / Jazz Age
Pages180
Difficulty★★★☆☆ Challenging
AP Appearances12
Character Analysis
Born James Gatz in North Dakota — the name change IS the character. Every detail of Gatsby is constructed: the shirts, the parties, the 'old sport,' the Oxford story. He's the American Dream made flesh, and his destruction is the destruction of that dream. The tragedy isn't that he dies — it's that the dream was never real.
How They Speak
Formal, rehearsed — 'old sport' is an affectation. Avoids contractions. His language is a costume.