So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby
Beating Against Time
B
“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel set in the 1920s, during the Roaring Twenties, a period of economic prosperity and cultural change in America. The story is narrated by Nick Carraway, a young man who moves to West Egg, Long Island, and becomes entangled in the lives of his wealthy and mysterious neighbor, Jay Gatsby, and his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, who lives across the bay in East Egg with her husband, Tom.
Gatsby is deeply in love with Daisy and throws lavish parties in the hope of winning her back, despite the fact that she is married. As Nick becomes more involved in Gatsby’s world, he learns about Gatsby’s past and the lengths to which he has gone to achieve his version of the American Dream. The novel explores themes of wealth, love, social class, and the corruption of the American Dream, culminating in a tragic and poignant ending that reveals the emptiness of the lives led by many of the characters.