The beginning
Chapter one
Nick Carraway is the narrator of the novel. He tells us about events that happened in the summer of 1922.
He moves from Minnesota in the Midwest to the Northeast to further a career in the finance industry. He works in New York but he lives just outside the city in Long Island. He moves to an area called West Egg – the People who have recently acquired wealth. part of Long Island – and finds himself living next door to a mysterious man called Gatsby.
Nick has connections to the A person, family, or lineage possessing inherited wealth. set - he was educated at Yale and his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, lives in the more fashionable area of East Egg. When having dinner with Daisy and her husband Tom, Nick meets a girl called Jordan and begins a relationship with her.
Chapter two
Nick goes to New York with Tom Buchanan and his mistress Myrtle Wilson. At the party Myrtle taunts Tom about Daisy, repeating her name over and over again, and he responds by hitting her.
Chapter three
Nick is invited to one of Gatsby’s lavish and decadent parties. He and Jordan meet Gatsby although they don’t realise who he is at first. There is a great deal of speculation about Gatsby’s background at the party. Gatsby tells Jordan a secret but the reader does not find out at this stage what it is.