thesis for the great gatsby

How to Write a Thesis Statement for "The Great Gatsby"

Shelia odak.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” is a classic of American fiction and a staple in the literature classroom. The tragic story of Jay Gatsby plays out against the opulence of the 1920s. The text offers a range of subjects from which to create a thesis statement, including the book’s symbolism, the pursuit of the American dream, the clash of social classes and even the novel’s title. By learning why these ideas are important components of the book and understanding the purpose of a thesis statement, you can create the foundation for a successful essay.

Know that a thesis statement announces the topic and viewpoint of your paper in a succinct, direct manner. Place it at the end of the introduction in a single sentence.

Understand the meaning and purpose behind the book's symbolism. Concentrate on the purpose of the symbolism, not just one or two examples. If, for instance, several of the novel’s symbols deal with problems of materialism, determine why Fitzgerald would want to highlight materialism in his novel.

Know how the book deals with the American dream, through the character of Gatsby or the other characters in the novel. As above, determine how Fitzgerald feels the American dream through the imagery he employs.

Understand Fitzgerald's point of view about the various social classes that the characters in the novel represent. To narrow the topic, choose to write about how Fitzgerald deals with one class.

Decide what is meant by the novel’s title, "The Great Gatsby," and tailor your thesis statement around the adjective “great.” Be sure to consider if the title is ironic.

• The thesis can alert you when you go off track during the writing process: If anything in the body of your paper does not support the thesis, it should be deleted.

About the Author

Shelia Odak has over 10 years writing and editing experience for consumer and trade publications including "Radio/TV Interview Report." She has worked for over nine years in education and holds a Ph.D. from Georgia State University. Odak writes on a range of topics including education, literature and frugal living.

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Need to write about a theme for a Great Gatsby assignment or just curious about what exactly a theme is? Not sure where to start? Learn here what a theme is, what the main themes in The Great Gatsby are, and what the best tips for writing about themes for your English/Language Arts class essays are.

We will also link to our specific articles on each theme so you can learn even more in-depth about themes central to Gatsby .

What Is a Theme? Why Should You Care?

First things first: what exactly is a theme? In literature, a theme is a central topic a book deals with. This central topic is revealed through plot events, the actions and dialogue of the characters, and even the narrator's tone. Themes can be very broad, like love, money, or death, or more specific, like people versus technology, racial discrimination, or the American Dream.

In short, a book's theme can usually answer the question, "what's the point of this book?". They're the "so what?" of literary analysis. Also, note that books can definitely have more than one major theme —in Gatsby we identify seven!

Knowing a book's major theme(s) is crucial to writing essays, since many assignments want you to connect your argument to a book's theme. For example, you might be asked to write an essay about a prompt like this: "How does the life of Jay Gatsby exemplify (or deconstruct) the idea of the American Dream?" This prompt has you connect specific details in Jay Gatsby's life to the larger theme of the American Dream. This is why many teachers love theme essays: because they encourage you to connect small details to big ideas!

Furthermore, the AP English Literature test always has an essay question that has you analyze some aspect of a book and then "compare it to the theme of the work as a whole." (If you want specific examples you can access the last 15 years of AP English Literature free response questions here , using your College Board account.) So this skill won't just help you in your English classes, it will also help you pass the AP English Literature test if you're taking it!

So keep reading to learn about the major themes in Gatsby and how they are revealed in the book, and also to get links to our in-depth articles about each theme.

Overview of Key Themes in The Great Gatsby

Before we introduce our seven main themes, we'll briefly describe how the story and characters suggest the major Great Gatsby themes. Remember that the story is set in the 1920s, a period when America's economy was booming, and takes place in New York: specifically the wealthy Long Island towns of West Egg and East Egg, as well as Manhattan and Queens.

As you should know from the book ( check out our summary if you're still hazy on the details!), The Great Gatsby tells the story of James Gatz , a poor farm boy who manages to reinvent himself as the fabulously rich Jay Gatsby, only to be killed after an attempt to win over his old love Daisy Buchanan . Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan , and they're both from old money, causing them to look down Gatsby's newly rich crowd (and for Tom to look down at Gatsby himself).

Meanwhile, Tom is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson , the wife of mechanic George Wilson . Through the Wilsons, we see the struggles of the working class in dismal Queens , NY. As if they didn't already have it hard enough, Myrtle is killed in a hit-and-run accident (caused by Daisy Buchanan), and George, who's manipulated by Tom to believe that Jay Gatsby was both his wife's lover and her murderer, ends up shooting Gatsby and then himself.

The whole story is told by Nick Carraway , a second cousin of Daisy's and classmate of Tom's who moves in next to Gatsby's mansion and eventually befriends Jay -- and then comes to deeply admire him, despite or perhaps because of Jay's fervent desire to repeat his past with Daisy. The tragic chain of events at the novel's climax, along with the fact that both the Buchanans can easily retreat from the damage they caused, causes Nick to become disillusioned with life in New York and retreat back to his hometown in the Midwest.

Aside from having a very unhappy ending, the novel might just ruin swimming pools for you as well.

The fact that the major characters come from three distinct class backgrounds (working class, newly rich, and old money) suggests that class is a major theme. But the rampant materialism and the sheer amount of money spent by Gatsby himself is a huge issue and its own theme. Related to money and class, the fact that both Gatsby and the Wilsons strive to improve their positions in American society, only to end up dead, also suggests that the American Dream -- and specifically its hollowness -- is a key theme in the book as well.

But there are other themes at play here, too. Every major character is involved in at least one romantic relationship , revealing that they are all driven by love, sex, and desire -- a major theme. Also, the rampant bad behavior (crime, cheating, and finally murder) and lack of real justice makes ethics and morality a key theme. Death also looms large over the novel's plot, alongside the threat of failure.

And finally, a strong undercurrent to all of these themes is identity itself: can James Gatz really become Jay Gatsby, or was he doomed from the start? Can someone who is not from old money ever blend in with that crowd? Could Gatsby really aspire to repeat his past with Daisy, or is that past self gone forever?

In short, just by looking at the novel's plot, characters, and ending, we can already get a strong sense of Gatsby's major themes. Let's now look at each of those themes one by one (and be sure to check out the links to our full theme breakdowns!).

The 7 Major Great Gatsby Themes

Money and Materialism : Everyone in the novel is money-obsessed, whether they were born with money (Tom, Daisy, Jordan, and Nick to a lesser extent), whether they made a fortune (Gatsby), or whether they're eager for more (Myrtle and George). So why are the characters so materialistic? How does their materialism affect their choices? Get a guide to each of the characters' material motivations and how they shape the novel.

Society and Class: Building on the money and materialism theme, the novel draws clear distinctions between the kind of money you have: old money (inherited) or new money (earned). And there is also a clear difference between the lifestyles of the wealthy, who live on Long Island and commute freely to Manhattan, and the working class people stuck in between, mired in Queens. By the end of the novel, our main characters who are not old money (Gatsby, Myrtle, and George) are all dead, while the inherited-money club is still alive. What does this say about class in Gatsby? Why is their society so rigidly classist? Learn more about the various social classes in Gatsby and how they affect the novel's outcome.

The American Dream : The American Dream is the idea anyone can make it in America (e.g. gain fame, fortune, and success) through enough hard work and determination. So is Jay Gatsby an example of the dream? Or does his involvement in crime suggest the Dream isn't actually real? And where does this leave the Wilsons, who are also eager to improve their lot in life but don't make it out of the novel alive? Finally, do the closing pages of the novel endorse the American Dream or write it off as a fantasy? Learn what the American Dream is and how the novel sometimes believes in it, and sometimes sees it as a reckless fantasy.

Love, Desire, and Relationships : All of the major characters are driven by love, desire, or both, but only Tom and Daisy's marriage lasts out of the novel's five major relationships and affairs. So is love an inherently unstable force? Or do the characters just experience it in the wrong way? Get an in-depth guide to each of Gatsby's major relationships.

Death and Failure: Nick narrates Gatsby two years after the events in question, and since he's obviously aware of the tragedy awaiting not only Gatsby but Myrtle and George as well, the novel has a sad, reflective, even mournful tone. Is the novel saying that ambition is inherently dangerous (especially in a classist society like 1920s America), or is it more concerned with the danger of Gatsby's intense desire to reclaim the past? Explore those questions here.

Morality and Ethics: The novel is full of bad behavior: lying, cheating, physical abuse, crime, and finally murder. Yet none of the characters ever answer to the law, and God is only mentioned as an exclamation, or briefly projected onto an advertisement . Does the novel push for the need to fix this lack of morality, or does it accept it as the normal state of affairs in the "wild, wild East"?

The Mutability of Identity: Mutability just means "subject to change," so this theme is about how changeable (or not!) personal identity is. Do people really change? Or are our past selves always with us? And how would this shape our desire to reclaim parts of our past? Gatsby wants to have it both ways: to change himself from James Gatz into the sophisticated, wealthy Jay Gatsby, but also to preserve his past with Daisy. Does he fail because it's impossible to change? Because it's impossible to repeat the past? Or both?

How to Write About The Great Gatsby Themes

So now that you know about the major themes of The Great Gatsby , how can you go about writing about them? First up: look closely at your prompt.

Sometimes an essay prompt will come right out and ask you to write about a theme , for example "is The American Dream in Gatsby alive or dead?" or "Write about the relationships in Gatsby. What is the novel saying about the nature of love and desire?" For those essays, you will obviously be writing about one of the novel's major themes. But even though those prompts have big-picture questions, make sure to find small supporting details to help make your argument.

For example, if you're discussing the American Dream and arguing it's dead in the novel, don't just make that claim and be done with it. Instead, you can explore Gatsby's past as James Gatz, George Wilson's exhausted complacency, and Myrtle's treatment at the hands of Tom as examples of how the American Dream is treated in the novel. Obviously those examples are far from exhaustive, but hopefully you get the idea: find smaller details to support the larger argument.

On the other hand, many essay prompts about Gatsby will look like a question about something specific, like a character or symbol:

• Explore Tom and Daisy as people who 'retreat into their money.'
• What does the green light at the end of Daisy's dock represent? How does its meaning change throughout the novel?
• Show how Fitzgerald uses clothing (and the changing of costumes) to tell the reader more about the characters and/or express theme(s).

These prompts are actually a chance for you to take that detailed analysis and connect it to one of the larger themes—in other words, even though the prompt doesn't state it explicitly, you should still be connecting those more focused topics to one of the big-picture themes.

For example, if you talk about Tom and Daisy Buchanan, you will definitely end up talking about society and class. If you talk about the green light, you will end up talking about dreams and goals, specifically the American Dream. And if you discuss clothing to talk about the characters, you will definitely touch on money and materialism, as well as society and class (like how Gatsby's pink suit makes him stand out as new money to Tom Buchanan, or how Myrtle adopts a different dress to play at being wealthy and sophisticated).

In short, for these more specific prompts, you start from the ground (small details and observations) and build up to discussing the larger themes, even if the prompt doesn't say to do so explicitly!

What's Next?

Now you're an expert on themes, but what about symbols? If you need to write about the important symbols in The Great Gatsby, check out our symbols overview for a complete guide.

Want a full analysis of Jay Gatsby and his backstory? Not sure how his story connects with the American Dream? Get the details here .

Want to go back to square one? Get started with Chapter 1 of our Great Gatsby plot summary.

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The Great Gatsby

F. scott fitzgerald, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

The American Dream—that hard work can lead one from rags to riches—has been a core facet of American identity since its inception. Settlers came west to America from Europe seeking wealth and freedom. The pioneers headed west for the same reason. The Great Gatsby shows the tide turning east, as hordes flock to New York City seeking stock market fortunes. The Great Gatsby portrays this shift as a symbol of the American Dream's corruption. It's no longer a vision of building a life; it's just about getting rich.

Gatsby symbolizes both the corrupted Dream and the original uncorrupted Dream. He sees wealth as the solution to his problems, pursues money via shady schemes, and reinvents himself so much that he becomes hollow, disconnected from his past. Yet Gatsby's corrupt dream of wealth is motivated by an incorruptible love for Daisy . Gatsby's failure does not prove the folly of the American Dream—rather it proves the folly of short-cutting that dream by allowing corruption and materialism to prevail over hard work, integrity, and real love. And the dream of love that remains at Gatsby's core condemns nearly every other character in the novel, all of whom are empty beyond just their lust for money.

The American Dream ThemeTracker

The American Dream Quotes in The Great Gatsby

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Great Gatsby — Great Gatsby Conclusion

Great Gatsby Conclusion

• Categories: American Dream The Great Gatsby

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Words: 664 |

Published: Mar 19, 2024

Words: 664 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

I. introduction.

• A. As we delve into the world of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, The Great Gatsby, we are transported back to the roaring twenties, a time of excess and extravagance. Set against the backdrop of the Jazz Age, the story follows the lives of the enigmatic Jay Gatsby and the elusive Daisy Buchanan, exploring themes of love, wealth, and the elusive American Dream.

B. At the heart of The Great Gatsby lies the theme of the conclusion, which serves as a poignant reminder of the consequences of the characters' actions and the illusory nature of the American Dream. Through the tragic fate of its characters, Fitzgerald masterfully portrays the emptiness that lies beneath the facade of wealth and status.

C. thesis statement: the conclusion of the great gatsby highlights the consequences of the characters' actions and the illusion of the american dream, ultimately revealing the emptiness that pervades their lives despite their pursuit of wealth and success., ii. the downfall of jay gatsby, a. gatsby's infatuation with daisy buchanan serves as the driving force behind his actions throughout the novel. his obsessive desire to win back daisy, the love of his life, leads him down a path of deception and manipulation, ultimately culminating in tragedy..

• B. Gatsby's tragic end, marked by his untimely death, serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of his actions. Despite his wealth and lavish parties, Gatsby is ultimately unable to attain the happiness and fulfillment he seeks, highlighting the emptiness that lies at the core of his existence.

C. The impact of Gatsby's downfall reverberates throughout the novel, underscoring the theme of the illusory nature of the American Dream. Gatsby's pursuit of wealth and status ultimately leads to his demise, serving as a cautionary tale for those who believe that material success equates to happiness.

Iii. the emptiness of the american dream, a. the 1920s were a time of unprecedented economic prosperity, with many americans striving to achieve the trappings of success, such as wealth and status. the pursuit of the american dream, characterized by the desire for upward mobility and material wealth, was central to the ethos of the era., b. however, as the characters in the great gatsby soon discover, the pursuit of the american dream often leads to disillusionment and emptiness. despite their wealth and social status, characters like tom and daisy buchanan find themselves trapped in a cycle of unhappiness and unfulfillment, highlighting the hollowness that lies at the heart of their lives., c. the symbolism of gatsby's opulent mansion serves as a poignant metaphor for the emptiness of the american dream. despite its grandeur and extravagance, the mansion is ultimately devoid of meaning, serving as a lonely monument to gatsby's unattainable desires. through this powerful imagery, fitzgerald effectively conveys the futility of chasing after an illusion, urging readers to reexamine their own aspirations and values. the role of social class in the conclusion further emphasizes the themes of the great gatsby, as it highlights the stark divide between the old money characters like tom and daisy buchanan and the new money characters like jay gatsby. this division serves as a catalyst for the characters' actions and relationships, ultimately leading to their downfall., a. as we delve into the world of f. scott fitzgerald's classic novel, the great gatsby, we are transported back to the roaring twenties , a time of excess and extravagance. set against the backdrop of the jazz age, the story follows the lives of the enigmatic jay gatsby and the elusive daisy buchanan, exploring themes of love, wealth, and the elusive american dream., b. gatsby's tragic end , marked by his untimely death, serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of his actions. despite his wealth and lavish parties, gatsby is ultimately unable to attain the happiness and fulfillment he seeks, highlighting the emptiness that lies at the core of his existence..

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The Great Gatsby: Analysis and Feminist Critique

The great gatsby: abstract, introduction, the great gatsby: summary and analysis.

This Great Gatsby essay explores one of the greatest novels written in the 1920s. It was created in the days when the society was by far patriarchal, and the concept of the American dream was different. Essays on The Great Gatsby usually explore how much men had dominated society, which led to women discrimination and objectification; the novel will help us understand the concept of feminist critique.

The feminist critique is an aspect that seeks to explore the topic of men domination in the social, economic, and political sectors. It aims to expose how much women characters have been discriminated in the society through the study of literature. This sample essay on The Great Gatsby will apply the concept of feminist critique with reference to the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work to expose some of the aspects of patriarchal society as revealed in the novel.

The Great Gatsby starts by bringing in a male character, Nick Carraway, as the narrator. First, the narrator is just from the First World War and seeks to settle and takes a job in New York. Searching for wealth and happiness, he rents a bungalow in West Egg next to a generous and mysterious bachelor Jay Gatsby, who owned a mansion.

Nick describes the mansion as “a colossal affair by any standard – it is an imitation of some Hotel de villa in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” (Fitzgerald 1).

The introduction analysis brings out a theme of male occupying a more significant portion of wealth. These two men were relatively young and yet so rich to own such property at their age. The mentioned women, Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle, are just an attachment to the men in the society since they all at some level depict an aspect of lack of independence since men dominate every aspect of life.

Socially, men seem to dominate in the relationships in The Great Gatsby. Tom’s financial power sets him way ahead of that he can afford to have an affair outside marriage. That’s what he does in an open way as he invites Nick, Daisy’s cousin, to meet his mistress Myrtle Wilson. Nick’s reflection on the relationship between Tom and Daisy, Tom, and Myrtle shows a break of social norms.

Tom’s relationship with the two women is abusive and of so much control. He abuses Myrtle publicly in the name of making her straight by even beating her. Tom comes out as a man who has so much power to bully everybody, including Myrtle’s husband Wilson, he also has so much control in Daisy, his wife.

Usually, one will expect that Nick being a cousin to Daisy, will resist seeing their close relatives get involved in extra-marital affairs. Nick being a man, supports other men, Tom and Gatsby, in their moves. After knowing that Gatsby had been in love with Daisy before she got married, he allows reconnection to happen in his own house although Gatsby’s credibility was still in question to him.

He admires Gatsby’s having “an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness he had never found in any other person and which it was not likely he could ever find again” (Fitzgerald 1). This admiration overpowered his questions on Gatsby’s character and that of his company. This shows that men’s dominance was critical since women were to follow what the men wanted them to, not their choices.

The novel was written in a time when men could batter women if dissatisfied by their actions, absolutely ignoring women’s rights. In the meeting with Myrtle, when an argument ensued between Tom and the mistress, Tom broke her nose to shut her up. The whole thing looks normal and even when George complains to him, he is not moved by his cry.

Tom is the dominant character in the novel. He harasses people starting with his wife, his mistress, George and even Gatsby. Tom is seen doing the same thing Gatsby does, dating a married woman, but he has the guts to confront him on his affair with Daisy. When Myrtle died, he fires a battle between Gatsby and George by convincing him that Gatsby had an affair with Myrtle.

George kills Gatsby before killing himself as a sign of revenge. The revenge was purely egotistic to reclaim his position as Myrtle’s husband since his status as a man on top of the relationship had been invalid. This leaves a mark in moral decadence, which only happens in a patriarchal society that cannot be controlled by any other voice than the male voice.

The novel has so much influence geographically and culturally due to the approach used and the structure itself. Tom Buchanan’s treatment of his wife and mistress and Gatsby’s manipulation of Daisy, Tom’s wife, brings out the aspect of male domination. The male has a dominant part in the exploitation of power in the relationships, and marital status is nothing of a worry when one wants to pursue their mistresses. Men in the text have idolized women, and they justify their reasons for the exploitation of women.

For example, Gatsby’s life is made true by the fact that he managed to have a relationship with a lady he had loved before. He does everything to get her, which include him “buying a house in West Egg just so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 1). This was a crucial sport in being strategic in his plans.

Tom, on the other hand, uses his physical and financial powers to prove that he is in control. He and Gatsby set social structures that attract women to them. However, Nick, the narrator, was not able to relate with the unpredictable and manipulative Jordan Baker. Jordan Baker’s character of believing that she could do as much as a man could do scared him away. She is unlike Daisy, who chose to stay with Tom, although she was in the relationship for financial gains.

Gatsby describes her as one with “voice is full of money” (Fitzgerald 1). For Jordan’s belief in herself, Nick later blames his failure to cope with her on her partying, smoking, and drinking character without really revealing that he had the same character as being pragmatic.

Women in the great gatsby had been accustomed to so much submission; an example is in Daisy’s character. She has a complacent kind of character that makes it difficult to make her own decisions.

She exhibits incapacity to have an independent sense of self-will that Gatsby takes advantage of to win her by flattering her with words like “You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock” (Fitzgerald 1). The fact that she had a relationship before with Gatsby was enough to lead her in deciding to have an affair with him.

Myrtle also belongs to the same types of women as Daisy as she engages in a relationship with another woman’s husband just because they met and liked each other. This aspect manages to bring out a clear definition of gender roles and identity in the earlier days when the novel was written. Men ask, and women respond without looking at what could be affected in their decisions.

The Great Gatsby sample essay shows how the novel brings out an aspect of both genders reclaiming their positions in society in terms of gender relations. Though the male has dominated, and the female has proven to be dependent on men, they both need to redefine themselves as the victims of social norms.

The male gender has dominated the economic and social part of the society making sure that the role of women is reduced to being subjects to the male exercise of power. This has been shown clearly by women getting trapped in the misogyny and manipulation set by men hence making it hard for them to stand by their choices. Their gender nature dictates the character choice in the male-dominated world.

The male exercise their power over the significant female characters by ensuring that they remain the sole financial sources, and the women exercise their dependence by remaining in their marriages despite their involvement in affairs outside marriage. Though there are men like George, who have lost their position, they still exhibit their ego by defending their marriages.

Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. University of Adelaide, 2005. Web.

• Short Summary
• Summary (Chapter 1)
• Summary (Chapter 2)
• Summary (Chapter 3)
• Summary (Chapter 4)
• Summary (Chapter 5)
• Summary (Chapter 6)
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• Summary (Chapter 9)
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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Great Gatsby: Analysis and Feminist Critique." October 28, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-great-gatsby/.

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20 The Great Gatsby Essay Topics

Hailed as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, The Great Gatsby is a story that explores love, betrayal, and the pursuit of the American dream in the 1920s.

If you have been asked to write an essay on this classic novel, you might be a little nervous trying to figure out what you should include. However, don’t worry! This guide will walk you through the process of writing an excellent Gatsby essay and provide 20 The Great Gatsby essay topic ideas.

Essay Writing Essentials

Before you can write an essay on The Great Gatsby, you need to understand the basics of essay writing. This includes developing a clear thesis, supporting your claims with evidence from the book, and crafting a solid conclusion.

Writing a Thesis

A thesis statement details the overall point or argument you intend to make in the essay. Therefore, a thesis statement must be clear, specific, and arguable. A thesis statement will be best placed at the end of your first paragraph or as a way to wrap up your introduction if it is multiple paragraphs.

Some examples of well-written thesis statements for a The Great Gatsby include:

“While The Great Gatsby appears to be a novel about love, in reality, it is a scathing critique of the American dream.”

“Though Jay Gatsby is wealthy and well-liked, he is ultimately a tragic figure because he cannot escape his past.”

“The relationships in The Great Gatsby are all ultimately doomed because the characters are not honest with each other or themselves.”

Developing Supporting Claims for the Body

To support your thesis statement, you will need to include evidence from the novel in the form of quotes and analysis. It is vital that you choose passages that directly relate to your thesis and that you explain how these quotes support your argument.

One way to find quotes that support your thesis is to look for passages that seem particularly significant or interesting to you. Then, once you have a few potential quotes in mind, try to come up with a sentence or two explaining how the quote supports your argument. This will help you determine if the quote is actually relevant to your essay or if you need to keep looking.

It can also be helpful to go back to your list of potential thesis statements and look for quotes that could support each one. This way, you can get a sense of which quotes will be most beneficial for your essay before writing.

Crafting a Strong Conclusion

Your conclusion should briefly summarize the main points of your essay and reiterate your thesis statement. You might also want to leave the reader with something to think about or a call to action if you feel strongly about the issue you have been discussing.

A strong conclusion might look something like this:

“Though Gatsby’s pursuit of the American dream is ultimately fruitless, his efforts are nonetheless admirable. His willingness to fight for what he wants, even in the face of overwhelming odds, is something that we can all learn from.”

Citing and Formatting Essays About Books

In addition to using evidence from the novel to support your claims, you will also need to cite any sources you use in your essay. This includes any quotes or paraphrases from The Great Gatsby and any outside sources you might have used.

Citing Sources

When citing a quote from The Great Gatsby, you will need to include the page number in parentheses after the quote. For example:

“Daisy’s voice was sad ‘I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'” (10).

If you are paraphrasing or summarizing a passage from The Great Gatsby, you will just need to include the page number in parentheses after the paraphrase. For example:

Gatsby’s wealth is often seen as a symbol of his success, but it is also clear that money cannot buy happiness. (21)

If you cite an outside source, you will need to include both the author’s name and the page number (or, for sources that don’t use page numbers, the section or chapter number) in parentheses after the quote. For example:

“The Great Gatsby is widely regarded as a masterpiece of American fiction” (Baldwin 3).

Formatting an Essay About a Book

When formatting your essay, there are a few key things you need to keep in mind. First, all mentions of the book’s title need to be italicized or underlined. Second, your essay should have one-inch margins on all sides.

Your essay should also have a title page that includes the title of your essay, your name, and the name of your class. If you are writing a longer essay (5 or more pages), you may need to also include a header on each page. It’s best to speak with your instructor to clarify any specific formatting requirements for the assignment.

Now that you know how to write an essay on The Great Gatsby, you can start brainstorming potential topics for your paper. If you are having trouble, consider using or adapting one of the following topics.

• How does Gatsby’s wealth (or lack thereof) impact his relationships?
• How does Gatsby’s pursuit of the American dream ultimately fail?
• What role do women play in The Great Gatsby?
• How are the parties that Gatsby throws symbolic of his own emptiness?
• How does Fitzgerald use symbolism to comment on the state of the American dream?
• What role does fate play in The Great Gatsby?
• Is Gatsby a tragic hero? If so, why?
• How is The Great Gatsby an example of the “Lost Generation”?
• What role does the past play in The Great Gatsby?
• How do the relationships between men and women change throughout the novel?
• How is The Great Gatsby a commentary on the class divisions in American society?
• What role does morality play in The Great Gatsby?
• How do the characters in The Great Gatsby represent different aspects of the American dream?
• What role does money play in The Great Gatsby?
• Is Gatsby a sympathetic character? Why or why not?
• How is Nick Carraway’s role as narrator important to the novel?
• How does Fitzgerald use setting to comment on the characters and events in The Great Gatsby?
• What role do secrets play in The Great Gatsby?
• How is The Great Gatsby a commentary on the corruption of the American dream?
• What theme(s) are explored in The Great Gatsby?

These topics should provide any student assigned an essay on The Great Gatsby with plenty to write about. If you need further help, consider using or adapting one of these topics for your own paper.

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