Chapter 1
* Nick Carraway, a young man from the Midwest, moves to West Egg, Long Island.
* Nick rents a house next to the mysterious Jay Gatsby, a wealthy man who throws lavish parties every Saturday night.
* Example: "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since."
Chapter 2
* Nick attends one of Gatsby's parties and meets Jordan Baker, a beautiful and cynical woman.
* Nick also learns about Gatsby's tragic past, including his love for Daisy Buchanan, a married woman.
* Example: "The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sundials and brick walls and burning gardens— Finally it reached the house itself, but only to start over again in a cascade of terraces of broken stones, and then, without any transition, to plunge into a labyrinth of wind-blown trees."
Chapter 3
* Nick arranges a meeting between Gatsby and Daisy, who have not seen each other for five years.
* The reunion is initially awkward, but Gatsby and Daisy quickly fall back in love.
* Example: "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."
Chapter 4
* Gatsby and Daisy begin an affair, which they keep secret from Tom.
* Nick witnesses the growing tension between Gatsby and Tom, who suspects Gatsby's intentions.
* Example: "It was a strange coincidence. But it wasn't as strange as what happened that night. Tom Buchanan and George Wilson and Henry C. Gatz—who all shared something in common—were together in the kitchen of a house in West Egg."
Chapter 5
* Gatsby and Daisy's affair is discovered by Tom, who confronts Gatsby and accuses him of stealing Daisy.
* Gatsby and Tom have a violent fight, which ends with Gatsby killing Tom.
* Example: "He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea."
Chapter 6
* Nick learns the truth about Gatsby's past, including his humble beginnings and his love for Daisy.
* Daisy leaves Gatsby for Tom, who convinces her that Gatsby killed Myrtle Wilson in a hit-and-run accident.
* Example: "There was nothing I could do, but the memory of it will haunt me for a long time."
Chapter 7
* Nick confronts Gatsby about his lies and his actions.
* Gatsby explains that he created a new identity for himself in order to win Daisy back.
* Example: "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."
Chapter 8
* Gatsby's body is found floating in his swimming pool.
* Nick arranges Gatsby's funeral, which is attended by only a few people.
* Example: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
