When Nick Carraway moves to West Egg, Long Island, he has no idea that the lavishly outfitted mansion next to his modest house is home to Jay Gatsby. Eventually, Nick becomes aware of Gatsby's intense interest in his cousin Daisy Buchanan, and when Daisy's brutish husband, Tom, probes into Gatsby's background, he uncovers unsavory truths about his rival's wealth . . .

Literary history and meaning: The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published in 1925. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, New York, it tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy, mysterious, and complex man driven by an obsession with his past, and Daisy Buchanan, a married woman he loved in his youth. Considered one of the greatest novels ever written, it explores themes of love, loss, and the American Dream. The Great Gatsby has been adapted numerous times for film, including the 1974 release starring Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby. While the events of the novel take place during the roaring twenties, the story's relevance today lies in the contrast between the façade the wealthy can portray--on social media, for example--and the dark realities behind the scenes, revealing the fallacy of the American Dream.