-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ClassicNote on The Great Gatsby Summary and Analysis of Chapter 1 Chapter One: The novel begins with a personal note by the narrator, Nick Carraway. He relates that he has a tendency to reserve all judgments against people and that he has been conditioned to be understanding toward those who haven't had his advantages. Carraway came from a prominent family from the Midwest, graduated from Yale and fought in the Great War. After the war …showed first 75 words of 7333 total…

…showed last 75 words of 7333 total…belief in achievement and the ability to attain one's dreams ­ that defines Gatsby, in contrast to the compromising cynicism of his peers. Yet the final symbol contradicts and deflates the grand optimism that Gatsby held. Fitzgerald ends the book with the sentence "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past," which contradicts Gatsby's fervent belief that one can escape his origins and rewrite his past. About the Author ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**