The Great Gatsby /گتسبی بزرگ(داستان عشقی)

The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published on April 10, 1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City during the summer of 1922. It is a critique of the American Dream.

The novel takes place following the First World War. American society enjoyed having unprecedented levels of prosperity during the "roaring" 1920s as the economy soared. At the same time, Prohibition, the ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol as mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, made millionaires out of bootleggers. After its republishing in 1945 and 1953, it quickly found a wide readership and is today widely regarded as a paragon of the Great American Novel, and a literary classic. The Great Gatsby has become a standard text in high school and university courses on American literature in countries around the world,^[1] and is ranked second in the Modern Library's lists of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.

Plot

Nick Carraway, the narrator, is a young bachelor from a patrician Midwestern family, who graduates from Yale in 1915. After fighting in World War I, he returns to the Midwest before settling in New York City to "learn the bond business." Despite his wealthy upbringing, Nick himself has a very modest living.

Nick explains that in 1922 he rented a small bungalow between two mansions in West Egg, a wealthy community on Long Island Sound. Across the bay was East Egg, inhabited by the "old aristocracy," including Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Daisy is Nick's second cousin once removed and Nick knew of Tom, a football player at New Haven. Nick describes the Buchanans in a visit to their East Egg mansion: although phenomenally wealthy, Tom's glory days are behind him; he is a dilettante. Daisy, although engaging and attractive, is pampered and superficial, largely ignoring her three-year-old daughter. Daisy's friend Jordan Baker, a well-known female golfer, shows an interest in Nick and tells him that Tom has a mistress in New York City.

One day Tom and Nick take a train ride together to New York and on the way they stop at a shabby garage owned by George Wilson, where Nick is introduced to the owner's wife, Myrtle (Tom's mistress). Nick accompanies Tom and Myrtle to their Manhattan love-nest, where Myrtle presides over a pretentious party that includes her sister and several others. Nick learns that Tom and Myrtle began their affair following a chance encounter on a train. Though he finds the evening increasingly unbearable, he does not leave until Tom breaks Myrtle's nose in a spat.

Nick learns that his next-door neighbor, who throws lavish parties hosting hundreds of people, is the wealthy and mysterious Jay Gatsby. Nick receives an invitation one weekend and attends, finding the party wild and fun. However, he also discovers the guests do not know much about Gatsby and that rumors about the man are contradictory. Nick runs into Jordan Baker, who invites him to join her. While looking for Gatsby, they run into a man with large "Owl Eye" glasses admiring Gatsby's collection of books. Later, a man strikes up a conversation with Nick, claiming to recognize him from the US Army's Third Infantry Division. Nick mentions his difficulty in finding the host, and the man reveals himself to be Gatsby. An odd, yet close, friendship between Nick and Gatsby begins.

One day, Gatsby takes Nick to New York City for lunch. Gatsby presents a clichéd description of his life as a wealthy dilettante and war hero to an incredulous Nick, but the latter is convinced when Gatsby displays a war medal and photograph. At lunch, Gatsby introduces a bemused Nick to underworld figure Meyer Wolfsheim (based on Arnold Rothstein). Nick then sees Tom and tries to introduce Gatsby, but finds that Gatsby has disappeared.

Jordan Baker later reveals to Nick that Gatsby had fallen in love with Daisy in 1917 as an Army Lieutenant stationed near Daisy's hometown, Louisville. After the war, Gatsby came east and bought his mansion near Daisy and Tom, where he hosts parties hoping she will visit. Jordan says Gatsby would like Nick to arrange a meeting with Daisy. Nick agrees, and invites Daisy and Gatsby to his house. The reunion is initially awkward, but Gatsby and Daisy begin a love affair. An affair also begins for Nick and Jordan, but Nick predicts their relationship will be superficial.

Daisy invites Gatsby and Nick to her mansion, where Tom discovers that Gatsby loves Daisy and, accompanied by Nick and Jordan, they depart for the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. Tom insists he and Gatsby switch cars; as he stops by Wilson's garage for gas he flaunts Gatsby's roadster. At the hotel Tom confronts Gatsby about their affair. Gatsby urges Daisy to say she never loved Tom; Daisy says that although she did love Tom "once," she loved Gatsby "too." Tom mockingly tells Gatsby nothing can happen between him and Daisy. Gatsby retorts that the reason Daisy married Tom was because he (Gatsby) was too poor to marry Daisy. Tom visibly loses composure and reveals that Gatsby is a bootlegger. Gatsby tries to defend himself to Daisy. However, Tom knows Daisy's superficial nature very well and by taking away Gatsby's air of financial security, Daisy is now beyond his reach. With the situation between Tom and Gatsby tense, Daisy runs out of the hotel, with Gatsby following her, to Gatsby's car, where she insists on driving home as it will calm her nerves. Tom, believing he has bested Gatsby, leaves with Nick and Jordan.

George Wilson, also suspicious that his wife is having an affair, argues with her. Myrtle runs outside as Gatsby's roadster approaches (believing it to be Tom), only to be struck and killed by the car. Daisy and Gatsby speed away. Later, Tom, Jordan and Nick notice a commotion by Wilson's garage on their way to East Egg, and stop. While George mourns, moaning over his wife's body, a bystander tells of having seen a yellow car strike Myrtle. As George takes in this information, Tom tells George the car wasn't his, but George doesn't seem to listen and Tom, Jordan, and Nick leave.

Later that night Nick learns the truth of the accident from Gatsby — Daisy was driving when the car struck Myrtle. The next morning Nick finds Gatsby depressed, unsure whether Daisy still loves him, and awaits a call from her. Seeing himself as Gatsby's closest friend, Nick advises Gatsby to leave for a week. "They're a rotten crowd," Nick says, "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."

Having tracked the owner of the roadster, Wilson appears at Gatsby's mansion with a gun. Wilson finds Gatsby floating in his pool and kills him before committing suicide.

Despite Nick's efforts, few people attend Gatsby's funeral. In the end, only Nick, Gatsby's father, and the "owl-eyed" man, who admired the books in Gatsby's library, show up at his funeral.

Nick severs connections with Jordan (who claims to be engaged to another man, although Nick believes she is lying). Also, Nick has a run-in with Tom, who admits that he revealed that Gatsby was the owner of the roadster to George Wilson, leading the deranged man to find and kill Gatsby.

Disgusted with Tom and Daisy, Nick returns permanently to the Midwest, reflecting on Gatsby's dreams and the sad and cyclical nature of the past.

Major characters

• Nick Carraway (narrator)—bond salesman from Chicago, a Yale graduate, a World War I veteran, and a resident of Long Island. He is Gatsby's next-door neighbor.
• Jay Gatsby (originally James Gatz)—a young, mysterious millionaire later revealed to be a bootlegger, originally from North Dakota, with shady business connections and an obsessive love for Daisy Fay Buchanan, whom he had met when he was a young officer in World War I.
• Daisy Buchanan née Fay—an attractive and effervescent, if shallow young woman; Nick's second cousin, once removed; and the wife of Tom Buchanan. Daisy is believed to have been inspired by Fitzgerald's own youthful romance with Chicago heiress Ginevra King^{[clarification needed]} or his wife Zelda, or combination of the two. Gatsby courted but lost Daisy five years earlier due to their different social standing, the main reason Fitzgerald believed he had lost Ginevra.^[11]
• Tom Buchanan—an arrogant "old money" millionaire who lives on East Egg, and Daisy's husband. Buchanan had parallels to William Mitchell, the Chicagoan who married Ginevra King. Buchanan and Mitchell were both Chicagoans with an interest in polo. Like Ginevra's father, whom Fitzgerald resented, Buchanan attended Yale and is a white supremacist.^[11]
• Jordan Baker—She is Daisy Buchanan's long-time friend, a professional golf player with a slightly shady reputation. Fitzgerald told Maxwell Perkins that his character was based on the golfer Edith Cummings, a friend of Ginevra King.^[11]
• George B. Wilson—a mechanic and owner of a garage
• Myrtle Wilson—George Wilson's wife and Tom Buchanan's mistress. She is killed when Daisy runs her over while driving Gatsby's car.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby

گتسبی بزرگ رمانی است بقلم نویسنده آمریکایی اف. اسکات فیتزجرالد (F. Scott Fitzgerald)که برای اولین بار در ۱۰ آوریل ۱۹۲۵ منتشر گردید. ماجراهای این کتاب در نیویورک و لانگ آیلند و در تابستان سال ۱۹۲۲ اتفاق می افتند. داستان دورانی را توصیف می‌کند که فیتز جرالد خود آن را دوران موسیقی جاز می نامید.

ایالات متحده آمریکا در سالهای ۱۹۲۰ به‌دنبال شوک و هرج و مرجی که جنگ جهانی اول بوجود آورده بود از رشد اقتصادی به سابقه‌ای بهره مند گردید. شکوفایی اقتصادی و ثروتی که این شکوفایی به‌دنبال داشت باعث آن شد که بر تعداد میلیونرهای جامعه آمریکایی دم به دم افزوده گردد. علاوه بر این از آنجا که در همان سالها قانون منع تولید و فروش مشروبات الکلی در ایالات متحده آمریکا حکم فرما بود، عده‌ای از راه تولید و توزیع قاچاق اینگونه مشروبات ثروت‌های باد آورده‌ای را به چنگ آوردند.

فیتز جرالد هرچند همچون یکی از شخصیت‌های داستانش ، نیک کراوی (Nick Carraway) مردمان ثروتمند و زرق و برق آن دوران را می ستود ولی با زر پرستی و سقوط اخلاقی منتج از آن میانه خوبی نداشت.

چاپ اول گتسبی بزرگ (در سال ۱۹۲۵) موفقیت چندانی کسب نکرد و در طول مدت ۱۵ سال باقی مانده از عمر فیتز جرالد فقط حدود ۲۵٬۰۰۰ جلد از آن به فروش رسید. کتاب در سالهای پایانی ۱۹۳۰ (دوران رکود اقتصادی بزرگ) و همچنین در خلال جنگ جهانی دوم بطور کلی بدست فراموشی سپرده شد،اما بعد از جنگ، در سالهای ۱۹۴۵ و ۱۹۵۳ تجدید چاپ شد و بلافاصله خوانندگان و طرفداران بیشماری یافت.

گتسبی بزرگ هم اکنون یکی از بزرگ‌ترین رمان‌های آمریکایی به شمار می‌آید و آنرا در مدارس و دانشگاه‌های سراسر جهان (در رشته ادبیات آمریکا) به‌عنوان یکی از کتب استاندارد تدریس می نمایند.

نیک کراوی Nick Carraway از اهالی غرب میانه آمریکاست و برای ادامه زندگی به ساحل شرقی آمریکا آمده است. او با همسایه خود جی گتسبی Jay Gatsby طرح دوستی می ریزد. گتسبی بسیار ثروتمند است و بخاطر مهمانی‌های باشکوهی که در خانه اربابی اش واقع در لانگ آیلند بر گذار می‌کند شهره خاص وعام است. در مورد ثروت هنگفت او و اینکه این ثروت چگونه بدست آمده است شایعات زیادی بر سر زبان‌ها است. هیچکس چیزی از گذشته وی نمی‌داند.

نیک کراوی علاوه بر گتسبی، تام باچانن Tom Buchanan و همسر او دیزی Daisy (که از بستگان خود نیک است) را نیز ملاقات می‌کند. تام که در دوران دانشجویی ورزشکار برجسته‌ای بوده است نیز مرد ثروتمندی است.

نیک کراوی در ابتدا ریخت و پاش‌های بی معنی جشن‌های گتسبی، که هر شنبه صدها میهمان در آنها شرکت می‌کنند، را بدیده تحقیر می نگرد. اما کم کم خود نیز بطور مرتب در این مهمانی‌ها حضور می‌یابد. او از گتسبی می شنود که دلیل اصلی برگذاری این جشن‌های هفتگی آنست که شاید دیزی (که گتسبی از دیرباز عاشق و دلباخته او بوده است) بالاخره یک روز بطور اتفاقی در یکی از آنها شرکت نماید. گتسبی و دیزی به کمک نیک که ترتیب ملاقات آن دو را می‌دهد، در نهایت با هم رابطه برقرار می‌کنند.

تام به عشق و علاقه فراوان گتسبی نسبت به دیزی پی می‌برد و کم کم متوجه می‌شود که ثروت گتسبی از طریق قاچاق و فروش غیر قانونی مشروبات الکلی بدست آمده است. او از گتسبی متنفر است. یک روز وقتی همگی در هتلی دور هم جمع شده اند بین گتسبی و تام و در حضور دیزی برخورد لفظی پیش می‌آید. گتسبی در همان جلسه دیزی را وا می‌دارد که بگوید هرگز تام را دوست نداشته است. هدف گتسبی از اینکار اینست که دیزی از تام جدا شده و بار دیگر به سوی خود او باز گردد. تام وقتی از پیوندهای عاطفی دیرینه‌ای که بین همسرش دیزی و گتسبی برقرار بوده است آگاه می‌گردد خشمگین می‌شود و به دیزی امر می‌کند که بلافاصله به خانه باز گردد. گتسبی دیزی را همراهی می‌کند تا او را با اتومبیل به خانه برساند. خود تامنیک و یک آشنای دیگر راهی خانه می‌شود. هم بعد از مدتی بهمراه

تام و همراهانش در راه بازگشت به خانه در کنار جاده با جسد مایرتل Myrtel (که بطور پنهانی معشوقه تام بوده است) مواجه می‌گردند.مایرتل را اتومبیلی بشدت زیر گرفته و از محل حادثه گریخته است. ویلسون Wilson شوهر مایرتل ،که شاهد تصادف بوده، دچار شوک شده و کنترل اعصاب خود را از دست داده است. او می‌گوید اتومبیلی که همسرش را زیر گرفته زرد رنگ بوده است. تام نام و نشان صاحب اصلی آن ماشین زرد رنگ ، که گتسبی باشد، را نزد ویلسون افشا می‌کند. ویلسون که عقل از سرش پریده ، و حتی فکر می‌کند گتسبی معشوق زنش بوده است، گتسبی را در کنار استخر خانه اش می‌یابد و با شلیک گلوله‌ای بقتل می رساند و سپس در همان نزدیکی به زندگی خود نیز پایان می‌دهد.

از میان آنهمه دوست و آشنا که هر شنبه در مهمانی‌های با شکوه او حضور می‌یافتند، تقریباً هیچکس حاضر نمی‌شود درمراسم تشییع و بخاک سپردن گتسبی شرکت نماید. نیک بعد از مرگ گتسبی رابطه اش را با تام و دیزی و دیگر دوستانی که بواسطه گتسبی پیدا کرده بود قطع می‌کند و به شهر و دیار خود در غرب میانه آمریکا باز می‌گردد.

http://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki