The Great Gatsby Themes
You could read The Great Gatsby as a story of thwarted love between a man and a woman—a love story with lots of money and parties, that is. We get enough of that in the tabloids, so let's dive into what makes The Great Gatsby, well...great. There are a lot of big ideas and archetypical American experiences centrally featured in this classic work. In other words, some majorly important and enduring themes are explored in this narrative. We've organized and explained the various themes touched upon by The Great Gatsby. Select a Gatsby theme below and explore the depth of Fitzgerald's work.
Society and Class
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America is a classless society. True or false? You'll have good support no matter which way you answer, but The Great Gatsby has a pretty clear answer: n...
Love
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Only fools fall in love, and the biggest fool in The Great Gatsby is, well, Gatsby. Tom and Daisy may have some kind of affection and loyalty for each ot...
The American Dream
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Did the American Dream die in 2008, or did it die in 1918—or did it never really exist at all? In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is supposed to...
Wealth
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In The Great Gatsby, money makes the world go 'round—or at least gets you moving in the right direction. It can buy you yellow Rolls-Royces, "gas blue"...
Memory and the Past
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Pro tip from the olds at Shmoop: if the best years of your life took place in high school, you're in for a long downhill slide. There's nothing wrong wi...
Dissatisfaction
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You have a handsome, wealthy husband; a string of polo ponies; and a closetful of really nice white dresses. What more could you want? Apparently, a lot....
Isolation
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There's a reason they called it the Lost Generation: the world Fitzgerald lived in, and the world his characters inhabit, is one without connections, fri...
Mortality
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Sure, there's the hit-and-run and murder/ suicide at the end. (Oops. Did we spoil it for you?) But The Great Gatsby is also interested in metaphorical ki...
Marriage
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If the marriages in The Great Gatsby are anything to go by, we want nothing to do with marriage. Love? Optional. Loyalty? Definitely not. The only marria...
Gender
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Here's a fun scavenger hunt for you: see where and how often the word "woman" shows up in The Great Gatsby. (Helpful hint: this online text is searchable...
Lies and Deceit
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Nick may say that he's one of the few honest people he knows, but we're not so sure about that. The Great Gatsby is built around lies, and why should thi...
Education
(Click the themes infographic to download.)In The Great Gatsby, education is a must-have for the socially elite. For the most part, characters in The Great Gatsby are well-educated—this is reflec...
Compassion and Forgiveness
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The characters in The Great Gatsby all show a unique combination of a willingness to forgive and a stubbornness not to. Gatsby is willing to forgive Dais...
Religion
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The fact that religion is absent among the upper echelons of society suggests that a moral standard might also be absent – as much is borne out by cha...