F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925 · road

F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel. Nick Carraway leaves the Midwest for a summer on Long Island, renting next to the mansion of the mysterious Jay Gatsby, who throws lavish parties in the hope of winning back Daisy across the bay in East Egg. Between the glitter of West Egg and the ash-heaps on the road to Manhattan, the American dream curdles into tragedy.

1. 1
   St. Paul

   Nick Carraway leaves his comfortable Middle Western home to learn the bond business in New York.

2. 2
   West Egg

   Nick's modest cottage sits beside Jay Gatsby's vast mansion, where all summer the lights blaze and strangers throng.

3. 3
   East Egg

   Across the bay stand the old-money Buchanans; from Gatsby's lawn glows the green light at the end of Daisy's dock.

4. 4
   Manhattan

   The heat of the city and a suite at the Plaza, where Gatsby and Tom Buchanan force the truth into the open.

5. 5
   Valley of Ashes

   The grey wasteland between the Eggs and the city, where Myrtle Wilson is struck down and the dream collapses.

6. 6
   St. Paul

   Sickened by the careless rich, Nick abandons the East and goes home to the Midwest.