In Spring 1922, Nick Carraway journeys east to New York City to obtain employment as a bond salesman. He rents a bungalow on Long Island, next to a luxurious estate inhabited by Jay Gatsby, an enigmatic multi-millionaire who hosts dazzling soires yet does not partake in them. Nick is quickly swept up in Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.
The Great Gatsby was inspired by a youthful romance Fitzgerald had with a socialite, and by parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922. Modern scholars emphasize the novel's treatment of social class, inherited wealth compared to those who are self-made, race, environmentalism, and its cynical attitude towards the American dream. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary masterwork and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel.