Great Gatsby Timeline
1
Great Gatsby Timeline
1892
- James Gatz is born.
- In North Dakota.
-Significance: The entire story revolves around Gatsby.
1910
- James Gatz attends St. Olaf College in Minnesota.
- He stayed there for two weeks.
- And he worked as a janitor at the school.
-Significance: Shows the work that Gatsby had to put into his life.
1911
- Gatz works on Lake Superior fishing for clams and salmon.
-Significance: Shows again the work that Gatsby had to put into his life and how he detested the low types of jobs and wished to do something grander with himself.
1914
- Carraway attends and graduates from New Haven (Yale University).
-Significance: He is an educated young man. He did what was expected of him in society.
1917
- Jay Gatsby meets Daisy Fay in Louisville, Kentucky when Gatsby was stationed at Camp Taylor. Gatsby and Daisy fall in love.
-Significance: This becomes the premise and the entire conflict within the story. Gatsby’s entire life revolves around one month he experienced in his life.
- Nick Serves in World War I
-Significance: Once again he did what was expected of him and was a servant to nation and, more relevantly, society.
- Gatsby serves in World War I, but constantly tries to get back to Daisy.
-Significance: He did something noble and tried to establish himself, but wanted to be with the woman he loves. He also appears to be not only a patriot to the nation, but also to society.
1918
- Gatsby is at Oxford. During the Great War Gatsby is sent to Oxford for five months. He is very disappointed to be there because he is desperately trying to get back to Gatsby. While he is there he receives a "Dear John" letter from Daisy saying that she is marrying someone else.
-Significance: Gatsby’s hopes and dreams are diminishing as Daisy informs him that she is marrying someone else. It then becomes Gatsby mission to win her back, which adds to the conflict of the story.
- Daisy Fay marries Tom Buchanan. Daisy is conflicted about marrying Tom, but marries him for his money.
-Significance: Daisy is in love with Gatsby, but she does what is expected of her within society and marries the man who is socially and financially desirable.
Nick settles in the Midwest. He has a relationship with a woman who was under the impression that Nick was in love with her.
-Significance: Nick lives a slightly deceptive life because he gives his girlfriend the wrong impression. He helps her to believe that their relationship is more serious than it really is. This shows that no one in the novel is a truly good character.
1919
- Tom and Daisy move to East Egg. Tom and Daisy Buchanan spend a year in France and then move from Chicago to East Egg on Long Island, New York.
-Significance: Tom and Daisy show off their wealth again. They prove that they have the resources to do whatever they wish.
1920
- Tom and Daisy Buchanan's daughter Pammy is born.
-Significance: Daisy is moving forward with her life as opposed to Gatsby who is stuck in the past.
Spring 1922
- Nick moves to West Egg. Nick moves permanently from the Midwest to West Egg located on Long Island, New York. He moves in the hope of becoming wealthy from selling bonds.
-Significance: Nick tries to run away from the serious relationship he is in instead of dealing with the situation. He also tries to pursue the things of the world and hopes that he will become very wealthy when he moves east.
- Nick visits the Buchanan House. Nick goes to the Buchanan house to visit with Daisy and Tom. There he meets Jordan Baker. It was there that Nick learns of Tom's affair.
-Significance: Nick visits the Buchanan house and see how materialistic the Buchanans are, yet admires them for having and idyllic lifestyle. And gets to see what money can buy.
- Nick meets Tom's Mistress named Myrtle Wilson. They take her out to New York City where she buys a puppy and throws a small party.
-Significance: Shows that Tom’s wealth allows him to get away with anything. Also shows how Myrtle is trying to move out of her status and appear to be more sophisticated than she actually is, which shows the difference between the social classes.
Early Summer 1922
Gatsby's Party
- Nick goes to Gatsby’s party. Nick is invited to one of his neighbor Gatsby's elaborate parties. There he meets Gatsby officially for the first time. There Nick and Jordan also meet a drunk man named Owl Eyes.
-Significance: Gatsby throws extremely elaborate parties in order to show off his wealth and status in society in the hopes of impressing Daisy. Also shows the disregard for the law, since it was the Prohibition era and alcohol was illegal, Owl Eyes did not care he was drunk.
Nick's Relationships
- Nick enters a relationship with Jordan Baker even though he has somewhat of a relationship with a woman back in the Midwest. He signs letters to the Midwest girl "Love, Nick".
-Significance: Shows how no one in the story is truly good. Shows that people go for what they want no matter the consequences.
Nick and Gatsby
- Nick and Gatsby spend the day together. Gatsby drives Nick to New York City for lunch. On the drive up there Gatsby tells Nick his elaborate version of his mysterious past. Nick meets Meyer Wolfsheim who is said to have participated in the 1919 World Series Scandal. Gatsby meets Tom Buchanan.
-Significance: Gatsby is trying to impress Nick in the hopes that Nick will assist Gatsby in his attempt to reunite with Daisy. Shows that Gatsby has some shady aspects to his life and that he did not fully gain his wealth and status legally.
Mid-Summer 1922
Daisy and Gatsby's Reunion
- Nick agrees to help Daisy and Gatsby reunite. Gatsby offers Nick a shady job position and cuts the grass. When Gatsby and Daisy first meet at Nick's house it is very awkward, but later they rekindle the flame. Gatsby shows Daisy his magnificent house and she cries over his nice shirts rather than Gatsby himself. They restart their romantic relationship with each other.
-Significance: Gatsby’s hopes and dreams come true when he is reunite with Daisy, but it also shows how Daisy is more in love with the materialistic aspects of Gatsby rather than of Gatsby himself.
Tom, Gatsby, Sloanes
- Tom meets Gatsby at Gatsby's house when accompanying the Sloanes. Gatsby acts witless when he accepts a sarcastic invitation from the Sloanes. Tom then accompanies Daisy to one of Gatsby's elaborate parties where Tom gets annoyed with Gatsby and Gatsby gets concerned that Daisy did not have a good time.
•Significance: Reveals that Gatsby is not as sophisticated as he appears.
Late Summer 1922
The Climax
- The Climax. It is an extremely hot August day. Gatsby is surprised when he meets Daisy daughter Pammy. Due to the heat the gang (Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, Jordan, and Nick) decide to go to New York City. Gatsby and Daisy drive in one car and the rest drive in the other. Tom stops to get gas in the car at George Wilson's (the husband of Myrtle) station. George knows his wife is having an affair, but does not know with whom and wants to take her out West. Tom and Gatsby fight over Daisy, but in the end Daisy chooses Tom.
-Significance: The climax of the story is when Tom and Gatsby fight over Daisy. Daisy is passive and shows that she loves her lifestyle more than she loves Gatsby when she chooses Tom over Gatsby. Also shows how deceptive Tom is willing to be in order to have the life he wants. Reveals how wealth and resources allows one to have more and get away with more, where as the lower classes struggle for what they want such as George Wilson.
The Aftermath
- The Aftermath. Tom is confident that Gatsby lost the battle for Daisy and lets them ride back together. Daisy is driving and Myrtle runs out to their car thinking it is Tom. Daisy hits Myrtle and kills her. Gatsby hides outside Daisy's house all night to make sure Tom does not hurt her. Daisy and Tom work out their martial problems.
-Significance: Myrtle is so desperate to change her status that her life ends because of it. Gatsby loves Daisy even when she rejects him and he begins to realize that his goal and dream in life are about to fully end.
The Funeral
- Nick arranges Gatsby's funeral. Daisy does not care and Tom says to Nick that he told Wilson that Gatsby was having an affair with Myrtle. Nick breaks up with Jordan who claims she is engaged. Gatsby's father attends the funeral along with Nick, Owl Eyes, and a few of Wolfsheim's and Gatsby's shady employees. No one seems to care about the death of Gatsby, for none of Gatsby's friends attend the funeral. Nick moves back to the Midwest.
-Significance: Shows that having a single dream can be unwise. Focusing one’s entire life to one goal could have serious consequences. For Gatsby, he did not know what to do with his life once he lost Daisy. He was completely lost and full of despair. He felt as though his life was over because he had only held onto a single goal. He also put more faith in the things of the world that his life had no meaning and hardly anyone came to his funeral.
The new Gatsby travels with Dan Cody to the Barbary Coast and the West Indies. Cody was a drinker and Gatsby took care of him while he was on drinking binges. Gatsby learned not to ever drink, and he fell in love with the material world of wealth and luxury, when Cody dies Gatsby does not get his inheritance.
-Significance: By not gaining the inheritance he deserved, due to Cody’s mistress, Gatsby was determined to earn his wealth and the lifestyle he wanted to live. He wanted to become wealthy and well established in society.
1915
1916
- Gatz gets hired by Dan Cody.