Do you know of any free online texts of The Great Gatsby??

Question

I really want to ready it and can't wait the holding period at the library.

Answer 1

Here is on online text:
http://www.litfix.co.uk/fitzgerald/onlinetexts/gatsby/index.htm

The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author Francis Scott Fitzgerald. First published on April 10, 1925, the story is set in New York City and Long Island during the summer of 1922.

The novel chronicles an era that Fitzgerald himself dubbed the "Jazz Age." Following the shock and chaos of the First World War, American society enjoyed unprecedented levels of prosperity during the 1920s as the economy soared. At the same time, Prohibition, the ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, made millionaires out of bootleggers and encouraged organized crime. Although Fitzgerald, like Nick Carraway in his novel, idolized the riches and glamour of the age, he was uncomfortable with the unrestrained materialism and lack of morality that went with it.

The Great Gatsby was not popular upon initial printing and sold fewer than 25,000 copies during the remaining 15 years of Fitzgerald's life.

Although it was adapted into both a Broadway play and a Hollywood film within a year of publication, it was largely forgotten during the Great Depression and World War II. After it was republished in 1945 and 1953, it quickly found a wide readership, and is now often regarded as the Great American Novel. It is now a standard text in high school and university courses on American literature in countries around the world.

Nick Carraway, a bond dealer from the Midwest, befriends his neighbor Jay Gatsby, an extremely wealthy man known for hosting lavish soirées in his Long Island mansion. Gatsby's great wealth is a subject of much rumor; none of the guests whom Nick meets at Gatsby's parties know much about his past. Nick also visits Tom Buchanan, a wealthy former college athlete, and his wife Daisy, who is Nick's second cousin once removed. Gatsby is later discovered to be deeply in love with Daisy Buchanan, and vice versa. Daisy and Gatsby soon begin an affair after a meeting arranged by Nick which is at first strained (unnerving Nick), but turns more communicative when Gatsby begins to relax. They see more of each other at Gatsby's house without Tom being present. The conflict comes to a head in New York City, when Tom confronts Gatsby about the affair that he suspects. It is then that Gatsby claims Daisy will leave Tom and go with him. Daisy declares that she loves Gatsby now but is unable to renounce her love for Tom. Flustered, Daisy departs for Long Island with Gatsby in his car; the rest follow later, in Tom's car. By this point, Nick (who placed himself as an outsider early on in the novel) has become both Gatsby's sole ally and best friend. During the middle of the hotel room confrontation, Nick becomes so impressed by Gatsby that he feels the desire to "get up and slap him on the back," saying he has experienced a complete renewal of faith in him.

Daisy is driving when Gatsby's car crashes into a woman in a hit and run accident, killing her. The woman was Myrtle Wilson, Tom's lover, who has run out to meet the car, thinking it was Tom coming for her. Myrtle's husband at first believes Tom has killed Myrtle (partly because Mr. Wilson correctly suspects Tom of having hit Myrtle previously), and confronts Tom, who directs him to Gatsby's car. Mr. Wilson tracks the car to Gatsby's house and shoots Gatsby to death, then kills himself. Daisy allows Tom to continue to believe it was Gatsby at the wheel when Myrtle was killed in the hit and run. None of the legions who attended his parties come to Gatsby's funeral; only Nick, Gatsby's father Henry Gatz (Gatsby changed the name in his social-climbing efforts), an unnamed man known for his "owl" eyes whom Nick met in Gatsby's library, and Gatsby's servants, pay their respects. Nick later describes Tom and Daisy as rich people who leave it to others to clean up their messes. Nick breaks off his relationship with Jordan Baker (a woman whom he had been seeing; and someone in whom he began to discern a fundamental dishonesty) and moves back to the Midwest.

Answer 2

Legally there probably aren't any for free online. But Sparknotes has very complete summaries of books. They have study guides, character analysis, and even a quiz on the book. Check out the link below.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/
Google also has a book service where you can view some books online, but you have to pay money.