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Fitzgerald's use of symbolism in the Great Gatsby
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F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Throughout time and space the world has seen many writers that have altered life as we know it. The world continues to change as an ever shifting ball of culture and intellect. Man's history has given us writers like Shakespeare, who is still misunderstood to this day, and Homer, a man that has many Americans thinking of a cartoon character with the a lack of intelligence. Francis Scott Fitzgerald is far from one of these gentlemen, or ladies, that have changed the way we think. His use of symbolism and his critical view of the "rich and famous" are the subject of much controversy. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald continually uses symbolism in many ways to express the corruption of the upper class in the United States.
The writing of Fitzgerald is influenced by his life deeply. He was born in 1896, (The Great Gatsby, back of book) in Minnesota. He was educated at Princeton University. He became wealthy after college and married a woman named Zelda. He lived in the upper class, spending much of his time in New York and Paris, much like Gatsby's life. After living in the middle United States, they both were educated at excellent universities. They then became rich and traveled to New York frequently. Although the way they made their money is very different, they still went from rags to riches. This could be why Fitzgerald chose to put Gatsby in West Egg, with the "newly rich," because Fitzgerald himself would know how to write from his view.
Fitzgerald lived his life to the fullest. After graduated he gained qualities much like Gatsby. "
the very qualities that made him a success-his innocence, his restlessness, his incessant dreaming, his sense of indestructibility, led to his downfall." (Tessitore 99) This quote is about Fitzgerald but can easily be used for Gatsby. His unwillingness to give up Daisy led to his eventual death. They have countless similarities, "
in the act of recording Gatsby's experiences, he discovers himself." (Samuels 4) Gatsby is truly Fitzgerald's sub-conscious' imagine of himself.
F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism to show the corruption of the upper class, and the constant need for money. In the novel Wilson, "...a blonde, spiritless man, anæmic and faintly handsome" (Fitzgerald 29) is insensible and dreary.