Similarities Between Zelda And The Great Gatsby

The Jazz Age was a time of cultural change and prosperity. There were many prominent writers during this time, and F. Scott Fitzgerald was considered one of the greatest authors of the 20s. F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose name is synonymous with the wildness of the Roaring 20s, was considered a great American author, lived an extravagant lifestyle with his newfound wealth, and embodied the concept of the American Dream and other important aspects of the 1920s in his writing.

F. Scott Fitzgerald was considered one of the best authors during the 1920s. “He discovered that being a successful literary man meant that one would never be as famous as a movie star or have as much power as a strong political or religious man, but one would be more independent

as a writer and would be remembered longer” (Callahan 376). Fitzgerald discovered his passion for writing at a young age and pursued this as a career. When he was 13 years old, he wrote a detective story for his school newspaper, which ended up being his first work to appear in print (Bruccoli). He wrote a variety of different works of literature, including short stories, novels, and screenplays. Out of these, he would have rather just written novels because that was where his true passion laid, but he wrote smaller stories on the side to earn more money to support his lavish lifestyle. During his lifetime, Fitzgerald only managed to complete four novels and half of a fifth one before he died of a heart attack in 1940 (Bruccoli). His first novel, This Side of Paradise, was an immediate success and earned him lots of money. The rest of his novels, however, were not as highly regarded immediately following their publication. The Great Gatsby, which is now a requirement for all students to read while in high school, was not very successful until many years after Fitzgerald’s death. Although it did not receive much recognition while Fitzgerald was alive, it is now considered to be a masterpiece and an almost perfect novel (“F. Scott Fitzgerald”). Many writers are inspired by Fitzgerald’s works and his literary success.
Fitzgerald seemed to become a celebrity overnight with the publication of his first novel, and with that success came wealth. With his newfound wealth, Fitzgerald satisfied his desire to live extravagantly. His new lifestyle included lots of partying and drinking, which led to his notorious reputation of being a playboy and an alcoholic (O’Connor). He and his wife Zelda were never ones to miss a party, and Fitzgerald often drank heavily at the parties. They lived like this for awhile, but this was very expensive and only Fitzgerald’s first book, This Side of Paradise, sold well enough to support the affluent lifestyle that he and Zelda adopted as new celebrities. Oftentimes the Fitzgeralds found themselves in financial trouble, mainly due to poor money management, excessive drinking, and outrageous spending (“F. Scott Fitzgerald”). Nevertheless, Fitzgerald continued writing novels and short stories despite being broke and in debt, and he eventually resorted to writing screenplays for films to earn extra money.
Fitzgerald had many sources of inspiration for his writing.

Most of his works were somewhat autobiographical and reflected his life and his relationship with his wife Zelda. He believed that art and life overlapped, and he was often unable to tell the difference between reality and fiction. Fitzgerald himself and his wife Zelda were the basis for many of the characters in his novels, and he even admitted that sometimes he did not know whether he and Zelda were real, or whether they were just characters in one of his novels (Bell). Many parallels can be drawn between the characters in his books and Fitzgerald’s life, especially in The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy Buchanan is very similar to Fitzgerald’s relationship with his wife Zelda. In the story, Daisy ended up marrying Tom because he was wealthy and Gatsby was not, which is very similar to what happened between Fitzgerald and Zelda. However, Zelda just broke off their engagement because Fitzgerald was poor, but ended up marrying him later once he earned his wealth. His fourth book, Tender is the Night, is also very autobiographical and seems to tell some of Fitzgerald’s problems, such as those with his wife, the destructive effects of wealth and a morally corrupt lifestyle, his struggle with self-confidence, and his alcoholism (O’Connor). Although Fitzgerald’s own life contributed a lot to his works, the autobiographical component of his writing was not the only source from which he found

inspiration; he also incorporated many aspects of the 1920s in his works, such as wealth, ambition, love, and the American dream. In his writing, Fitzgerald demonstrated many societal standards of the 1920s, such as women marrying up in social class to be more wealthy. He also portrayed some of the different aspects of the everchanging American dream in his book The Great Gatsby. Throughout his life, Fitzgerald was exposed to numerous different views and opinions which sometimes influenced his writing. During his amazing success in the early 20s, Fitzgerald thought that life was something one dominated if one was any good; however, at the end of his life, he came to the conclusion that “life is essentially a cheat and its conditions are those of defeat, and that the redeeming things are not ‘happiness and pleasure’ but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle” (Callahan 375).
Despite his successes and extraordinary lifestyle, Fitzgerald faced many obstacles during his life. He had to deal with his own self-doubt, alcoholism, and his wife’s mental illness. During these struggles through everyday challenges, he expressed himself through the characters in his novels. While many people write their feelings and experiences in a diary, Fitzgerald portrayed his problems and experiences through his characters. Many authors were inspired by his works F. Scott Fitzgerald was a very prominent American author of the 1920s, lived a wild and rambunctious lifestyle in which he excessively spent his money, and encompassed many aspects of the social and cultural changes that were taking place in the 1920s in his works.