Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, was born on September
24, 1896. He later became one of the world known authors by having his books
translated to different languages and printed.. He was often described as the drunken
author, or the ruined novelists at the time. Yet, his books attract attention of people who
have read his books that he has written. Fitzgerald used the American Dream, past
relationships with love, and the people in his life, to create The Great Gatsby, that
became one of the best books written during the Jazz Age.
First of all, The Great Gatsby introduces more of the American Dream and hope
of wealth. For example, when Fitzgerald was a youngster, he fantasized that he was rich
and had a life of ease (Oxford 44). Fitzgerald’s dream for wealth and happiness was
something that meant a lot to people of that time. He sees it as the key to his future,
making life for him better. In addition, Fitzgerald’s omen was the loneliness of Gatsby
pursuing his impossible dream (Kazen K2). Gatsby was rich, but his life wasn’t
complete, he was missing something in his life. Soldiers of past wars enjoyed The Great
Gatsby because of Gatsby’s dream and will. All in all, Fitzgeralds use of the American
Dream was very successful.
Secondly, Fitzgerald used this experience with love to create emotion in his
books. For instance, Fitzgerald was determined to win the heart of a young lady named
Zelda (Oxford 46). He used this in The Great Gatsby to show the devotion of Gatsby’s
love for Daisy. By doing so Fitzgerald creates a romantic theme in the story. Later in
time, Fitzgerald found that Zelda was having an affair with another man (Oxford D7).
Once he found out, his life was not the same anymore. He became an alcoholic full with
problems in his life. I believe this is where Tom Buchannon’s relationship with Daisy
became a reality to him. To sum it up Fitzgerald felt love and pain and expressed it in his
works of literature.
Finally, Fitzgerald experienced influences throughout his life, which changed his
future. Particularly, Father Sigourney Fay was the one who gave advice and wisdom to
him (F. Scott Fitzgerald 679). Father Fay was someone who watched Scott and told him
what was right and what was wrong in life. His advice and help gave Fitzgerald the
sense to achieve high goals and dreams. In addition, he was successful as a novelist, but
was corrupted by his lifestyle (F. Scott Fitzgerald 683).
...mate sin, the killing of Myrtle. Fitzgerald believed that humanity was hopeless, and Daisy's character is a symbol of that hopelessness. "Aren't we all a little like Daisy--foolish sinners who wander around avoiding reality, hurting and being hurt by those around us, letting others take the punishment for our transgressions?" (Clark, 3/10).
...e “friends” didn’t even care enough to come back to his funeral. Fitzgerald was a part of the rich. He had a good quantity of money, drank a lot, partied typically, and had affairs. His American Dream associated with the category that he was a part of, similar to Jefferson also King. All of their dreams go with the part of being the society they belonged to. Fitzgerald needed change just like the others too, however he needed to alter who he was. Jefferson and King needed to change different people’s perspective of them.
Jay Gatsby and F. Scott Fitzgerald, two different beings, one a book character, the other a human being but both are the same person. Jay Gatsby, as evinced by the the title, is the main character in The Great Gatsby. His goals and achievements is what the novel revolves around. Gatsby is the most interesting character which is why he leaves something to think about in everything he does in the book, but what makes him amazing are the parallels between him and Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby as a catalyst of his life in the novel.
“Riding in a taxi one afternoon between very tall buildings under a mauve and rosy sky; I began to bawl because I had everything I wanted and knew I would never be so happy again.”(Fitzgerald). F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, into a very prestigious, catholic family. Edward, his father, was from Maryland, and had a strong allegiance to the Old South and its values. Fitzgerald’s mother, Mary, was the daughter of an Irish immigrant who became wealthy as a wholesale grocer in St. Paul. His upbringing, affected much of his writing career. Half the time F. Scott Fitzgerald thought of himself as the “heir of his father's tradition, which included the author of The Star-Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key, after whom he was named” (F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography). The other half the time he acted as “straight 1850 potato-famine Irish” (F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography). Consequently, he had typically indecisive feelings about American life, which seemed to him at once “vulgar and dazzlingly promising” (F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography). This idea is expressed in much of Fitzgerald’s writing. From an early age he had an “intensely romantic imagination” (F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography); he longed for a life of passion, fame and luxury.
Jay Gatsby’s dream became corrupted by money and dishonesty. Gatsby’s obsession with wealth and social standing defined his greatness. Ironically, it was this perceived importance which became his downfall. He gained money and social riches, and the obsession with Daisy continued. Gatsby presents an image of a classy, fun-loving and generous man, but in reality, he is lonely, vulnerable and unhappy. He even felt it necessary to make up his entire identity. Gatsby’s dream of life with Daisy is beyond his reach and unattainable.
F. Scott Fitzgerald tried to accent the point that money does not breed happiness. Money causes people to become envious, greedy, and jealous. It compels people to show a persona of arrogance and creates a haze of fog in the air of the world around them. They begin to become oblivious of the outside world and think of themselves as a higher being. This causes lack of acceptance for their responsibilities. I thing the author was also trying to show us that sometimes one can hold on to a dream for so long, and try so hard to achieve it that it can leave you in misery instead of happiness. Creating the reverse of it's intent.
As a result of Fitzgerald’s mother having trouble giving birth to a second child Scott grew up as a spoiled child. At the time living where he lived was lucky he carried himself as a child with a high society attitude. His parents both came from different backgrounds which showed through Fitzgerald as he was growing up. It was believed that his mother saw money as position, stability, and security; his father believed the most important things were good manners, instincts, courtesy, honor and courage. Fitzgerald’s morals mainly came from his father but his insecurities regarding society came from his mother. The Fitzgerald’s were a fortunate family living a Midwestern life.
...ites about not only the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy but also about the affair between Tom and Myrtle. Tom and Myrtle's affair shows how the amount of money one has does not change the way they may act or feel for another person. Throughout the novel, the author also explains how the wealthy or rich people are able to get away with bad behavior or unethical practices because they have the power to do so. During the time after World War I, the people who had money were the people who had power. Fitzgerald offers his audience the proof through his story that there is only a slight possibility that a person can be both wealthy and ethical. He shows his audience how sometimes being poor is not always the worse thing and that it is easier to be poor and ethical rather than being rich and ethical.
...arn more about the character themselves. It is this that makes Fitzgerald the great author of the Jazz age and The Great Gatsby the great book of this age. Many people have argued that if it weren’t for jazz music, the culture of that age would not have been born. It is not the plot that is the primary bearer of symbolism and themes within The Great GatsbyI, rather it was the language. The language, that like jazz, told a whole story in a few scales. Jazz was the soul of the culture, it was their feelings and emotions on scales and scores. The case is the same with language of The Great Gatsby. The language is the soul of the novel, the lungs through which the theme breathes its life.
"F. Scott Fitzgerald." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2013): 1. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
“He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it; he did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in the vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.” (Fitzgerald, 180). This novel, The Great Gatsby, was written by an insightfully amorous man names F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story was, loosely, based off of his life of love, trouble, parties, and death. The Great Gatsby is a story about an observant unbiased man named Nick Carraway who helps out young proscribed love. But he fails to perceive the foreshadowed future of the two estranged couple that is Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Throughout the entire novel, all the way till the end, Gatsby never gives up on his hope to win Daisy over from Tom. Whenever Gatsby feels that he has won, something happens that brings everyone, including him, disappointment.
...m that was based more on wealth and possessions and less on hard work and achievement. The fact that he later rebelled against the material 1920s culture shows that he was in fact cautioning against this lifestyle rather than encouraging it.” This more than anything proves Fitzgerald is making a commentary on the corruption of the American Dream rather than simply the tale of wealthy lovers.
In the third sentence, note the metaphor and explain Fitzgerald’s choice of this particular metaphor.
Unbeknownst to the literary world, a future great American novelist, Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896. As an intellectual young man with great ambition, F. Scott Fitzgerald attended Princeton in the fall of 1913 with great hopes of fulfilling his dream to become a writer (“F. Scott Fitzgerald – Bio”, 2015). Unfortunately, Fitzgerald did not find much success at Princeton, was put on academic probation, and in 1917 left the school and enlisted himself into the U.S Army. During his time spent on base in Alabama, Fitzgerald met a woman, Zelda Sayre, and fell in love. Following his discharge at the end of the war, Fitzgerald and Zelda moved to Great Neck, New York on Long Island to pursue his literary aspirations
This passage is from the great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It tells a story, specifically the history which Gatsby and Daisy had. Daisy promised to wait for Gatsby until the war ended. But as it is Daisy’s youth and need for love and attention has made her insecure to stay alone for so long. Soon she attended parties and dances. At one of them she met the safe and strong Tom Buchanan. Despite the fact that she loved Jay, he was not there, so she married Tom.