The Great Gatsby

As author of The Great Gatsby and other titles, F. Scott Fitzgerald has been considered an
influential author since the 1960s (Bloom, 2000). He utilized his personal experiences to
describe the perceptions of youth and social issues during the Jazz Age. Even though he was not
highly recognized for his writings while he was alive, the literary world has since found the
value of his works and now identifies him as a significant American author.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota (F. Scott
Fitzgerald, 2009). He was named after his distant ancestor Francis Scott Key, who wrote The
Star Spangled Banner (Bloom, 2000). After high school, he studied at Princeton University
from 1913 to 1917 (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 2009). Unfortunately, Fitzgerald never graduated from
Princeton (Hook, 2002).
Before he was able to finish college, Fitzgerald enlisted in the United States Army at the
beginning of World War I. While he was stationed at Camp Sheridan, Alabama, he met his
future wife, Zelda Sayre. He and Zelda became husband and wife on April 3, 1920 (F. Scott
Fitzgerald, 2009). Their daughter, Frances Scott Fitzgerald, was born on October 26, 1921 in St.
Paul (Gale, 1998). Near the end of his life, F. Scott Fitzgerald was employed by MGM in
Hollywood as a screenwriter. After years as MGM, Fitzgerald died on December 21, 1940 from
a heart attack in Hollywood (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 2009).
Throughout his life, Fitzgerald focused on writing, especially when he was dissatisfied
with his family, academics, and sports participation. During the early part of his life, most of his
works received good attention and were well liked (Hook, 2002). In 1909, his first story was
published, titled The Mystery of the Raymond Mortgage (Gale, 1998). While he was
attending the St. Paul Academy, he wrote plays for the Elizabethan Dramatic Club each summer
from 1911 to 1914 (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 2009). The success attained by the club assisted him

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to become known as an author. He later enrolled at Newman School in New Jersey, where his
first play, The Girl from Lazy J, was produced (Gale, 1998).
Fitzgeralds development as a writer was quickened once he was at Princeton. He
produced a successful play entitled Fie! Fie! Fi-Fi! on December 19, 1914 at Princeton (F.
Scott Fitzgerald, 2009). Additionally, he wrote pieces for the Nassau Literary Magazine.
Nassau was a formal and serious publication, forcing Fitzgerald to create a mature and focused
style for the works he submitted. These writings also exhibit characters and themes he used in
later novels and short stories (Hook, 2002).
After his military career was over, Fitzgerald spent time in France, becoming part of the
social circle that included other American expatriates like Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein
(Bloom, 2000). After living in France for a period of time, Zeldas mental illness became
apparent and Fitzgeralds alcoholism got worse. Both of these events negatively affected his
writing. During his time spent in the United States, he worked on a novel called The Romantic
Egotist, which would later be changed to This Side of Paradise. Later, he produced a play which
he thought would be a success. It was entitled The Vegetable, but it never made it to
Broadway. In order to earn income and have time to draft another novel, Fitzgerald wrote short
stories that had mild success (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 2009). During this time, both his alcohol
addiction and Zeldas mental breakdowns continued to progressively worsen (Bloom, 2000).
F. Scott Fitzgeralds writing contains many special traits that make him stand out from
other authors of his time. He wrote during the Jazz Age, which occurred after World War I in
the time of a growing economy, Prohibition, and feminism (Jazz Age, 2006). The time period
in which he lived influenced his stories, as most displayed young people in the Jazz Age who
were wealthy and disillusioned (Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 2006). Tales of the Jazz Age and The

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Great Gatsby were about youth in the Jazz Age who had issues with identity, morals, and society
(Jazz Age, 2006). Through his writing, Fitzgerald became famous for mixing real life and art
to demonstrate youth, luxury, and fame in a glorified way (Thompson, 1996). All of his works
focus on social aspects of humans, including relationship issues and the way people perceive
events. These qualities aid in developing the characters, and they display the world to the
readers through different peoples perspectives (Hook, 2002). Furthermore, Fitzgerald extends
many of his themes through all of his novels and short stories (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 2009).
Even though his works are mostly fiction, they have autobiographical qualities to them. Much of
his writing includes personal experiences (Hook, 2002). For instance, there are numerous
characters Fitzgerald created that are alcoholics based off his own addiction (Gale, 1998).
Another significant feature of Fitzgeralds style is its poetic aspects and fluency (Hook, 2002).
There are lyrical lines in most works, and they flow extremely well. As with most classic
authors, the themes of his novels are timeless and apply to many generations (Thompson, 1996).
F. Scott Fitzgerald received guidance and was influenced by different people throughout
his career. First, Fitzgerald modeled part of his style after Joseph Conrads. He used
descriptions that connect emotion with reality, similar to Conrads writing technique (Hook,
2002). Moreover, he employed Conrads device in which a character tells important information
to the narrator, or the information is relayed through several characters (F. Scott Fitzgerald,
2009). An additional person who might have made the largest impact on Fitzgeralds writing
was Father Sigourney Faye. Faye met Fitzgerald at Newman School and offered him guidance
concerning writing and life. He also read and edited sections of This Side of Paradise for the
author (Hook, 2002). The character Monsignor Darcy in the novel is actually based on Faye (F.
Scott Fitzgerald, 2009). Ginevra King was a person of influence for Fitzgerald, too. Before he

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met Zelda, Fitzgerald fell in love with King, but she ended their relationship to be with richer
men. Because of this experience, Fitzgerald used her as a model for The Pierian Springs and
the Last Straw. King inspired his theme concerning beautiful and harsh women who harm men,
like the one seen in a Nassau piece called The Debutante (Hook, 2002).
During the time when Fitzgerald was writing, most other contemporary authors wrote
about topics like war, violence, history, and reality. Fitzgerald, on the other hand, barely ever
focused on deep subjects like politics, religion, or philosophy. His works do not usually have a
large, important theme, but are based on emotions and perceptions (Hook, 2002).
As one can see, F. Scott Fitzgerald made numerous literary contributions to the world,
including novels and short stories. His first novel, This Side of Paradise, was published in 1920.
The book described a students life at Princeton along with his desires and pessimism
(Thompson, 1996). It was written by combining different styles from play and poetry since he
was familiar with those genres and was not proficient in writing novels. Recognized as his most
famous novel, The Great Gatsby addressed issues and conflicts such as the rich versus the poor
and the young versus the old (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 2009). Surprisingly, the book was not a
great seller when it was published in 1925. The main character, Jay Gatsby, loosely resembled
the poet John Keats (Bloom, 2000). The Great Gatsby is said to have perfect dialogue, and it
glorified relationships and disenchantment (Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 2006). After The Great
Gatsby, Fitzgerald published Tender is the Night, which did not sell well at first, either
(Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 2006). The novel exhibited the harmful impulses of people in the United
States (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 2009). Diver, a character in the book, resembles Fitzgerald himself
(Bloom, 2000). After its original publication, he decided to revise the book, but the original print
is still considered standard (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 2009).

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The Last Tycoon, Fitzgeralds final novel, was intended to portray a man who had found
the American Dream (Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 2006). The main character was based on Irving
Thalberg, an MGM producer while Fitzgerald was working for the company (F. Scott
Fitzgerald, 2009). Since Fitzgerald passed away before he could complete the story, it was
published unfinished after his death. Many short stories written by Fitzgerald were fundamental
in his novels and other works. They contained themes and techniques that Fitzgerald developed
later in his career (Bloom, 2000).
Following his death, Fitzgeralds works claimed much more fame and attention than
they did when first published. His writings have been translated into 35 languages and 500,000
copies of his books are sold every year. In 2003, Britain chose The Great Gatsby as one of the
nations 100 best-loved novels (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 2009). Also, The Great Gatsby is on the
list of the top 10 most important books for high school juniors to read (Thompson, 1996).
At the beginning of his writing career, F. Scott Fitzgerald was not wildly popular or
extremely successful. Although he combined personal experiences, aspects of other forms of
writing, and characteristics of the time period, he did not become known as a great author until
years after his death. Fitzgerald contributed a great deal to the world of literature through his
works by displaying social issues through the perceptions of his characters, and the themes of his
works will remain relevant for years to come.

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References
Bloom, Harold. (2000). F. Scott Fitzgerald: Blooms major novelists. 9-12. doi:
9780585249049. Retrieved from NetLibrary.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. (2006). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from SIRS Discoverer.
F. Scott Fitzgerald. (2009). Contemporary Authors. 1-13. Retrieved from Contemporary
Authors Online.
Gale, Robert L. (1998). An F. Scott Fitzgerald encyclopedia. xiii-xv,2,5,24. doi:
9780313001765. Retrieved from NetLibrary.
Hook, Andrew. (2002). F. Scott Fitzgerald: A literary life. Ix-21. doi: 978140919267.
Retrieved from NetLibrary.
Jazz age. (2006). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from SIRS Discoverer.
Thompson, Anne. (1996, September 21). Great Scott. Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved from SIRS
Discoverer.