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Sara Zavala

Mrs. Storer,

English 3H, Block 4

3, February 2020

Mirroring Inauthenticity

Similar to when a classmate asks to copy an answer and you respond with, “Ok, but

change it up a little bit”. F. Scott Fitzgerald takes a look at events in his life and rewrites them

into a new story. The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, represents more than

a fictional tragedy, but an altered imitation of the author’s life. F. Scott Fitzgerald mirrors his

own life into his novel, by the lack of authenticity of the high-class, the portrayal of Gatsby’s

surge of the success in an attempt to belong, and the significance of appearing perfect in Daisy’s

and Gatsby’s relationship.

The fakeness of one’s surroundings is often overlooked by the main character of the

story as well as the author in his own life. Both the character and author tend to surround

themselves with people that do not have genuine intentions of getting to know them past the

projected image given by their social status. In the time stamp of, (6:03-6:20) the unwavering

presence of alcohol and lack of motivation during Fitzgerald’s college career reflects the missing

of genuine friendships and the support that accompanies it. A reoccurring theme that proves this

point is how the author tends to focus on pleasing others around him. Mirroring the life of F.

Scott, Gatsby lives a life filled with excitement and a blinding amount of ingenuine attention.

This is attention is proven to be ingenuine when Gatsby meets an untimely death and Nick is the

only friend that visits his house; “I found myself on Gatsby’s side, and alone” (Fitzgerald 175).

Nick had been the only person that genuinely cared about Gatsby and remained to that principle
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until the end of his life. This was a big turning point of the story as the readers realized that

Gatsby’s drive to become successful had been ingenuine and the thoughts of those he surrounded

himself with were ingenuine as well. Fitzgerald and Gatsby are both blinded by the attention they

receive from others due to their wanting to belong, so they focus on those aspects and push

themselves to succeed.

During both the life of Gatsby and that of Fitzgerald, the audience is able to see the desire

of wanting success in order to fit in. The two of them always separated themselves from those

around them when it came to the difficult skill sets and prospects, they believed they could

achieve. For example, this is seen in the video when Fitzgerald at an early age realized he had the

gift of writing that even those who were smart could not compare to, (3:30-3:42). He even began

to write mystery stories that included him as the main character and those who he desired to be

his friends as supporting characters. Similarly, Gatsby realized at a young age that he could not

recognize with the sub-par life on a farm he had been living with his parents, and even claimed,

“He was a son of God” (Fitzgerald 105). Meaning that he identified more with God, due to how

highly he perceived his dreams to be. This eventually led him to take matters into his own hands;

“So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to

invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (Fitzgerald 105). Desiring to be more

than a mere farmer, Jay took the opportunity to use his skills and hard work to include himself

among a more suitable place for him among the wealthier class. Although both the character and

author had big dreams of fitting in and being in the center of attention, it never seemed to fully

satisfy them. Ultimately, a golden girl would be introduced that became a hindrance due to how

unattainable they had been. Nevertheless, their desires to separate themselves from the people
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they had been transformed into the idea of them bettering themselves in order to measure up to a

certain girl’s standards.

A big driving force for both the novel and the author’s life is the pursuit of a so called

“golden girl”. For Fitzgerald, the appearance of women in his life consisted of women that were

unattainable by most men. This is initially depicted in the documentary, when the audience

learns about Geneva, the top girl at Princeton that falls for Fitzgerald. Eventually their

relationship is short-lived due to her father stating, “poor boys don’t marry rich girls” (6:33-

6:58). At that time, it would leave F. Scott Fitzgerald in a state of devastation, but the idea of

becoming wealthy to achieve what he wanted would carry on with him during the rest of his

lifetime. Not only leading him to become successful, but also convince a later introduced Zelda

to marry him. The idea of golden girls with inauthentic intentions would form the aspect of

Gatsby; a poor boy that would acquire wealth and success in order to be with the book’s Golden

girl, Daisy. In the story after Nick analyzes the coincidences between Gatsby and Daisy that had

been occurring, he makes a remark; “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just

across the bay” (Fitzgerald 85). Gatsby had formulated a plan that would reunite him with his

golden girl after being separated with her by different locations and by status due to the amount

of money they had. Mirroring Fitzgerald’s attempts to win back Zelda by acquiring wealth,

Gatsby works hard enough to buy the house across from Daisy in an effort to get her back into

his life.

In comparing the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald to his character Gatsby, similarities within

surroundings, motives, dreams, and struggle are prominently shown. Presenting the idea of a

golden girl that drives Gatsby’s determination to overcome isolation and success shows the

effects of the lack of authenticity within the high-class. The author reacted to lack of genuine
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energy in his surroundings lead him to chase after goals that would only benefit him temporarily.

As an alternative the readers must acknowledge the author’s mistakes and instead succeed for

themselves instead of others.

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Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004

Santosusso Danielle. “F Scott Fitzgerald The American Dreamer COMPLETE”. YouTube,

Feb 9, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvys5fPrgOo.