Fitzgerald and Gatsby Essay

Francis Scott key Fitzgerald was a popular american storyteller. Born September 24th, 1896 and died in December 21st, 1940, Fitzgerald lived the prime of his life in the â€Å"Roaring-Twenties†. The values and morals were declining in favor of materialistic and careless attitudes following the world war. Social prestige no longer came to how hardworking and knowledgeable you were but how much property and goods you had. People began to think that instead of earning a place in society you could purchase it. This corrupted the characters in the novel â€Å"The Great Gatsby† and twisted the American dream. In the novel by Fitzgerald â€Å"The Great Gatsby† he connects many of the characters to real people that he has delt with in his life. Fitzgerald’s character Gatsby is a mirror of himself. In many ways Fitzgerald betters himself through Gatsby and his characteristics but still follows a close backbone to Fitzgerald himself and events in his life. James Gats was born into a poor, disadvantaged farm family and came from nothing. Fitzgerald was born into a deprived family and had to create himself on his own. Neither came from â€Å"old money† or was born into the elite class but rather had to work for all of their money. Fitzgerald loved to party and drink but with that came many things he did wrong when he was drunk. Gatsby threw many parties but never drank so he wouldn’t miss a beat. It says how Gatsby learned from Dan Cody, that when he was drunk women took advantage of him and he made ignorant mistakes. Fitzgerald was taken advantage by his wife and spent money very foolishly when he was drunk. Gatsby was created without Fitzgerald’s alcoholism. Fitzgerald was also enrolled in the army and became a military officer but never went to war. Gatsby returned home as a war hero with medals of honor. Gatsby never had money problems it seemed as he never really worked but the money just kept coming in. Fitzgerald was always fighting to keep making money and worked for hours on end to make ends meet so he could support his lavish, careless, and drunken lifestyle. Fitzgerald was a major party addict. He loved the fast life. He was an excessive partier but his home life suffered and was extremely unhappy. Gatsby Through many big parties almost every weekend but he was lacking the only thing money couldn’t buy him, love. Both Fitzgerald and Gatsby fell in ove at a young age with a woman out of their league. Fitzgerald with Ginevra and Gatsby with Daisy. Both Daisy and Ginevra came from a background of â€Å"old money. † They lived luxurious lifestyles. These women were beautiful,rich and characterized everything these men believed were perfect. They were blinded by materialistic things rather than inner beauty. At the time these men were still unsuccessful and couldn’t support these high maintenance women. Their love lives are very similar. Both Daisy and Ginevra did love them but could not marry them because â€Å"Rich girls do not marry poor boys†. The women moved on but the men still loved them and were even more determined to become successful and win their lovers back. In the end both men were successful and earned a lot of money to move into the â€Å"elite class†. They so called conquered the â€Å"American Dream† But they were still unhappy. They didn’t have the loving family unit or white picket fence house instead they had excessive amours of money, designer clothing, expensive cars, big unfriendly mansions and a cold separated family. But both Daisy and Ginevra got married already to rich men who could support their lifestyles. They were both unhappy with their marriage. Fitzgerald meets up with Ginevra again and has a second and last chance to impress her and win over her love now that he was successful. They meet at a bar and he drinks and is out of control. He is rude and is not the way Ginevra remember the Fitzgerald she fell in love with and loses his chance. Gatsby gets a second chance with Daisy too. When he firsts meets her she seems different to him, Older and less bubbly but he still loves her. But he goes out to lunch with her and her husband and takes things too far trying to win her back and loses his final chance. Through time things have changed about each character but in their minds they were static. They were both imagining different visuals and personalities from their youths. Everyone in life gets older and matures. It did not work out in the end for both men. The American dream was twisted and all of the riches they earned were wasted because money cannot buy true love. It just was not ment to be. Even though money is up there with oxygen it isn’t everything. These men where searching for love and happiness and money was not going to buy it. The novel parallels to Fitzgerald’s life immensely. Its captures and llustrates many of the issues Fitzgerald suffered. He had constant implications with women in his life therefore he portrays them as shallow, ignorant, and disloyal in the novel. Fitzgerald used many of his emotions to influence his novel and that is why it mirrors his life so closely, as well as many of the other pieces of writing he has created. He is a gifted writer and lived a rollacoster lifestyle up until he died of a heart attack. If only he realized sooner how to prioritize his life he could lived much happier. It is unfortunate what he had to go through. But there is no reward for living life as a drunken partier.