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Great Gatsby4

Great Gatsby4 From the time he wrote his first novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald was bound to be a classic novelist, portraying his life from birth, through his youth, and through his older years in mostly all of his novels, including his most popular novel, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald’s life from youth to death found full expression in some 160 short stories (Prigozy, 1). The elegiac note that characterizes his reminiscences of his early childhood and struggling adolescence greatly affected his work (Prigozy, 1). F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1897 in St. Paul, Minnesota. His father, Edward Fitzgerald was a distinguished lawyer, Fitzgerald’s mother, Mary McQuillan, was left with the inheritance of a million-dollar grocery business after her parents’ death (Philips, 1). Fitzgerald was an intellectual, and he was a very dramatic child, but did poorly in school and he was often known as an outcast (Philips, 1). He grew up experiencing the end of WW1 and the jazz age. He also got to experience the roaring twenties (Prigozy, 1). He moved many times with his family in his young age. His family often moved to different apartments in the same cities (Prigozy, 1). These, his teen years, had a great impact on his life. “A sense of estrangement so characteristic of his formative years marks much of his fiction, from the first short stories, written when he was thirteen, to his last efforts in Hollywood” (Prigozy, 2). In 1911, at the age of fourteen, Fitzgerald was enrolled into St. Paul academy. This would be where he published his first few short stories in the school magazine. He later re-created his school years in the Basil Duke Lee series, which showed what it was like to be an outsider and to be disliked, as Fitzgerald was (Prigozy, 2). He was an average student, but managed to get into Princeton in 1913, from which he never graduated (Philips, 1). His years at Princeton were the most influential on his writings, mostly because of a man named John Peale Bishop. Bishop introduced Fitzgerald to poetry, that especially of John Keats and Edmund Wilson, who would become the “intellectual conscience” of Fitzgerald’s life (Prigozy, 3). Instead of graduating, he enlisted into the Army at the end of WW1, which is when he met his wife Zelda Sayre, whom he met in a boot camp during the war (Philips, 2). Zelda is the model for most of the women in his stories and novels until the late 1930’s, for Fitzgerald loved her more than anything. (Prigozy, 4). Many of his stories also are biographical events that reflect the years from WW1 (Prigozy, 8). As Fitzgerald grew older, he used more and more of his personal experiences to create a plot for his stories. His books grew also, making them more and more successful. Many things he had done in his life were of great influence. Fitzgerald was not a very athletic person. He decided, instead, to participate in the theatre arts, which is where he obtained many of his ideas for his first few short stories. These stories showed very strong theatrical elements (Prigozy, 2). Fitzgerald’s appreciation of the theatre led him to New York, which is where he moved with Zelda (Prigozy, 2). Fitzgerald also spent some time in Hollywood, where he met yet another influential person, Lois Moran. Fitzgerald later used Moran’s life to write and publish the book Jacob’s Ladder (Prigozy, 7). Another very influential person entered Fitzgerald’s life during his years of education. This very important person is Father Sigourney Fay, who was the director of a school which Fitzgerald attended after his years at Princeton; Newman School. Fitzgerald always tried to capture the beauty of Fay in many of his works (Prigozy, 3). Fitzgerald loved the sophisticated person that Fay was, and created his characters to be the same sophisticated person that Fay was (Prigozy, 3). Fay also introduced Fitzgerald to a new world of Catholicism, which Fitzgerald also revealed in his books (Prigozy, 3). “Of the many new writers that sprang into notice with the advent of the post-war period, Fitzgerald remained the steadiest performer and the most entertaining” (Clark, 25). He is in a line with some of the greatest masters of prose (Bewely, 125). He writes well, and always has, because he writes naturally, and his sense of form has been perfected (Clark, 25). Fitzgerald's novels revolve around his and his wife’s relationship, and these stories appeared in many magazines (Prigozy, 1). Fitzgerald’s whole life was bound up with his short stories. He wrote of what he knew and loved, which was the jazz age, with much observation and humor. (Bewely, 137). His stories are recognizable by their romantic rhetoric, characters, settings, and social concerns. He experimented with many different plots, settings, and characters, and he usually writes mainly of flappers, philosophers, and family (Prigozy, 9). The stories are marked by new techniques, while still using techniques of standard fiction (Prigozy, 9-10). His stories rarely turn on one action; there are usually several actions of equal weight, as shown in many of his novels, including the most popular, The Great Gatsby (Prigozy, 10). This is what has classified Fitzgerald as a classic novelist. Fitzgerald’s stories have gotten more and more popular since the fifties and he is now ranked among the greatest authors today; however, Fitzgerald also has weaknesses (Prigozy, 9). Fitzgerald often will start a book in a very exciting manner, but then by the end it blankets out and becomes less interesting (Prigozy, 10). Fitzgerald is most successful when his central character is both a participant and an observer of the action and is weakest when the protagonist is simply a member of the upper class or an outsider (Prigozy, 10). In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is shown as a participant, not just a rich man. Nick Carraway also is a participant, yet he is not very wealthy. Perhaps Fitzgerald’s technique has determined why the novel has been so successful. Fitzgerald has written many great novels; however, his fame rests primarily on the novel, The Great Gatsby, which is not only remembered through a Hollywood film, but also by an opera based musical masterpiece (Gates, 88). The climax of Fitzgerald’s fortune came with The Great Gatsby (Unger, 77). Critics agree that The Great Gatsby is somehow affiliated with that elusive phrase, the American dream (Bewley, 125). The novel embodies a criticism of an American experience. “It suggests the right to ask the impossible of the world” (Bewley, 125). Critics’ opinions of The Great Gatsby vary greatly. Some critics say that the character of Gatsby is very dim and vague (Perkins, 25). Others imply that his character is revealed marvelously and it is very clear; the plot flows beautifully (Perkins, 26). The character of Tom is said to be shown extraordinarily well, and if a critic of The Great Gatsby would see Tom on the street, the critic would know Tom perfectly; and undeniably stay away from Tom (Perkins, 25). Fitzgerald used his self-image to write The Great Gatsby, and wrote using his life as a plot (Philips, 2). Like Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway is a thoughtful young man from Minnesota, educated in an Ivy League school, who moves to New York after the war (Philips, 2). Like Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is a sensitive young man who idolizes wealth and luxury, and falls in love with a beautiful young woman while stationed in a military camp (Philips, 2). Fitzgerald also can relate in other ways to the characters. As shown in the novel, Nick is reason, experience, and history while Gatsby is shown as imagination, innocence, dream, and eternity; all qualities which Fitzgerald showed during his lifetime (Raleigh, 103). “Nick’s mind is conservative and historical, as in his lineage”(Raleigh, 103). “Gatsby’s is radical and apocalyptic-as rootless as his heritage (Raleigh, 103).” Fitzgerald also writes using much symbolism, making his stories much better. The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock can mean multiple things. It is, by law, illegal to have a green light at the end of a dock (Burnam, 105). By law, the light must be red. The fact that the light is green could mean “go” (Burnam, 105). It might be telling Gatsby to go to her. The light could also be green, meaning money. Gatsby was shown as a lover of money, and he could be attracted to Daisy for her money. The opinion is left up to the reader. Fitzgerald held a great life, which we can learn more about by reading his books, for he portrays himself in mostly all of them. After he became a celebrity, Fitzgerald started a new life of participating in parties and drinking much alcohol (Philips, 2). During this time, Zelda had a nervous breakdown, and Fitzgerald continued writing and publishing his novels to fund her treatment (Prigozy, 8). He would stop at nothing to help Zelda get better, even though the public thought of he as being crazy. All good things, however, must come to an end. For Fitzgerald, it came quite early. Fitzgerald had a heart attack in November 1940 and died on December 21 after suffering a second attack. Fitzgerald died at age 44 from the heart attack, ending his life of great literature and great fame and fortune; also ending his new life of parties and drinking. Perhaps we will never know what the green light at the end of the Daisy’s dock actually meant. Perhaps Fitzgerald wanted it that way. Fitzgerald is still remembered as a classic novelist today, and his literature is still a popular item. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1598