y wealthy. Perhaps Fitzgeralds 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 Fitzgeralds 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). Nicks mind is conservative and historical, as in his lineage(Raleigh, 103). Gatsbys is radical and apocalyptic-as rootless as his heri...
