Preview

Is Scott's Fitzgerald's Life Reflected in the Character of Jay Gatsby?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
642 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Is Scott's Fitzgerald's Life Reflected in the Character of Jay Gatsby?
Is Scott's Fitzgerald's life Reflected in the Character of Jay Gatsby?

After conducting a through investigation on the author of the Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald, one may say that the protagonist of this novel is a very clore representation of the author, himself. There are numerous and meaningful similarities between Jay Gatsby and Scott Fitzgerald's life, and all of them are far from being coincidence.

Their similarities begin in their background. Scott Fitzgerald and Jay Gatsby are from middle class families and had the opportunity to attend two of the world's most prestigious universities, Oxford and Princeton, but failed to graduate from either of them. Both of them also attended the army, and left it without any remarkable success.

But still the biggest similarities between them are their love life and their ways of making a living. Both of them fell in love while being very young and neither of them could provide for their ladies, Daisy and Zelda. Both these ladies were highly interested about money and did not wait for their Fitzgerald or Gatsby, but instead they terminated their relationships because they couldn't support them. In Gatsby's case Daisy promise to wait for him, but instead she dated many men and married to Tom Buchanan; and it was not until Gatsby showed him his money and his house that their love reunited for a small period of time. In Fitzgerald's case, he was engage to Zelda and he went to work to New York to make a good living in order to provide for her. His plans took longer than expected and over a year passed, so Zelda broke their engagement and it was not until he published his first book and became rich that they married. Both Zelda and Daisy were unloyal to Scott and Gatsby respectively, it is known that Zelda had a affair (name) and that changed their relationship forever. Daisy failed to keep her promise to Gatsby, then they reunited for a short period of time, and then she just left town with Tom, and left Gatsby with

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the book, “The Great Gatsby,” the characters Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby are more alike than they appear. They also share the same differences too and they also never loved Daisy. One of their great differences is that Gatsby is more organized and Tom is not.Tom’s great differences is that he is cheater and Gatsby is not. They have two different personalities but can relate to the same secret affairs throughout the book.…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are multiple prominent characters. F. Scott Fitzgerald gives a lot of information on Gatsby, Daisy, Nick, Tom, Mrytle, Jordan, and Mr. Wilson. All these characters are in some way connected to one another. Each of these characters have a uniqueness about them, but they also have many similarities. Some of the character traits that are prominent in this book are greed, love, hope, pride, ignorance, lust, lying, and trust.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about a man named Jay Gatsby, who…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Imagine the 1920's have been re-enacted, a time of luxurious parties and when things, didn’t seem to matter or mean as much as they do now. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, gives you a picture of what the time period was like. It was a time known as the "Jazz Age", where the economy was at its peak, and money was easy to be held. Prohibition was in affect, and bootlegging was very gainful for those who took part in it. Jay Gatsby most likely took part in an illegal business scheme, such as bootlegging, to make his fortune. Tom Buchanan, on the other hand though, acquired his wealth through inheritance. The plot of The Great Gatsby seemingly also revolves around a girl, Daisy Buchanan, whom Tom and Gatsby both love in different ways. However, they are similar as they both want to be able to call Daisy “mine.” In The Great Gatsby, although Tom and Gatsby strive to be financially successful and maintain a high social class, and they both love Daisy in a way, they are two completely different people with different personalities and morals.…

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is perhaps one of the most recognized authors associated with the literary flowering of the 1920’s in America. The concern of most authors during this time was of the materialism that had suddenly swept the country. Credit was easy, interest rates were low, and corruption abounded. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays how the American dream of success was extinguished until it was nothing more than greedy desire. The sanguine American dream that had turned no one away and had given all an equal opportunity for happiness and success was no longer. Through use of his main character, Jay Gatsby,…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the main character Jay Gatsby is the tragic hero in the novel. Gatsby is a rich man who falls in love with a woman from his past, but could not be with her; instead, he ended up alone and was killed.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Explain the difference or similarities between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jay Gatsby The similarities between them was their social life and their ways towards people. F. Scott Fitzgerald had fallen in love with a girl named Zelda Sayre. Jay Gatsby was the fictional character that was made up by scott this character was comparing and showing what was really going on his life all the setbacks and the heartbreaks. He had become an alcoholic when he was going through the worst time of his life he wouldn't do nothing but drink.…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is portrayed as being an admirable, wealthy, kind, and genuinely impressive man. However, that being said, he is also portrayed as pretentious, deceptive, criminal, and most importantly to the plot, completely insatiable. Even though the novel’s narrator, Nick Carraway, heavily sympathizes with Gatsby, he has many character flaws that ultimately assure the failure of his “dream”, and even lead to his untimely demise.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this novel the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald creates Gatsby as a character who becomes great. He begins life as just an ordinary, lower-class, citizen. But Gatsby has a dream of becoming wealthy. After meeting Daisy, he has a reason to strive to become prominent. Throughout his life, Gatsby gains the title of truly being great.…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Many characters in the Great Gatsby parallel to Fitzgerald life. For example, Daisy, the women Jay Gatsby has been basing his whole life on, is similar to Zelda Sayre, who would not marry Fitzgerald at first because of his lack of success.…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism and adds complexity to the characters and deepens our understanding to their true identity. There is always a deeper thought into everything that happens.…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both Tom Buchannan and Jay Gatsby are men who commit two different types of uniform foolishness. Tom deals with affairs of the heart, whereas Gatsby deals with business affairs. Each man loves Daisy dearly. Tom starts out, on their wedding day, showing disrespect for Daisy. Once Tom realizes there might be another man in the picture, he decides to show more love towards his wife. Gatsby met and fell in love with Daisy when they were in the South. She would not stay with Gatsby because she wanted more materialistic things in life. Both men are terrified of the thought of losing Daisy. Tom’s dignity could not possibly survive any loss; yet Gatsby’s thoughts of a well lived life with Daisy soon killed him.…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a romantic tragedy about a man named Nick Carraway who gets involved with the life of Jay Gatsby and his not-so secretive love for Daisy Buchanan. A critic named Lionel Trilling once said, “Jay Gatsby is to be thought of as standing for America itself.” This is proven to be true because Gatsby moves up in life and pursues his dream. He is an example for the American way because he fails at certain things and succeeds at others.…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his novel the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald creates Gatsby as a character who becomes great. His life being as just an ordinary, lower-class, citizen, yet Gatsby still has a dream of becoming wealthy man. After meeting Daisy, he has a reason to strive to become prominent. Throughout his life, Gatsby gains the title of truly being great.…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Scott Fitzgerald also connected Daisy’s relationship with Gatsby back to his own marriage with Zelda. Both Zelda and Daisy made their loved one wait until they were wealthy before they got serious but they both ended up together at a time in their lives. It is known that Zelda made Fitzgerald wait because in Howard Greenfeld’s biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald, He stated, “Zelda knew what she wanted, and she believed that eventually Fitzgerald could provide the life she had envisioned for herself. But that life required success—financial as well as social—and Scott first had to prove himself” (Greenfeld). This shows that Zelda wanted to be with Fitzgerald but he was not wealthy enough to be a suitable spouse for Zelda at that time. Once Fitzgerald was wealthy after the first book of his was a hit, he went back to Zelda and they got married (Greenfeld). Fitzgerald showed this aspect of his marriage in the relationship between Daisy and Gatsby. Daisy had made Gatsby wait until he was wealthy to think about getting serious with him. This is shown when Tom had called Gatsby a “common swindler” on page 140 of The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald). This shows that Gatsby was not good enough for Daisy when he did not have his money to throw around. Gatsby throwing his money around and having his lavish parties is his way of showing Daisy that he is wealthy enough to deserve her. After Nick reunited Gatsby and Daisy she started spending afternoons at Gatsby’s house. This is shown on page…

    • 1354 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics