Themes In The Great Gatsby

Emotion, experience, and love, these three elements of life often translate either directly or indirectly into words and onto the pages of novels, and especially in the life of a man like Mr. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Throughout his works and especially in The Great Gatsby, “[Fitzgerald] always . . . wrote about himself or about people and things with which he was intimate, and as a consequence his life is inextricably bound up in his works” (qtd. in Oye 1). Through the words of his choice, a common theme can be found within almost every literary masterpiece artfully designed at the hand of Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is even quoted saying that “the whole idea of Gatsby is the unfairness of a poor young man not being able to marry a girl with money.
Having lived with such a heavy heart it is as though Fitzgerald uses his literary works as something of an outlet, somewhere where he can express himself freely.
In expressing himself, Fitzgerald devises the character of Jay Gatsby to be the man of which symbolizes him in his past and of what he has become. Both Fitzgerald and Gatsby alike begin their lives as young men in the military, and that is the point in which their lives begin to change. Both stricken with love for the woman of their dreams, Fitzgerald and Gatsby alike attempt to do anything they can to win the affection of Daisy in the case of Gatsby, and Ginevra in the case of Fitzgerald. However, in both cases when the men finally meet again the woman of their dreams, their illusion is not what they believed
Like two sides of a flip coin, both Gatsby and Carraway embody the two very different sides of a man like Fitzgerald. Unlike Gatsby however, Carraway is more of a man who Fitzgerald wishes to be, but not entirely who he is. Parallel to the life of Fitzgerald, Carraway is a Minnesota-bred son of a well-to-do family, and an Ivy-League graduated Midwesterner who moves east after World War One looking for new opportunities (Oye 1). Not only does their physical life align extraordinarily well, but as does their mentality for various situations. Both men are described as being people who can “look into the abyss without falling to his doom” (Turnbull 3) and this shows that both men have an acute awareness for what is happening around them. Considered to be a perfect narrator it is fairly obvious that Carraway is a man who withholds his judgement, thus making him a man who has sympathy, understanding, and can pride himself in being a wonderful listener (Oye 1). Both given exceptional advice by their fathers Carraway is told by his father that “whenever you feel like criticizing anyone . . . just remember that all the people in this world [do not have] the advantages that [you have]” (Fitzgerald 5) and likewise Fitzgerald is brought up upon a platform of honor and humility and is taught the code of honor of the Southern gentleman