F. Scott Fitzgerald's Life in the Great Gatsby
Through his classic novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald allows many aspects of his personal life to permeate into the story, characters, and ideologies. Without having any background into the life of Fitzgerald, the average reader would conclude that the story was no less than a figment of Fitzgerald’s imagination. This is not the case however, as F. Scott funnels many of his thoughts and ideas into the characters in the book. There are quite a few stunning similarities between his character Daisy, and his own wife Zelda. He incorporates his general attitudes toward money as he displays the financial behaviors of his characters to model his own. Most importantly, he bases much of the plot and characterizations on his time living in Great Neck, New York; a very wealthy section of Long Island. It is these aspects that give the reader a greater understanding of Fitzgerald’s life, and gives the novel itself a more profound meaning.
The Great Gatsby was a book written in France, but born at 6 Gateway Drive in Great Neck, New York. Gatsby lived there for two years, and though the communities of East and West Egg are technically fictional, they are quite clearly based off of Kings Point and Manhasset Bay. As Mary Jo Murphy of the New York Times states in her recent article “Fitzgerald himself knew it well… He seeded his masterpiece there, drawing on his own experiences on ‘that slender riotous island’” (Murphy). The setting of The Great Gatsby was identical to that of his home of two years, and this couldn’t be a more black and white comparison of his life to the book. Fitzgerald lived in a wealthy, upper class community in which social status was based upon wealth. Fitzgerald was constantly surrounded by social leaches, ever-trying to crawl up the social ladder; people whose sole concern was in partying, not a care for the mysterious Gatsby. We see this when Nick states, “I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few
The Great Gatsby was a book written in France, but born at 6 Gateway Drive in Great Neck, New York. Gatsby lived there for two years, and though the communities of East and West Egg are technically fictional, they are quite clearly based off of Kings Point and Manhasset Bay. As Mary Jo Murphy of the New York Times states in her recent article “Fitzgerald himself knew it well… He seeded his masterpiece there, drawing on his own experiences on ‘that slender riotous island’” (Murphy). The setting of The Great Gatsby was identical to that of his home of two years, and this couldn’t be a more black and white comparison of his life to the book. Fitzgerald lived in a wealthy, upper class community in which social status was based upon wealth. Fitzgerald was constantly surrounded by social leaches, ever-trying to crawl up the social ladder; people whose sole concern was in partying, not a care for the mysterious Gatsby. We see this when Nick states, “I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few
Bibliography: Bruccoli, Matthew J. "A Brief Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald." SC.edu. The University of South Carolina, 4 Dec. 2003. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. . Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York City: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925. Print. Murphy, Mary Jo. "Eyeing the Unreal Estate of Gatsby Esq." NYTimes.com. The New York Times ,1 Oct. 2010. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. .