Short Summary of the Great Gatsby

" F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, were guilty of many things. They were impetuous, they were known to drink too much, and they were prone to bouts of serious depression and self-destructive behavior, but no one could ever accuse them of frugality" " F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Age of Excess" by Joshua Zeitz.

Also like Gatsby, Fitzgerald had served as a lieutenant in World War I and had met the woman of his dreams, Zelda Sayre, while stationed in the South. Many similarities exist between Zelda and Daisy. Like Daisy, Zelda was beautiful and popular, much pursued by the young officers stationed at the nearby army camp. Fitzgerald visited Zelda at her father's fine home, just as Gatsby spent time with Daisy in his beautiful house. Zelda would not marry Fitzgerald until he had money and could support her, but Fitzgerald's experience with poor boys pursuing rich girls, a major element in the novel as Gatsby longs for Daisy. Daisy says that rich woman do not marry poor men. This is clearly portraying Fitzgerald’s life because his wife would not marry her because she could not support him. Finally the movie depicts the event of the roaring twenties. Fitzgerald and his wife

The American Dream; a reality chased by Americans for centuries, based on the ideas of liberty, happiness and equal right to success for all. But, for F. Scott Fitzgerald the American Dream was a materialistic world of permanent riches and fortune. This distorted perception of the American Dream, shared by many others, resulted in the failure of the real American Dream, a reality where one can live comfortably and safely. Instead, the American Dream became this unattainable goal that can never result in satisfaction, as humans will always have that desire for more. F. Scott Fitzgerald clearly represents the failed American Dream, as he proved throughout his life of short periods of glamor which concluded

In The Great Gatsby, the author, F Scott Fitzgerald depicts the post - war roaring 20’s, a time of overwhelming prosperity and a new found sense of hope for the future. While this novel is often perceived as a romance, it is also a criticism on the devastating nature of the elusive american dream. The story of Jay Gatsby is a representation of what had become the values of the individual at the time. With the progression of the early 1920’s the vision of the perfect life, or the american dream, had been skewed. It was replaced with greed, and an abundance of reckless spending in which the wealthier individuals placed their misguided ideas of happiness. In the Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald chooses to expose the hidden truth behind the illustrious concept of the American dream. Through his use of literary devices such as, symbolism, metaphor, and, irony the central idea of the truly unattainable American dream is supported throughout the novel.

In the states, Fitzgerald’s goal became becoming wealthy. The primary reason for this was to impress Zelda and take her hand in marriage. After some time, Zelda said she could not wait any longer so she decided to break their engagement (Bruccoli).

On September 24, 1896 in a quiet neighborhood of St. Paul Minnesota, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born to Edward Fitzgerald and his wife, Mollie McQuillan Fitzgerald. Edward was from a wealthy old family in Maryland with relations to F. Scott’s namesake; Francis Scott Key. Mollie was a wealthy daughter of a native St. Paul family with extensive capital resources and social connections that extended across much of the northern Midwest (Lovelady, 1). The young couple had had two daughters before the birth of their son, but the first had died at age one, and the second at age three. F. Scott had one younger sister that survived, Anabelle, and she lived a long, complete life (Bruccoli, 11). F. Scott was often sick as a young child, and the family made frequent trips to the doctor (Bruccoli, 15). The

This article by Donaldson is about the role of women in Fitzgerald's life and how those women influence the characterization of the females in his books. He then went on to say how Fitzgerald himself was reflected in all his characters, male and female. It was then discussed how the characterization influenced the overall theme of the stories. Donaldson creates a very positive attitude giving an overall positive review. He does not criticize Fitzgerald, only analyses his work.

In 1926, All the Sad Young Men was published, and in 1927 he went to Hollywood to work for United Artists, where he met an attractive actress named Lois Moran (Stern xi). This Hollywood experience fueled the sixth revision of his fourth novel, about a movie director named Lew Kelly, his wife Nicole and a young actress named Rosemary. Fitzgerald in the summer of 1929 informed Scribner’s about this new idea and by the fall said that he only had another month to devote to the novel before he would be finished (Bruccoli 60 “The Comp…). He scrapped the sixth version fairly quickly, but Rosemary grew out of this short-lived version (Bruccoli xxiii “The Comp…”). Over the latter half of the Twenties, Zelda illustrated signs of psychotic behavior, such as her ballet obsession. In 1930, while the Fitzgeralds lived in Paris after the Great Depression, Zelda broke down completely

F. Scott Fitzgerald, a St. Paul, Minnesota native, was born on September 24, 1896. His father, Edward Fitzgerald, had co-written a novel in his youth and often read works by Edgar Allen Poe and Lord George Gordon Byron to Scott during his childhood. While Fitzgerald’s father praised his literary attempts, both of his parents encouraged him to pursue other career paths. Nevertheless, Fitzgerald was steadfast in his literary endeavors, writing for both his high school and college newspapers. He later dropped out of Princeton University in order to join the army and continued to pursue writing, penning both magazine articles and musical lyrics (Adams 10-11).

When writing this book, Fitzgerald uses his own surroundings and even attacks the idea of love throughout the novel. Fitzgerald is similar to Gatsby and it is evident, because of how they both are hopeless romantics. He was in a relationship with a woman named Zelda and deeply loves her. They both live normal lives and even, “led wild lives filled with parties and intrigue. [However] The drama in their lives ended badly: Fitzgerald became an alcoholic and suffered mental collapses, while Zelda

The book was titled, The Great Gatsby. While he was working hard on the book, Zelda ended up having an affair and when Fitzgerald found out, some sort of sadness set in him. When the book was finally published and it was not as successful as he anticipated. When the stock market crashed and the jazz age came to a close, Zelda began to slowly lose her mind. She became so irrational that she grabbed the wheel while Fitzgerald was driving and nearly drove them off a cliff. The doctors then pronounced her schizophrenic and she went to a hospital in North Carolina. Fitzgerald ended up drinking gin all day and alcoholism began to set in and corrupt his health. He ended up suffering from a massive heart attack and died instantly at the age of 44 on December 21, 1940.

This girl was rich with old money. Old money comes with a certain social class lining. This social class is very pristine and extraordinarily exclusive, so exclusive that if you do not have the same type of money as them you are poor and therefore you cannot be associated with them. Since, Fitzgerald did not have this money he experienced the demoralization people in this class put on people like him when it came to love. "As Ginevra's visiting beau, he escorted her to parties, dinners, and dances. But he also spent a "bad day at the McCormicks," endured a "Disappointment," and heard someone declare, "Poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls" (Ledger, unpaginated). A few months later he and Ginevra broke up conclusively, but Fitzgerald did not soon stop caring about her." (Chawkins 16). With this Fitzgerald moved on too Zelda, but he never forgot about how he was spoken too at that party because he did not have the money that everyone else did. He wrote about it in other works too including one short story "But if you don't have anything for the collection box, the girl will notice. And if you don't have enough to spend, the

When youthful, and fresh out from serving, Fitzgerald met Zelda, and he oh so desperately wanted to wed her and have her as his own, yet,  Zelda’s parents did not desire nor permit that. Zelda’s parents found that Fitzgerald was not stable enough to take care of their daughter, or that their daughter was not stable enough to have a husband, and to prove himself worthy of, Fitzgerald would buy Zelda anything that she desired without any hesitations.  Everything Fitzgerald did or bought was constructed so that he could win over not only Zelda, but her parents. It may have appeared that he was living however he wanted, but he was stuck on her and consumed whole by her being. He would do anything for her, and he did, until finally he got what he wanted. However,  having something in the present is never quite as satisfying as your past self imagined it would be: “He passed visibly through two states and was entering upon a third. After his embarrassment and his unreasoning joy he was consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea so long, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity.  Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock” (Fitzgerald). Fitzgerald claimed Zelda after all of his hard work and efforts, yet it is doubted that she is anything of which he wanted or was expected her to be. Unforeseeable and wild, yes, yet unstable, paranoid, depressed, and suicidal? No. Fitzgerald did not know what he was getting into when he won over Zelda, and it most definitely was not as his past self hoped for.  However, he still obsessed over her and loved her. The memory of the woman he fell in love with never left, even as the image was corrupted by the real Zelda, which could be metaphorically represented in the text by this quote: “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you.’ After she had

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald writes about the American dream and how many individuals want the white picket fence and be with the person they love but theirs dreams are not always achieved. Fitzgerald possesses a dream but similar to his characters, but does not succeed. After graduating a prestigious high school, he attends Princeton University where he continues to develop his writing skills. Later, he writes a novel called, The Side of Paradise, which makes him famous and allows him to marry the women he loves, Zelda Sayre. Because of his success, F. Scott Fitzgerald is able to write one of his greatest hits, The Great Gatsby, but soon after, his life begins to unthread. He is a very heavy drinker and suffers

Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (more commonly known as F. Scott Fitzgerald) became widely known as one of the greatest American authors. Fitzgerald wrote both novels and short stories, mainly set in the Jazz age. Many influences to his writing came from his own personal life and the world he saw around him. His wife, Zelda, was one of the major influences seen within many of his works. Fitzgerald encompasses many of these things in his books The Great Gatsby and Tender is the night. Letting his own life experiences and insight guide his writing, Fitzgerald explores the effect of social hierarchy on society amidst the Roaring Twenties through his use of evocative, colorful imagery and eloquent use of underlying tone.