Analysis Of The Parallels Between The Lives Of Scott Fitzgerald And Jay Gatsby In His Novel The Great Gatsby

21 May 2018 The famous playwright Oscar Wilde wrote, “No man is rich enough to buy back his past.” Money cannot take away any regrets, as past events and relationships are not able to be bought or sold. Oftentimes, words and warning alone are not enough to deter the heart from doing what the head knows is wrong. Pain and loss then become unfortunate events that serve as learning devices to avert the heartbroken from acting in negative ways from the past.

F. Scott Fitzgerald draws from his own life to teach readers the importance of living in the moment, by emphasizing the themes of desire and tragedy. In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals his own upbringing, monetary success, and love for Daisy, through the main character of Jay Gatsby.

When thinking of the Roaring Twenties, the first images that come to mind usually include outrageous parties, flappers, and jazz, along with a feeling of prosperity and an overwhelming sense of satisfaction. The aspirations and success of Fitzgerald in the 1920s capture the spirit of the era and the dreams of everyday people—earning a position in a high society along with the accompanying pleasures. America, fresh out of World War I, experienced rapid economic growth and a culture of contentment, fueled by the success of previously unknown individuals.

Erika Willett acknowledges in her article, “F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Dream,” “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life is a tragic example of both sides of the American Dream—the joys of young love, wealth and success, and the tragedies associated with excess and failures.” Fitzgerald sets an example for all high achieving young men and women, as he jumped into the headlines and popular culture, creating a life for all to admire with its sheer ebullience, but with that comes dire shortcomings. Furthermore, the rise of the 1920s proved to be the perfect time for Fitzgerald to create a name and earn his fortune, as it was the time of grandeur and gaudiness. Above all, it was a time when man could be what he wanted, not what he was.

According to Matthew J. Bruccoli’s article, “A brief life of Fitzgerald,” during the 1920s, Fitzgerald became known as a national figure and a role model for aspiring young men and women: “The chief theme of Fitzgerald’s work is aspiration, the idealism he regarded as defining American character. Another major theme was mutability or loss. As a social historian Fitzgerald became identified with the Jazz Age: ‘it was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire.’” Fitzgerald’s work embodies the essence of the 1920s, as it describes the culture of wealth and materialism sought out by millions during the era. Fitzgerald became the ultimate image of success for the American public during the 1920s and beyond, as he defined the American Dream through his life—working hard, making a name for himself, and achieving a legacy that has lasted through generations following his death.

Published in 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most popular novel, The Great Gatsby, captures the sense of idealism during one of the most materialistic eras in American history. The Great Gatsby demonstrates how absurd living in the past looks at its most extreme. F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of a young man, Jay Gatsby, on the quest to win the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan. While admiring her from afar, Jay Gatsby builds his wealth and empire through illegal means in order to win over Daisy Buchanan, who formerly refused to marry the penniless man who could not support her haughty lifestyle (Fitzgerald 78). Until now, everything Gatsby accomplished in the five years he and Daisy were apart was to win over the beautiful belle of Louisville whom he had fallen for as a young army officer.

Jay Gatsby finds his connection to Daisy Buchanan in his neighbor, Daisy’s cousin, Nick Carraway, who aids in the rekindling of the flame that still burns from five years prior. However, too much time had passed; Daisy has a husband, child, and life of her own, which Gatsby refuses to accept, and he demands she admit she never loved her husband, Tom. Unable to lie, Daisy rejects the idea of leaving with her former lover (Fitzgerald 75-76). Blinded by the past, the lovestruck Jay Gatsby cannot comprehend the present situation; Daisy refuses to leave her husband because she truly loves Tom, and is not able to fulfill the desires of Gatsby after five years of separation. Fitzgerald reaches his goal of showing the reader the uselessness of living in the past, by portraying Jay Gatsby as an ignorant fool who cannot let go of the past and make note of the present reality.

Fitzgerald was able to clearly display his warning about living in the past because he used his own experiences as the template for the story. Many aspects of Fitzgerald’s upbringing impacted his adult life and work, especially his drive for success and obsession with his socioeconomic status. F. Scott Fitzgerald grew up with relativity little in comparison to those whom he surrounded himself with, and he desired wealth and success to be tied to his name. His obsession with fame and socioeconomic status came about early in his life, as he knew his father’s business was a failure and he wanted nothing to do with the life his father’s fall had created for him (Bruccoli “Fitzgerald, F. Scott”).

Fitzgerald’s drive for success came from a slough of failures in his family, as he was determined to live the life that his father could not by providing for himself and his family in a way not known to him as a child. The drive for wealth led Fitzgerald to aim for great success, competing at selective schools for the best education his meager sums could buy. Fitzgerald attended Princeton University and was to graduate in 1917. However, he neglected his studies and chose to focus solely on writing. Instead of failing out of Princeton, Fitzgerald joined the army in November of 1917, and became a second lieutenant (Bruccoli “A brief life of Fitzgerald”). By surrounding himself with people of notable wealth and success, Fitzgerald was able to feign the notion of success and high class—something he would continue to do in his adult life. In many ways, the desire for progress and profit that haunted and controlled Fitzgerald in his youth led to his achievements as an adult, as he demanded of himself a new life, one in which he did not have to impersonate a man of wealth, rather, a life in which he could truly assume a position of success.

Hailing from a poor family, Fitzgerald struggled to earn enough money to provide for the wealthy women he wanted to associate with. Fitzgerald’s lack of wealth created a major divide with his love, Zelda Sayre, as she rejected the proposition of marrying a man without the security of money and a high social status. The young Fitzgerald, still unknown, found it difficult for others to love him. In the army, Fitzgerald was stationed at Camp Sheridan in Alabama, where his love for the young Zelda Sayre began. After the war, he went to New York to earn enough money to support Zelda’s lavish and luxurious lifestyle. Unwilling to wait for his fortune, Zelda ended her engagement to Fitzgerald (Bruccoli “A brief life of Fitzgerald”).

Zelda Sayre came from a family of inherited money, a family with an established lifestyle, and marrying a penniless man from Minnesota would not only shake her mindset, but disrupt her lifestyle, as well. Until he found success, Sayre rejected the thought of marrying Fitzgerald, but her mind changed with his overnight popularity. It was only after the publication of This Side of Paradise in 1920 that Fitzgerald became a celebrity. The money that followed the fame lured Sayre in, and a week later, she married Fitzgerald (Bruccoli “A brief life of Fitzgerald”). It is made evident that Zelda Sayre will not marry a man whom she loves, unless he also has a sizeable bank account, which she may admire more than the man himself. Zelda Sayre’s refusal to marry a poor man followed by his rapid rise to fame suggests Ms. Sayre contributed to Fitzgerald’s desperation to fit in with the social elite in terms of status, wealth, and social skill.

During his lifetime, Fitzgerald experienced wild success and popularity due to influences by his wife, however, his fame died along with him. The perceived perfection of Fitzgerald’s success during his lifetime quickly faded from the light in 1940 when he died, as the rumors surrounding the famed idol covered up the true genius of his work.

Unfortunately, Fitzgerald’s rise to the forefront of American popular culture provided a new outlet for the rumor-mill, as he became a mainstream source of discussion. Fitzgerald became a young celebrity and the fame he received came with the heavy burden of rumors surrounding his name. Oftentimes, the rumors made impressions before his work has the opportunity to impact the reader, leading to a biased opinion of his writings (Bruccoli “Fitzgerald, F. Scott”). Fitzgerald died in December of 1940, unable to defend against the accusations that surrounded his name and clouded the brilliance of his art. Furthermore, Fitzgerald’s name seemingly disappeared, as society forgot his works for generations following his premature death, until they were rediscovered decades later. In his article, “As Big As the Ritz,” Adam Gopnik writes that everyone, even icons, fade from glory: “It’s true that we frequently get one big fireworks display and then silence… Fitzgerald himself, famous at twenty-four, dead and forgotten at forty-four, is a model of the type.” Fitzgerald faded from the public eye shortly after his death, yet his work still impacts many, and unfortunately, so do the misconceptions surrounding his name and legacy. The unchecked bias against Fitzgerald and the focus on the problems in his personal life develops an attitude of disdain, which follows his work into the following generations and continues to be a marking factor of his legacy.

Every parent dreams their child will live a more prosperous and grand life than they did, much like F. Scott Fitzgerald. The adult Jay Gatsby does his best to distance himself from the life he was brought up in; a life springing from the humble beginnings on a farm in South Dakota, similar to the upbringing of Fitzgerald. In order to obtain Nick Carraway’s acceptance and recognition, Gatsby tells him of his upbringing, showing how drastically he changed his life. The real name of Jay Gatsby is James Gatz, a name he is not proud of because it reminds him of where he is from and that he has to work for everything he owns (Fitzgerald 98). Both Fitzgerald and Gatsby come from lower classes in the Midwest, and both come into fortune through hard work and dedication, in their own respective ways.

Likewise, Gatsby and Fitzgerald are both from the working class, the Gatz’s being farmers and the Fitzgeralds, businessmen; however, both men are able to attend schools of prestige and tradition. The education of Fitzgerald is mirrored by Jay Gatsby, who attended the prestigious and insanely expensive Oxford University in 1919, where he studied for five months (Fitzgerald 128-129). Thus, the men work their way into high society by surrounding themselves with success. Fitzgerald mirrors his life through the character of Jay Gatsby, showing his simplistic roots and dedication to success through his high class surroundings.

Love serves as a troubling concept for all people, whether real or fictional, especially when a poor man seeks a wealthy woman. Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald becomes the muse for Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, with strong parallels between their upbringings and desires for solely money. Both from rich families in the South, Zelda and Daisy meet army officers near their homes, and fall in love at the disapproval of their families. Much like Fitzgerald meeting Zelda Sayre while stationed at Camp Sheridan, Jay Gatsby originally met Daisy in Louisville: “She was the first ‘nice’ girl he had ever known. In various unrevealed capacities he had come into contact with such people, but always with indiscernible barbed wire between.

He found her excitingly desirable. He went to her house, at first with other officers from Camp Taylor, then alone” (Fitzgerald 148). Clearly, the story of how Daisy and Gatsby met, mirrors that of Fitzgerald, providing an insight into F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s early life together. Being from wealthy families, Southern belles Zelda and Daisy both desire a certain lifestyle filled with luxury and driven by materialism, but most importantly, financial security. When he sees that Daisy is considering a life with Gatsby, Tom Buchanan outs Jay Gatsby and his illegal business practices:

‘That drug-store business was just small change,’ continued Tom slowly, ‘but you’ve got something on now that Walter’s afraid to tell me about.’ I glanced at Daisy, who was staring terrified between Gatsby and her husband, and at Jordan, who had begun to balance an invisible but absorbing object on the tip of her chin. Then I turned back to Gatsby--and was started at his expression...It passed, and he began to talk excitedly to Daisy, denying everything, defending his name against accusations that had not been made (Fitzgerald 134).

Without the promise of social and economic stability, Daisy would never leave her current life, mirroring Zelda, who would not leave her life until Fitzgerald built himself up. Brought up in wealthy families, Daisy and Zelda only know lives of fortune and class, and are not willing to risk their monetary ideals for love.

Furthermore, both rumors and glory continue on past death, based on the perceived life led by the deceased. In his lifetime, Gatsby drives his way from the bottom to the top through hard work, only to be met with fading glory and unchallenged rumors. The young Jay Gatsby takes advantage of an opportunity to surround himself with the epitome of success, Dan Cody, as he gains a friend, mentor, and model of wealth and success. Gatsby still receives the hope Dan Cody leaves him, hope for a life as successful as his own, aiding in the success and fortune of Jay Gatsby on his own endeavors (Fitzgerald 148). Cody serves as a model for Gatsby as he instills the dream of wealth and popularity in the young man’s mind.

When Gatsby dies, only three people attend his funeral: his father, Nick Carraway, and one guest of his many parties. A regular attendant of the extravagant parties, who is referred to as Owl Eyes, solemnly joins the short procession: “‘Why, my God! They used to go there by the hundreds.’ He took off his glasses and wiped them again, outside and in. ‘The poor son-of-a-bitch,’ he said” (Fitzgerald 175). Those who come readily and willingly to his parties every Saturday night all seem to have excuses barring their attendance. A life worth living is one filled with love and happiness, and therefore, because Gatsby has no one in the end that love him besides his father and neighbor, his life of materialism and glory ultimately fade into vast nothingness because no one will carry it forward.

The Great Gatsby truly represents the story of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life; his upbringing, success, and marriage, are shown through the character of Jay Gatsby. He uses what he has learned about love, fame, and fortune through his upbringing to help the reader in their own life. Fitzgerald reflects on his own life and portrays the feeble attempt of Gatsby to travel back five years into a brief relationship with a woman no longer interested. He encourages readers of The Great Gatsby to not repeat the past with an overall message: yesterday belongs in the past, leave the future for tomorrow, and live today as your last.