5. Conclusion 13

References 14

1. Introduction

1.1 A Brief Introduction to the Author and the Novel

In 1896, F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in a merchant family in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His ancestors were very rich and prominent for a time. However, his extend family had lost wealth and social statue in his generation. In 1913, with the help of his relatives, he was admitted by Princeton University, one of the famous universities in the east. But he was not interested in his academic work. On the contrary, he threw himself in different kinds of social activities. He always tried his best to attend activities related to literature and at the same time in order to erase his humble lot, he learnt to speak advanced Standard English instead of his dialect. In 1915, when the Princeton troupe were touring comedy Evil Eyes written by Fitzgerald around the United States, he was banned from performing due to his poor performance in academic work. Except for his academic work and humble lot, F Scott Fitzgerald is a handsome, brilliant and versatile youngster. 

When he was 18 years old，he fell in love with Ji in king, a girl from a rich family. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald was rejected ruthlessly by Ji’s father because of his humble lot, which humiliated him deeply and forever in his young heart. 

But misfortune never stops bothering him. In July, 1918, he confronted his future wife---Zelda in a country ball in Montgomer, Alabama. As the youngest daughter of associate justice, she is proficient in ballet, French and poetry, but in the meantime, being spoiled by her family, she is extraordinary arrogant and rebellious. Soon after Fitzgerald’s passionate pursuit, Zelda accepted his proposal with a condition--- Fitzgerald can make enough money to afford a wealthy life for Zelda. A series of misfortunes, like his shadow following Fitzgerald everywhere, consumed his time to make wealth as well as Zelda’s patience of waiting. 

Until 1919, because of the hot sale of his novel This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald made great fortune overnight. Eventually, he won Zelda back and got married at the same year. They lived a luxurious life immoderately depending on his high income. And at the same time, due to a series of exceedingly bold behaviors, they became more and more famous.  

However, Zelda’s constant flirting with other men bothered him again and again, which caused serious problems in their marriage. This emotion filled with confusion and worry was taken into The Great Gatsby, made this work more attractive. 

Before long, Zelda started to practice ballet obsessively day and night, which triggered her mental disease in 1930. For him, the whole family fell into a bad situation due to the lack of money. Their daughter needed money to receive a good education, his wife needed money to receive good treatment. So he had to hide his ambition to write screenplay for the Hollywood, even though he was reluctant to be forced to delete and change his work sometimes. 

Until 1929, the Great Depression swept the whole country. His time was also gone. He kept wasting his time and talent, obsessed in alcohol for the rest of his life. Very few relatives attended his funeral, just like Gatsby’s. 

In The Great Gatsby, he devoted his strong personal feeling to it. Gatsby’s life is very similar to his, including love, ambition, the way of thinking and even their endings of life. In the novel, Gatsby pursued Daisy, the symbol of pure love in his life, but in vain. From an impoverished boy to an extremely wealthy man, Gatsby thinks he has accumulated everything needed to win Daisy back. As a result, he shoulders the responsibility of car accident that Daisy should have shouldered and became the scapegoat. Gatsby is not only the victim in his pursuit of this unrealistic love, but also the victim in that hypocritical society. In the novel, besides Gatsby, there is another main character---Nick Carraway, who acts as a bystander to the whole story. And also, he is the only person who holds the sincere feelings to Gatsby.