Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald Essay

Many characters in the Great Gatsby parallel to Fitzgerald life. For example, Daisy, the women Jay Gatsby has been basing his whole life on, is similar to Zelda Sayre, who would not marry Fitzgerald at first because of his lack of success. Gatsby and Fitzgerald both met vital women to their lives at dances, and both while they were stationed at camps in the army. Gatsby met Daisy at Camp Taylor in Illinois, where they danced and fell in love. However, after Gatsby went off to war, they never got back together again. Fitzgerald met his wife, Zelda, at Camp Sheridan in Alabama. Instead of going off to war (his regiment was ready to go to Europe, but the Armistice came before they could leave the States), he went to New York to get enough money to marry Zelda. In the movie version, Daisy tells Gatsby that â€Å"Rich girls don’t marry poor boys. † This line was taken straight out of Fitzgerald’s life. The father of his first love, a young woman by the name of Ginevra King, supposedly told him that after Fitzgerald asked for Ginevra’s hand in marriage. The Great Gatsby is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most renowned book, and still one of the most read novels in American literature. A book with this much success was obviously was a product of great influence. The Great Gatsby draws many extensive parallels between F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life and this novel. These similarities range from basing characters off important people from his personal life to interweaving intricate love relationships he went through into the novel to recreating the American Dream. The book comes as a direct result of many of the events in Fitzgerald’s early life. First off, are the most noticeable parallels, the character he chooses. Fitzgerald parallels himself in two of the main characters in The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, and Nick Carraway. Nick represents Fitzgerald’s passive, or indecisive, and observant characteristics. On the other hand, Gatsby shows Fitzgerald’s passionate and active attributes.