About the Author of The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald is considered one of the most influential American novelists, primarily due to the success of his novel, The Great Gatsby. But what makes this novel so successful? It is likely the closeness of his character’s experiences to his own personal experience — particularly in relation to the pursuit of the American Dream. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Childhood and Adulthood

As a child and young adult, Fitzgerald’s experience is similar to James Gatz’s experience of coming from an unsuccessful family and trying to fashion a new name for himself. Fitzgerald often imagined himself attaining wealth and prosperity, much like Gatsby. Also like Gatsby, Fitzgerald never really experienced true happiness and died at a very young age. Fitzgerald did have the opportunity to attend Princeton University, and he even found influence within the Triangle Club until he flunked out of Princeton after being rejected by a girl.

After failing Princeton, much like Gatsby, Fitzgerald enlisted in the army and met his future wife, Zelda, while stationed in Montgomery, Alabama. Even though Zelda broke off her engagement with Fitzgerald once due to his lack of financial stability, Fitzgerald still managed to marry Zelda and saw success in publishing his first novel, This Side of Paradise. This is where Gatsby’s story diverts from Fitzgerald’s, as Gatsby was unsuccessful in recapturing Daisy from Tom’s grip. 

Much like Gatsby, Fitzgerald and Zelda enjoyed their newfound wealth and success in seeing this first novel published; however, the Fitzgeralds were uncomfortable with their new roles in the upper crust of society and fled to the French Riviera. Here he wrote and published a string of successful novels, including The Great Gatsby. Soon, the Fitzgeralds’ lives began to fall apart, both as Fitzgerald became an alcoholic and Zelda suffered a mental breakdown. Eventually, Zelda was committed to a sanitarium, and Fitzgerald suffered a heart attack at 44 and died.

Even though The Great Gatsby was published during the prime of Fitzgerald’s life, there is an eerie resemblance between Fitzgerald and Gatsby’s fate. While Fitzgerald dies an alcoholic struck by a heart attack, Gatsby is similarly drunk with his obsession over Daisy and is killed by an outsider. Even though Fitzgerald “got the girl” and Gatsby did not, neither man experienced a fulfilling relationship with the woman of their dreams. Even though Fitzgerald tells the story of The Great Gatsby through the voice of Nick Carraway, readers cannot help but imagine Fitzgerald retelling his own story through the character of Jay Gatsby. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Greatest Influences

Fitzgerald was influenced by writers such as Jon Keats and Joseph Conrad. He is most similar to Keats through his simultaneous use of “romantic lyricism” and “realistic determinism” in his work (Blazek). The poetic nature of Fitzgerald’s work is evident in his carefully crafted character and setting descriptions. While some novelists enjoy writing pages and pages of descriptive details, Fitzgerald refrains from doing so and instead provides two or three carefully chosen words for his descriptions.

These brief yet visually rich phrases also describe characters and settings on a much deeper level, moving past beautiful phrases to expose the reality of the people and places within his novels. For example, Daisy’s voice is described as “full of money”. This brief phrase accurately captures Daisy’s character on multiple levels. Daisy is not only glamour and luxury embodied, but she is aloof to and ignorant of the struggles of the middle or lower class. Because Daisy has only ever known wealth, even her voice overflows with evidence of her being born with a silver spoon in her mouth.

One can see Joseph Conrad’s influences on Fitzgerald’s writing style through Fitzgerald’s use of Nick Carraway as both a character and an observing narrator, much like the character Marlow in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Fitzgerald looked to both influences, Keats and Conrad, as landmarks of achievement. By emulating both styles, he felt confident in his ability to reach similar levels as these great authors through the success of his own works. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Writing Style in The Great Gatsby

While Fitzgerald’s work is inspired by the writing styles of both Conrad and Keats, Fitzgerald is still a remarkable novelist in his own right. Fitzgerald uses vivid imagery and metaphors to provide a visual picture of his characters and settings and incorporate deeper meaning beyond just physical appearance. Additionally, his sentence structure mirrors the characters and settings by consisting primarily of compound-complex sentences. These sentences are mostly spoken through the narrator, Nick, as he attempts to make sense of the people and places around him.

Figurative Language and Imagery

Fitzgerald reveals key details about his characters when he first describes the mansions that sit across the water from one another. Gatsby’s mansion is described as a “factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy,” which, at first glance, is simply a way for the reader to visualize his mansion by using a point of reference. However, as the reader learns more about Gatsby, the mansion becomes a mirror image of its resident: both are posers, copies, or fakes lacking personality or uniqueness.

On the other hand, the Buchanan mansion is metaphorically described as a fashionable white palace glittering along the water (Fitzgerald 5). The elaborate house was decked in French windows, a Georgian Colonial mansion, surrounded by overflowing gardens (Fitzgerald 6). These details imply that this house is not only incredibly expensive, but it has existed for many years and was likely passed down from wealthy relatives. These details further distinguish the Buchanans from Gatsby and amplify their “old money” status.

Fitzgerald also infuses emotional meaning into his descriptions of his characters: Tom Buchanan is described as having “two shining arrogant eyes” and his body “capable of enormous leverage–a cruel body” (Fitzgerald 7). The author doesn’t simply state, “Tom is arrogant and cruel”; rather, he incorporates these vices into the physical description of Tom’s outward appearance. By doing so, Fitzgerald encapsulates Tom’s presence in the novel to an extent where we can almost predict his words and actions. As readers, we can safely assume that Tom’s presence in a room feels threatening to at least one person, and we can also assume that he is judging everyone around him.

Conversely, his wife, Daisy Buchanan, is described as wearing a white dress that was “rippling and fluttering”, her laugh is both absurd and charming, and her face is simultaneously sad and lovely (Fitzgerald 9). These details reveal Daisy’s internal conflict with her life choices; part of Daisy wishes she had run away with a young soldier instead of marrying an abusive and unfaithful husband. However, the other part of her finds security and comfort in her marriage because of the money and status it provides. Additionally, her clothes are a reflection of her nature to float innocently through life, free of responsibility, whether it comes to raising her daughter or owning up to murdering Myrtle.

Sentence Structure

As the narrator, Nick Carraway speaks in a series of compound-complex sentences. These tumbling, nearly rambling sentences mirror the narrator’s unfruitful attempts to understand the motivations of the characters around him. One example is Nick’s first impression of the Buchanans when he enters their home. While attempting to make sense of the Buchanan’s move to East Egg, Nick explains that “this was a permanent move, said Daisy over the telephone, but I didn’t believe it — I had no sight into Daisy’s heart, but I felt that Tom would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrevocable football game” (Fitzgerald 6). Within this compound-complex sentence, Nick reveals his own distrust of the Buchanans, not able to discern whether their past decisions or current words contain the truth.

Why is Nick the narrator of The Great Gatsby?

Nick comes to the East from a humble yet respected background in the Midwest to learn more about the bond business. Daisy is a distant cousin, and Nick innocently chooses to visit one day before becoming entangled irrevocably in the upheaval of their lives, especially once Gatsby gets involved. Nick is the only character not embroiled in the rebellious and ostentatious lifestyle of 1920s New York, and he can therefore describe his interactions with these characters through fresh eyes.

Nick begins the novel with a frank tone and is amused by watching the people interact around him but not necessarily with him. However, as the novel continues, Nick becomes annoyed and describes himself as both “within and without”; while he is physically present with these other characters, they act as if he does not exist and merely use him when it is convenient. By the end of the novel, Nick moves from annoyance to disgust as the expensive outer layers of each character disintegrate to reveal their ugliness inside.

Conclusion 

Fitzgerald makes many intentional choices throughout his concise novel, whether through creating complex character descriptions, in fabricating complicated sentences to mirror character actions, or even through his choice of narrator. 

It is interesting that Fitzgerald chose to speak through Nick Carraway, as the character of Jay Gatsby is most similar to his own life experience. However, if you had the chance to reflect on your own life as an outsider, wouldn’t you do it, too? 

Works Cited

Blazek, William. “Literary Influences (Chapter 5) – F. Scott Fitzgerald in Context.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, www.cambridge.org/core/books/f-scott-fitzgerald-in-context/literary-influences/A7D9FB8960AA05E530C0D207D61D6197/core-reader.

“F. Scott Fitzgerald.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/biography/F-Scott-Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, et al. The Great Gatsby. Scribner, 2018.