Scott Fitzgerald
Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was an American novelist, short story writer, and playwright. He is renowned for his depictions of the Jazz Age and the American Dream. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald attended Princeton University but left to join the army during World War I. His literary career began with the publication of his first novel, “This Side of Paradise,” in 1920, which catapulted him to fame and established him as a prominent voice of the post-World War I generation.
Fitzgerald’s most celebrated work, “The Great Gatsby” written in 1925, is a quintessential American novel that explores themes of wealth, love, and the decay of the American Dream. The story of Jay Gatsby and his ill-fated love for Daisy Buchanan has become a staple in literature classes and continues to resonate with readers worldwide. Fitzgerald’s other notable works include “The Beautiful and Damned” (1922), “Tender Is the Night” (1934), and numerous short storiesFitzgerald’s personal life was marked by both triumph and tragedy. His marriage to Zelda Fitzgerald was tumultuous, and both struggled with mental health issues and alcoholism. Despite these challenges, Fitzgerald’s writing remained prolific and influential. His works often drew inspiration from his own experiences, providing a raw and honest portrayal of the excesses and disillusionments of the Roaring Twenties.
Fitzgerald’s legacy endures through his timeless prose and the enduring relevance of his themes. His ability to capture the spirit of an era and the complexities of human emotion has cemented his place in literary history. Today, Scott Fitzgerald is remembered as a master storyteller whose works continue to inspire and captivate readers around the world.
The Great Gatsby
The story of the “Great Gatsby” is stratified with symbolism, it explores the moral and social corruption that lurkes beneath the surface of the so called glittering Jazz Age. Fitzgerald’s portrayal of the excesses and moral bankruptcy of the era offers a unique insight and criticism of American society of his era.
Summary:
Nick Carraway young man from Minnesota, moves to New York in the summer of 1922 to learn about the bond business. He rents a house in the West Egg district of Long Island, a wealthy but not very fashionable area populated by the nouveau riche, who have made their fortunes too recently to have established necessary social relations, whilst also being prone to ostentatious displays of wealth. Nick’s next-door neighbor is a mysterious man called Jay Gatsby, who lives in a gigantic Gothic mansion and often throws extravagant parties on Saturday night.
Nick is unlike the other recidents of the West Egg neighbourhood. He was educated at Yale university and has social connections with those that reside in East Egg, a fashionable area of Long Island home to the established upper class. One evening Nick drives to East Egg for dinner with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her husband, Tom, a former classmate of Nick’s at Yale. Daisy and Tom introduce Nick to Jordan Baker, a beautiful, cynical young woman with whom Nick starts to have an affair. Nick also learns details about Daisy and Tom’s marriage: Jordan tells him that Tom has a lover, Myrtle Wilson, who lives in the valley of ashes; a gray industrial dumping ground between West Egg and New York City. Not long after this revelation, Nick travels to New York City with Tom and Myrtle. At a vulgar, gaudy party in the apartment that Tom keeps for the affair, Myrtle begins to taunt Tom about Daisy, and Tom responds by breaking her nose.
As the summer progresses, eventually Nick is able to get invited to one of Gatsby’s famous parties. He meets Jordan Baker at the party, and they meet Gatsby himself. he is a surprisingly young man with an English accent, he has a remarkable smile, and calls everyone “old sport.” Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan alone, and, through Jordan, Nick later finds out more about his mysterious neighbor. Gatsby tells Jordan that he met Daisy in Louisville in 1917 and is deeply in love with her. He spends many a night, staring at the green light glowing at the end of her dock, across the bay from his mansion. Gatsby’s extravagant lifestyle and wild parties are merely an attempt to impress Daisy. Gatsby asks if Nick can arrange a reunion between himself and Daisy, but is afraid that Daisy will refuse to see him if she senses that he is still in love with her. Nick invites Daisy to tea at his house, without mentioning to her that Gatsby will also attend. After an initially awkward reunion, Gatsby and Daisy reestablish their connection. Their love rekindled, they begin to have an affair.
After a brief period, Tom grows increasingly suspicious of his wife’s relationship with Gatsby. At a luncheon at the Buchanans’ house, Gatsby stares at Daisy with such overt passion that Tom realizes Gatsby is in love with her. Despite the fact, that Tom himself is involved in an extramarital affair, he is deeply outraged by the thought that his wife could be unfaithful to him. He convinces the group to drive into New York City, where he confronts Gatsby in a suite at the Plaza Hotel. Tom affirms that he and Daisy have a history that Gatsby could never understand. He then announces to his wife that Gatsby is a criminal, and that his fortune comes from bootlegging alcohol and other illegal activities. Daisy realizes that her allegiance is to Tom, but Tom contemptuously sends her back to East Egg with Gatsby, in an attempt to show that Gatsby cannot hurt him.
When Nick, Jordan, and Tom drive through the valley of ashes, they come across Gatsby’s car that has hit and killed Tom’s lover Myrtle. They imediately rush back to Long Island, where Nick learns from Gatsby that it was actualy Daisy driving the car when it struck Myrtle, but that Gatsby intends to responsability for the accident. The following day, Tom tells Myrtle’s husband, George, that Gatsby was driving the car. George, who has quickly come to the conclusion that the driver of the car that killed Myrtle must have been her lover, finds Gatsby in the pool at his mansion and shoots him dead. He then goes on to fatally shoots himself.
Nick has a small funeral for Gatsby, ends his relationship with Jordan, and moves back to the Midwest to escape the disgust he feels for the people that surrounded Gatsby and the emptiness and moral decay of life among the wealthy on the East Coast. Nick contemplates that in the same manner Gatsby’s dream of Daisy was corrupted by money and dishonesty, the American dream of happiness and individualism, has disintegrated into the mere pursuit of wealth. Although Gatsby’s power to transform his dreams into reality is what makes him “great,” Nick reflects that the era of dreaming—both Gatsby’s dream and the American dream has come to an end.