The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a definite page-turner due to Fitzgerald’s passion, and emotion that he has captured. The novel was published on April 10, 1925; however, did not sell many copies until his death. Before his death he was believed to be a failure, but is now considered one of the best American writers of the 20th century. The story takes place in New York City and on Long Island. More specifically, the West and East Egg during the roaring 20’s. Fitzgerald reflects on his own life making The Great Gatsby more of a personal narrative. F. Scott Fitzgerald was born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life has influenced his writing on the novel The Great Gatsby. …show more content…
He was accepted into Princeton University’s class of 1917, but “Fitzgerald was not at all a scholar’s scholar; rather, he was more a collegian’s collegian” (Oxford). Fitzgerald preferred the atmosphere of college rather than the actual studies themselves. The more he pursued campus glory, the more his studies suffered. During his college years he both found and lost himself at Princeton. However, while World War 1 was starting Fitzgerald pictured himself a war hero and joined the United States Army. Lieutenant Fitzgerald met Zelda Sayre at a country club dance in the summer of 1918. He became mesmerized by her, but was unaware of the mental instability in her mother’s family. Zelda was, “Vivacious, provocative, and unpredictable, Zelda was, as she put it, a femme fatale without a single feeling of inferiority, or shyness, or doubt” (Oxford). Zelda could be compared a drastic amount to the character Daisy in The Great Gatsby. She stated in a letter to Fitzgerald, “I’d just hate to live a sordid, colorless existence, because you’d soon love me less and less” (Oxford). This statement could have inspired the novel The Great Gatsby by being one of the main