The Great Gatsby Quote Analysis

While F. Scott Fitzgerald never wrote an autobiography, he did pour himself deeply into his works and especially into his characters. In The Great Gatsby, he comes through evidently in the character the book is named after, Gatsby. This idea of him putting his own life experiences into his stories is expressed in a quote of his, “That was my experience- a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy’s school, … However, I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and its works.” By comparing these two while keeping this quote in mind, it becomes clear how Fitzgerald's life “colored” his works, and shaped the character known as Gatsby. This is clearly expressed in the fact that they both

The main theme of the Fitzgeralds quote is that he was not wealthy, but was around wealthy people all the time, this is reflected in Gatsby’s character. Gatsby doesn’t behave like the people from East Egg, like Tom and Daisy. Gatsby is far less materialistic, and can’t seem to integrate into high society with the materialistic and phony socioeconomic elite. This is shown in exemplary fashion when Tom realizes that Gatsby is serious about going to dinner with them, the wealthy and powerful from birth, and mocks it. “‘My god, I believe the man’s coming,’ said Tom. ‘Doesn’t he know she doesn’t want him?’ ‘She says she wants him.’ ‘She has a big dinner party and he won’t know a soul there.’ He frowned” (Fitzgerald 103). While Gatsby tries to fit in with them and act like one of them, such as how he has a library full of books he has never read to seem more educated, he just can’t seem to get the people of old money to accept him. This too, is reminiscent of Fitzgerald’s life of being eternally less wealthy than those around him, including his colleagues, friends, and even his wife. It is not too difficult to see Fitzgerald putting that part of himself into his character, this idea that he is not seen as an equal in the eyes of those born into opulence, just like how Gatsby is seen by Tom and the Sloane’s. Thus showing how Fitzgerald put even

A major one being that Gatsby doesn’t drink that much, which is in stark contrast to Fitzgerald who was known for being a raging alcoholic. The reason for Gatsby’s lack of drinking is because of his mentor, which Nicks tells the reader “It was indirectly due to Cody that Gatsby drank so little. Sometimes in the course of gay parties women used to rub champagne into his hair; for himself he formed the habit of letting liquor alone.” (Fitzgerald 100). Gatsby not drinking is ironic in a sense, this is because he is a bootlegger, yet doesn’t drink much. He illegally deals in alcohol, but doesn’t drink it often himself, while Fitzgerald on the other hand deals with his alcoholism poorly and became known for the fact that he would drink himself into a stupor. His friend Ernest Hemingway even, said that he drank so much he couldn’t work on his novel. Gatsby not only is a character that Fitzgerald put himself into, but also the embodiment for an ideal that he himself didn’t have, a control over alcohol, or more broadly, control over