The Great Gatsby Research Paper

The Great Gatsby is considered the premier Great American Novel because it is the most accurate depiction of American life in the Jazz age. The novel, which remains relevant today, was dreamt up by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, better known as F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was a flawed individual, controlled by alcohol and the allure of extravagant life, and his personality shines through his stories. Because of the life Fitzgerald lived, The Great Gatsby is a truly Great American Novel with relatable themes of wealth and obsession. F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1896. The second cousin of Francis Scott Key, the creator of "The Star Spangled Banner", Fitzgerald always had a knack for writing from the age of 13. He

As an attempt to rekindle their marriage, they moved to France with their young daughter in 1925. It is in France that Fitzgerald wrote his most famous work: The Great Gatsby. The novel followed Jay Gatsby's efforts to impress a married woman and mother, Daisy Buchanan, whom he had fallen in love with during the war. The novel was told entirely from the point of view of Nick Carraway, Gatsby's neighbor (Donaldson). The Great Gatsby received kind reviews upon its release, but was not overly popular. The novel was called "passionate...with such an abundance of feeling for the characters (feeling their integral reality, not hating or loving them objectively) that the most trivial of the actors in the drama are endowed with vitality" (Donaldson). The main reason for the lack of popularity at the time of the novel's release is that it was at the peak of The Great Depression. In 1930, Zelda suffered her first of many mental breakdowns and was enrolled in a mental institution, or sanitarium. As stated in the book Careless People: Murder, Mayhem,

Despite the previously rocky state of their marriage, Fitzgerald stayed by his wife's side and paid all of her medical bills, however he slipped into alcoholism as the money drained. Fitzgerald hit rock bottom in 1935, as his alcoholism had complete control over him. He wrote a series of essays during this time, named The Crack-Ups, because he was unable to write full stories in his state of health. In Fitzgerald's own words, "And then, ten years this side of forty-nine, I suddenly realized that I had prematurely cracked." (The Crack-Up). Eventually, Fitzgerald died in on December 21, 1940 from a heart attack at the young age of 44. When he died, Fitzgerald did not consider himself a great author, or anything at all more than a failure. He was portrayed in his obituaries as a "Jazz-age playboy who did not take his craft seriously enough (Donaldson)." While Fitzgerald died as a "failure", that reputation certainly does not hold up to this day. After his death, his 1925 work The Great Gatsby skyrocketed in popularity, and deservedly so. Because of the themes and accurate portrayal of life in the Jazz age, people began to realize the brilliance and artistry of The Great