The Great Gatsby 19 Essay, Research Paper

The 1920 s were known as the roaring twenties because of the exclusive partying and drinking. F. Scott Fitzgerald grew up during this wild time and wrote himself many novels about the time period around him and his own experiences. The Great Gatsby, now, is one of his most famous and wide read novels throughout high school students to show the similarities between the past and the present times. Many parallels exist between The Great Gatsby and F. Scott Fitzgerald, the 1990 s and my own personal life.

There are many similarities between Fitzgerald s early background and those in The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald lived a very poor life when he was young. His family was poor because his father was chronically unsuccessful. His father lost his job and the so family returned to St. Paul where they had previously lived. There they lived on the charity of his mother s well-to-do family while Fitzgerald attended a prep school. Throughout his schooling, he received poor grades, not because he was unintelligent, but because he was too busy reading. After pushing himself and making up tests, Fitzgerald applied to Princeton University. Fitzgerald s education obviously wasn t the most important item on his agenda seeing as how he was accepted into the prestigious college of Princeton University and quickly dropped out. His need to write quickly took over his academic responsibilities. Soon thereafter, he joined the military. Luckily for him, he was stationed in the United States and was able to begin the rest of his life.

Also, F. Scott Fitzgerald s romance parallels those in The Great Gatsby. After Fitzgerald settled down in the U.S., he met the girl of his dreams, Zelda Sayre. Zelda was a nice young lady with only eighteen years of age. Raised well by a local judge in Montgomery, Alabama, she was a very wealthy girl. She had spunk and would o almost anything for excitement. She and Fitzgerald quickly hit it off. Even though she was very much in love with Fitzgerald, she would not marry him because he was poor. With Fitzgerald s heart broken, he was demobilized and went to New York. There he worked at an ad agency and, on the side, he began to revise a novel had had begun at Princeton. Without surprise This Side of Paradise sold twenty thousand copies in the first week alone. (Study Guide 1) Fitzgerald soon realized that he truly had written the golden book that would attract the golden girl. (1) Zelda immediately came running to his side and agreed to marry him.

Scott and Zelda moved to Great Neck, Long Island. There Fitzgerald based his West Egg in the novel The Great Gatsby. Like Zelda, Fitzgerald would do anything for excitement and attention. They would run through the streets, hand in had, drinking and searching for their next party. People and the parties they attended in that wealthy and stylish suburb provided the model in The Great Gatsby. (1) Like other during the time of Prohibition, both Fitzgerald and Zelda began drinking pretty heavily. The media surrounded them wherever they went and the Fitzgeralds fled to France. For the next few years, they traveled back and forth between France and the U.S. while Scott began writing Gatsby. His and Zelda s drinking had become intolerable, and although Gatsby himself never drank, Fitzgerald became an alcoholic like the people who attended Gatsby s parties. Scott s success was declining and the years of drinking had finally caught up to him. In December of 1940, F. Scott died of a heart attack. Sadly his life stopped short to sudden end. Zelda could not attend the funeral because she had been living in and asylum for over seven years and was too ill to take part in the funeral. F. Scott Fitzgerald died alone, as did one of his characters in his own novel, the infamous Gatsby.

A major parallel between the 1990 s and the roaring 20 s, that effects people in many ways, is the party life. The people of the parties play a great role in both generations. They are a reckless crowd who finds it easy to live of off alcohol and fun. Just as the 20 s, the people now are still a pleasure seeking society. There is not much of a difference between the way people of the roaring 20 s partied and the way we party now. People gathering in from all over town into a strangers home to party is nothing new to us. The only slight difference is between age. It seemed as though the people of the 20 s could enjoy anyone s company even if they were not within their own age limit. The people who party today usually stay within the proximity of their own age group. Also, fashion has and always will play a major role in the influence of how a person behaves and parties. People today may not dress the same as people in the 20 s, but we surely do care about our looks just as much as they did back then. And it seems no matter where you go, you cannot escape the horrifying truth of alcohol. Not only are the adults partying with alcohol, but they younger teenagers somehow get a hold of any form of alcohol. One of the main forms today is the keg. This has become very popular within the nineteen-nineties because of its capacity of alcohol. Many people are attracted to the parties with a lot of kegs of alcohol because it makes them feel loose like they do not have any responsibilities. While alcohol has been known to loosen up a person s body and make them more relaxed, the parties held in aide people to become more friendly with each other. Which, in the end, may result in women becoming loose and giving themselves to anyone around. There also may be people who use alcohol as a reason to take advantage of each other. Many people become very reckless and wild around alcohol. Between the 90 s and the 20 s, it seems as though people are and have been big fans of parties and alcohol.

Luckily from the 1920 s, I have had the privilege of having a car. Not only do cars effect me, they effect my whole family. Without a car, my mom would not be able to get to work and back. Which, in turn, would result in my family going broke because my mom would lose her job. There are also many teenagers who are able to have a car. Many of them have to keep a job in order to keep their car. And without their car, many of them would not be able to get to their job. It s very hard to have one and not the other. The automobile is also a way for teenagers to have their freedom. They are allowed to go out and do whatever they choose. Having my car has giving me a lot of freedom to go out and hang with my friends or anything else I d like to do. But there are many dangers to driving. Each year, there are tons of deaths in car accidents. People have to be aware of how they drive. It scares me to think that anyone could lose control of a car, any second, and be dead within a matter of minutes. To be able to drive, I have to take on a lot of responsibility. Anyone does if they intend to keep driving and stay out of jail. Also, responsibilities that are put on me are from my mom. I usually have to pick up my little brother or get groceries. I accept that responsibility in order to keep my car. The automobile ( car as we know it) has affected me throughout the nineteen nineties.

Between my personal life, the 1990 s, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Great Gatsby, there are many similarities. F. Scott Fitzgerald s life parallels the novel, The Great Gatsby, within his early years of life and background, his romance and also his lifestyle after marriage. The 1990 s and the roaring 20 s parallel each other through a variety of ways but mainly through the way they partied and drank. The twenties also provided the automobile, which in turn helps me in my every day life. No matter what era we live in, people will always go out, have fun, and enjoy themselves through parties, cars, alcohol and fashion.