Two Sides Of Paradise: A Look At The Great Gatsby and F. Scott Fizgerald

Oiknine Utley-Thomson 1

                                         Ashley Oiknine
                                     Jordan Utley-Thomson
                                          Jan. 28 2013

                 Two Sides Of Paradise:
     A Look At The Great Gatsby and F. Scott Fizgerald

                         By: Ashley Oiknine & Jordan Utley-Thomson

                                              Abstract
        America has, for five decades, recognized the brilliance of Francis Scott Fitzgerald. We
 found ourselves drawn to Fitzgerald’s central themes of: Decline of American Dream, West vs
  East, shallowness of the upper class. As we researched the author’s focus on man’s struggle
   against himself, we were captivated by The Great Gatsby. This legendary American writer
  mirrors, in the crafting of characters and imagery, Fitzgerald’s life and ambition. This essay
 explains, in depth, the context of Fitzgerald’s life within the characters, symbols and themes of
The Great Gatsby.

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           Two Sides of Paradise: A Look at The Great Gatsby and F. Scott Fitzgerald

       America has, for five decades, recognized the brilliance of F. Scott Fitzgerald. We found

ourselves drawn to The Great Gatsby's central themes: decline of the American dream, that

money cannot buy happiness, and that culture defines a person. As we researched Fitzgerald's

focus on man's struggle against himself, we were captivated by The Great Gatsby. Much of his

novel's characters and imagery are similar to attributes of the writer's personality and challenges

he faced in life. The semi-autobiographical influence is dominant. This essay explains, in depth,

the reflection of Fitzgerald's life within the characters, symbols and themes.

       Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul Minnesota. From 1911-1913 he went to a

Catholic school in New Jersey and then entered the Princeton Class of 1917. He attended school

for about a year and a half and then dropped out to join the Army. In 1919, he was discharged

from the army and went to New York City to pursue his dreams of fortune and to find his spouse.

After his overnight fame, post the publication of This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald married Zelda

Sayre who became pregnant. They then moved to Long Island. During this time, his alcoholism

increased and began to get in the way of writing his third novel, The Great Gatsby. The Great

Gatsby was affected by and parallel to Fitzgerald’s life in many ways. The following is a plot

summary:

“Nick Carraway moves from the Midwest to New York a bond salesman and finds himself the

neighbor of Jay Gatsby. He's a wealthy bootlegger and forger, who has a huge estate bordering

his modest cottage. Gatsby is well-known for throwing fabulous, hedonistic summer parties in

1922 West Egg, Long Island. Gatsby befriends Nick and enlists him in to broker a meeting

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between him and his former love Daisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin. She is now married to the

snobbish and selfish Tom Buchanan, who flaunts an extramarital affair he is having with the

proletarian wife of a local garage owner. Nick consents to arrange a meeting with Gatsby and

Daisy, a rendezvous that will have tragic consequences.” (imdb.com)

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         When looking at the characters of The Great Gatsby, we see Tom Buchanan representing

the dark side of F. Scott Fitzgerald. This other personality becomes more apparent in the author's

later years after The Great Gatsby's publication, but it is as if he knew all along what he despised

always existed inside himself. Both characters committed infidelity. Tom found a mistress in

Myrtle Wilson, and Fitzgerald engaged a relationship with Sheilah Graham in California

(Bruccoli). In the meantime, Zelda had been confined to sanitariums on the East Coast. The two

could also be unnecessarily cruel-tongued. Tom refers to Wilson, Myrtle’s husband, as “so dumb

                                                he doesn't know he's alive” (Fitzgerald 26) when

                                                Nick questions his relationship with Myrtle. A

                                                similar lack of empathy is demonstrated by

                                                Fitzgerald when he gives his opinion on Zelda's

                                                first and only novel, Save Me the Waltz. Remarks

                                                such as “it should not have been written” and “you

                                                are a third-rate writer and a third-rate ballet” (Cline

                                                325) discouraged his wife from having another

                                                novel published. Finally, Fitzgerald lived a life

lacking in satisfaction, similar to Tom's restlessness. Nick mentions that Tom is “one of those

men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors

of anticlimax” (Fitzgerald 6). In hindsight, an alive yet dying Fitzgerald of the '40s thought this

of himself. At this time, he wrote the obviously semi-autobiographical The Pat Hobby Stories.

These short stories are the chronicle of a Hollywood hack writer who has passed his golden

years.

         In contrast to the dark side of Fitzgerald, Gatsby represents the romantic side of the

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writer. Both men fell in love and sought after money to bring them romance. They dubbed the

girl of their dreams “the golden girl” (Fitzgerald 120). Fitzgerald's first encounter with Zelda is

similar to that of Gatsby meeting Daisy. Both Gatsby and Fitzgerald were commissioned in the

military and did not have enough money to promise engagement with their respective love

interest. Both eventually acquired it, albeit Gatsby resorts to the exploitation of prohibition,

while Fitzgerald took a more honest path in writing. Unfortunately, they also share a similar end.

“By the time [Fitzgerald] died he had managed to alienate many of the people with whom he

spent the golden decade of his life” (F. Scott Fitzgerald: Alcoholism & Death), which resulted in

an empty funeral reminiscent of Gatsby's. Dorothy Parker, one of Fitzgerald’s few friends at the

time of his death, channeled the Owl Eyes character in Gatsby at this event by saying “the poor

son of a bitch” (Mizener).

                                                               One of the many prominent themes

                                                        of The Great Gatsby is the decline of the

                                                        American Dream. The setting of the novel

                                                        takes place in New York, Fitzgerald’s

                                                        childhood home, during the Jazz Age. After

                                                        the war in 1918, the stock market grew and

                                                        so did the pockets of the upper middle

class. Fitzgerald experienced this first hand after he was drafted into the U.S Army during World

War I. The newly found pleasure in materialistic values had taken up all morals and ethics

dropped in the Valley of Ashes. In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment was passed, banning the

sale of alcohol. Fitzgerald experienced this change in the twenties and saw the values of the

upper middle class drastically change. Fitzgerald saw the American Dream as the pursuit of

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happiness. The redefined American Dream transformed to value ample amounts of money and

laid back societal values. In other words, money and pleasure became the new God. Both Gatsby

and Fitzgerald were deeply involved with this monetary dream. Eventually this dream is crushed.

Gatsby is killed and Nick moves back to the Midwest, feeling as if there is nothing left for him in

the East. This is much like an incident when Fitzgerald’s father was fired from The Proctor &

Gamble Company, and the entire family went back to Minnesota to look for a new American

Dream.

       Another theme that is explored in the novel is the new rich versus the old rich. The

nouveau riche are represented as thirsty, vulgar, and disrepute; whereas “old money” is regarded

with history, taste, and class. Gatsby lives in an extravagant mansion and wears a garish suit to

match his gaudy car. As the novel unravels, the West Egg, the “new money” people, seem to be

the only rich people who are genuine. They are more in touch with real life than people who have

been rich their whole life. An example of this is when Gatsby takes the blame for Daisy running

over Myrtle. However, when Gatsby is faced with his troubles, no amount of his dishonest

money can allow him to escape; while The East Eggers, Tom and Daisy, buy a new home and

easily escape their issues physically and mentally. Like Nick who is associated with both Eggs,

Fitzgerald knows them well. In October of 1922, Fitzgerald moved to Great Neck, Long Island

with his wife and newly born child. His neighbors were newly wealthy celebrities such as actor

Lew Fields and comedian Ed Wynn. They were very different from the ingrained wealthy

families across the bay from Fitzgerald’s home. This experience is considered to be the

inspiration for East and West Egg.

       The shallowness of the rich characters throughout The Great Gatsby supports the idea

that money does not buy happiness, a main theme throughout the story. A married and wealthy

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man such as Tom frequently looks for a mistress to compensate for his lack of satisfaction, Daisy

often complains despite her life of

entitlement, and Jordan's behavior is filled

with cynicism and dishonesty. Even Gatsby,

the novel's sympathetic hero, is a part of this

theme. One blog notes “Gatsby took a

shortcut to his wealth, and it ultimately

resulted in a shortcut of his life” (Rob). This

shortcut establishes Gatsby as rich by net worth, but not in self-worth. Gatsby, as romantic as he

                                      appears, is still a criminal, and his actions do not bring him

                                      happiness, nor do they bring him Daisy's love. Tom, Gatsby,

                                      and Daisy all look for love that has been obscured by money

                                      in the reckless environment of upper-class New York City.

                                      This is similar to the Fitzgerald’s in that “[they] did spend

                                      money faster than he earned it; the author who wrote so

                                      eloquently about the effects of money on character was

                                      unable to manage his own finances” (Bruccoli). What could

have been for Fitzgerald if This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, and many short

stories did not fund his alcoholism and indulgence for parties? F. Scott Fitzgerald's life, riddled

with prodigal spending and turmoil with his wife Zelda, is in itself a thematic example that

happiness has a price-tag unable to be waved by money.

       Our favorite and most powerful symbol in this novel is the billboard of optometrist, T.J

Eckleberg. “The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on

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an old advertising billboard over the Valley of Ashes”(Sparknotes.com). This appears in The

Valley of Ashes because it is the only city where there is a sign of God. The billboard is faded

much like the connection between God and the people of Long Island. The billboard is staring

down judging all that pass before it. When Wilson finds out about Myrtle’s affair, he looks out to

the billboard and says, “God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You

may fool me, but you can’t fool God” (Fitzgerald 170). Fitzgerald’s reason for choosing Doctor

T.J Eckleburg’s spectacles for the billboard comes from one of the most celebrated pieces of art

in American literature, Francis Cugat’s cover art. The cover for the novel was finished before the

novel itself. When Fitzgerald saw the the art, he was enamored and decided to incorporate it into

the novel. He did this in multiple ways: the mention of “owl eyes”, the billboard of Doctor T.J

Eckleburg’s spectacles and the description of Daisy as the "girl whose disembodied face floated

along the dark cornices and blinding signs".

       In conclusion, the characters, themes, and symbols in The Great Gatsby reflect F. Scott

Fitzgerald’s life and the influence of the Jazz Age. This classic still has as much relevance today

as it did in 1925. We look forward to future interpretations of this classic and how it will

continue its legacy of being a respected novel. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne

back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 200).

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                                         Works Cited

Bruccoli, Matthew J., and Judith S. Baughman. A Brief Life of Fitzgerald. A Brief Life of

       Fitzgerald. Simon & Schuster, 4 Dec. 2003. Web. 24 Jan. 2013.

Cline, Sally. Zelda Fitzgerald: Her Voice in Paradise. New York: Arcade Pub., 2003. Print.

Duke1029@aol.com. "Plot Summary for The Great Gatsby." IMDB. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 24

       Jan. 2013.

"The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg and the Valley of Ashes Below Them." Shmoop. Shmoop

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       University, Inc, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2013.

"Eyes of T.J. Eckleburg." : Eyes of T.J. Eckleburg. Blogspot, May 2011. Web. 24 Jan. 2013.

"F. Scott Fitzgerald: Alcoholism & Death." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc, n.d. Web. 24 Jan.

       2013.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996.

       Print.

Mizener, Arthur, and Houghfon Mifflin. "The Far Side of Paradise." Editorial. Books: The Big

       Binge 29 Jan. 1951: 362. Time. Time Inc. Web.

ROB. "Comparing and Contrasting F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway, and Jay Gatsby." Really

       Outstanding Blog (R.O.B): Comparing and Contrasting F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick

       Carraway, and Jay Gatsby. Blogspot, 21 Sept. 2011. Web. 24 Jan. 2013.