The Great Gatsby
(F. Scott Fitzgerald)

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1896. He was named after his ancestor, Francis Scott Key, who wrote the “Star Spangled Banner”. He was very smart as a child, but he did not do well in school, so he was sent to boarding school in New Jersey in 1911. Despite the fact that he was only an average student, he was accepted to Princeton University. He had a terrible time in college and dropped out in 1917 to join the army, just as World War I was ending. He was stationed in Alabama where he fell in love with a seventeen-year-old girl named Zelda who would not marry him until he became successful. Armed with the determination to make something of himself and marry Zelda, Fitzgerald published his first novel, “This Side of Paradise” (1920), which made him an instant literary success and Zelda agreed to marry him.

In 1925 Fitzgerald published his most famous novel, “The Great Gatsby” which was loosely based on some events of his earlier life, such as his education at an Ivy League school and meeting the love of his life while stationed in the South. In the “roaring twenties” Fitzgerald spent his money on fruitless possessions and throwing wild parties, which is something that Jay Gatsby does to try to win the love of Daisy in the novel. Fitzgerald became one of the most well-known writers for chronicling life in the 1920’s. He was driven by a love for life and adventure during this time, but it ended too soon as his alcoholism and unhealthy lifestyle cause him to die of a heart attack at the age of forty-four.