Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, who is the author of the popular The Great Gatsby, was a prominent man of the Roaring Twenties. "[Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda,] became almost known for their madcap antics as much as for his writing. They rode on the hoods of taxis down Fifth Avenue, disrupted plays by laughing during the sad parts and weeping noisily over the jokes, and entertained lavishly at drunken parties." (This Fabulous Century 49) They were much a part of the fun and commotion associated with this decade. They lived a good life with many luxuries. "Much of the credit—or blame—for the flapper era must be laid on the shoulders of F. Scott Fitzgerald." (49) His story, The Great Gatsby, is about this image; and the emotional, and psychological motivations that accompanied the people of the decade. In his debut novel, This Side of Paradise, he wrote about similar subject matter. In order to understand these two novels better, one must understand the life and history of Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was originally born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and moved often with his family as a young child. He went to Princeton University and later dropped out because of his poor grades. He had several love affairs, none of them resulting in marriage, until he met his future wife Zelda Sayre. She refused to marry Fitzgerald until he could prove that he could support her, he did this by publishing This Side of Paradise. They were married two weeks later. Many connections can be made to his life from the life of Amory Blaine and his other characters as they are depicted to us.

Nick Carraway, the narrator, is from the Middle West, and is also cousins with Daisy Buchanan. Daisy’s husband, Tom, went to Yale University with Nick. Jay Gatsby, Nick’s neighbor, has a past, which is not explained much, but some of it which can be concluded is that he was brought up poor, and somehow came into money. Daisy, Tom, and Jay all came from the West too. Gatsby and Daisy knew each other well and dated on several occasions. Jordan Baker, a friend of Daisy and Nick, said once to Nick: "[Jay and Daisy] were so engrossed in each other that she didn’t see me until I was five feet away…[he] looked at Daisy while she was speaking, in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time, and because it seemed romantic to me…" (Fitzgerald Gatsby 76)

"Through Amory Blaine, Fitzgerald tried to understand his own past…nevertheless, Amory’s experiences in preparatory school and college are Fitzgerald’s, and his quest to find himself and his calling are the novelist’s." (Rosenblum1636) Many critics agree upon the fact that this story was written about Fitzgerald’s own life. Rosalind did not marry Amory because he does not have money, is like Zelda not marrying Fitzgerald at first because he did not have money to support her. This is some of the materialism that Fitzgerald hints at. Like the author, Amory was born in Minnesota and traveled often. Amory went to Princeton University and dropped out, like Fitzgerald, because of poor grades. Most of the twenties are considered to be a time where Fitzgerald lived in high society. Amory’s sophomore year in college could be compared to this because he was having the time of his life. One night, Amory turns to his good friend Tom and asked him: "hasn’t this year been slick!" (Fitzgerald Paradise 82) He enjoyed himself a lot which shows the previous fact.

F. Scott Fitzgerald gives readers a double dose when they read his novels. One needs to have "double vision," a phrase which implies the "tension involved when Fitzgerald sets things in opposition such that the reader can, on the one had, sensually experience the event about which Fitzgerald is writing, immersing himself emotionally in it, and yet at the same time retain the objectivity to stand back and intellectually criticize it." (Mangum 1137) There are several factors in The Great Gatsby which have this double identity; such things are Jay Gatsby, the setting, and Daisy Buchanan. A theme in this novel is the corruption of the idealism of the American society by the growing materialism, due to an ongoing battle between the moral and the immoral, shown by symbolism of the setting which are meticulously intertwined into the theme of immorality. He feels that us, as Americans, feel and always are hoping for the best, but our idealistic views are not without impediments. The dreams can’t be fulfilled because of the interruption of materialism and the harsh reality of the world that Fitzgerald lived in.

One of the themes of the story is the idealism of the American people. Fitzgerald thinks that we are all assuming the best is going to happen, Gatsby is Fitzgerald’s main device for displaying this fact. Fitzgerald believes that our idealism is in a way corrupted. He feels that we are all caught up too much in objects and possession, rather than in happiness. Henry Gatz, Gatsby’s father, described a child Gatsby who was determined, and did not care much for what he owned. As he grows up, Gatsby’s ultimate dream in life is to be with Daisy, and he becomes materialistic. In one particular spot he says "I don’t think she ever loved [Tom]…Of course she might have loved him just for a minute, when they were first married—and loved me more even then…" (Fitzgerald Gatsby 93) He had this thought that she loved him as much as he loved her. Gatsby’s idealized Daisy to a point that he did almost anything for her. She hit a person with a car and killed her. Gatsby told Nick "I’ll say I was [driving];" (144) to cover her back. He also said to him that "even alone [she] couldn’t say [she] never loved Tom…it wouldn’t be true." (133) This idealism is drastically shattered and never is Gatsby easily able to understand this. His idealistic views were corrupted, as are the views of all of our society. Fitzgerald might be hinting at a fact that Americans have set their mind, no matter how outlandish it is, they can’t give it up. The influences of the American idealism is the materialism and realism that detracts from our visions of the future. The time period that Fitzgerald lived in was full of drinking, gambling, organized crime, and other immoral acts. Amory fell into this trap of materialism. Materialism and realism deterred the idealism. The girls Amory dated, without success "…were too materialistic to form strong emotional bonds…Rosalind wants money, which can insulate her from the world, so she marries J. Dawson Ryder" (Rosenblum 1638) instead of Amory, despite the deep love that they were in. She could not see past the lack of money, the short love affair that she had brought her happiness from idealism, but that was shattered by a more prominent force in her, materialism. She could not see past the fact that Amory was not a very successful advertiser and had little money, and that she actually did love Amory. Even the main character Amory is caught up in faulty idealism. "I’m a cynical idealist," (Fitzgerald Paradise 83) he states to Tom D’Invalliers. Amory thought of himself as a good guy. He thought he was pretty popular, pretty good looking and intelligent. One night in his freshman year, Kerry, a good friend of Amory, and Amory have a discussion. Kerry asks him how he is able to get a lot of girls, Amory responds in a very conceited way. "There’s Marylyn De Witt—she’s pretty, got a car of her own and that’s damn convenient; there’s Sally Weatherby—she’s getting too fat; there’s Myra St. Claire, she’s an old flame, easy to kiss if you like it…" (51) Amory starts coming down to earth when he loses Isabelle, but he still remains some what idealistic. The reality of the situation was that many girls did not care for him because he was conceited. Isabelle and Amory often had discussions where Amory asked if he was conceited or just self-confident. She told him the latter, but out of pity, she wanted to be nice to him but in reality was the former. He could not come to terms with himself that he was not very successful. The corrupted idealism destroyed his life. Idealism can be very beneficial, it is what brought our nation to it’s standards, but once corrupted, it is as beneficial as icy roads are to the safety of passengers in a car.

East and west represent the difference between moral and immoral. New York is more fancy, attractive, wealthy of the two, but it is all a facade. The amenities are just a mask covering up the immortality and the corruption. The West is the more down to earth, sensible, and moral of the two. West Egg and East Egg might also exemplify this fact. East Egg is where the Buchanans live. They might be seen as immoral because both of them are having affairs, and after causing a big commotion, leave for a vacation to make others, Nick, clean up after them. Tom throughout the book was pushing people, making them go along with what he wants. He "compelled [Nick] from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square." (Fitzgerald Gatsby 12) Tom has an urge to control things around him; he is power hungry. "[His] restlessness is an arrogant assertiveness to evade in bluster the deep uneasiness of self-knowledge. His hypocrisy and lack of human feeling make him the most unpleasant character in the book, but he is also…one of the sanest." (Dyson 1399) When he confronts Gatsby about a supposed affair between Gatsby and his wife, Tom says "Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now…the trouble is that sometimes she gets foolish ideas in her head and doesn’t know what she’s doing…and what’s more, I love Daisy too…in my heart I love her all the time" (Fitzgerald Gatsby 132) without even consulting with Daisy about her feelings. He makes assumptions that necessarily aren’t true, and doesn’t consult others about them. He feels it is quite all right for himself to have and affair, but he is outraged about Daisy having one. Even though Gatsby has an affair, he is powered by something more genuine. He has a desire for Daisy that can’t be fulfilled, but at least he’s not out just to have an affair. In This Side of Paradise the immoral versus moral struggle is depicted by Princeton, immoral; and grade school, moral. Even though some may say that calling Princeton immoral is ironic, it may not be. Life at Princeton, as Amory describes to us, is full of many of the "madcap antics" as described earlier. Amory and his friends went out almost every night to parties, dating girls, while letting his grades slip. Once the girls go away, Amory is left without anything to fall back on and is forced to drop out of school, like Fitzgerald. Grade school in Connecticut is more moral, he is disciplined and is forced to get good grades. He succeeds pretty well in Connecticut.

The setting also seemed to be like it could have been an important factor in Fitzgerald’s mind. He has Nick, Gatsby, and the Buchanans in distinct houses that in some way represent them. Nick’s house is a small weather-beaten cardboard bungalow. It’s very simple and doesn’t require much. Nick seems like a content happy person who doesn’t seem to mind his place in society. Not much is said to have happened at Nick’s house, like the fact that Nick does not participate in most of the plot. He’s around more for the support rather than the doing. Next door to him is a huge house that belongs to Gatsby. His house is an "imitation," as is he. He tries hard to impress people, but behind all the make-up, he, too, is genuine. In Gatsby’s house, there is a library; during one of the parties, Nick encounters a man in there. The man, Owl Eyes as he is referred to, seems fascinated with the library and the fact that "[all the books are] absolutely real—have pages and everything. "[He] thought they’d be a nice durable cardboard." Matter of fact, they’re absolutely real." (Fitzgerald Gatsby 46) Fitzgerald is talking about Gatsby rather than the novels in the library. He is pointing out the fact that deep inside, Gatsby, too, is truly genuine. He came into money late in his life and used it in his idealistic ways of capturing Daisy. He did not succeed in this regard, and may be seen as fake on the outside. The home of the Buchanans is explained deeply as a beautiful place overlooking the bay, but does not create many images in one’s head. It is a place of distinctiveness. It expresses the fact that the Buchanans have an already built up reputation and prosperity, but yet they still lack substance and motivation. These three homes are the three social statuses that are represented in this story to an extent. The social statuses are also explained by Amory’s stages of life. In his childhood, which is not explained much, he does much travelling. One reason which this might not be explained much is because travelling, to Fitzgerald, might be considered materialistic. He skips over pretty much the first part of Amory’s life as a way to explain that the materialism does not have a heavy value placed on it. It may be fun at the time, but the felling does not last for a very long time. His later life, Amory is in sort of a depression and this is because he does not know how to live without the security that he has had the rest of his life from materialism. It has always been underneath him, but it is not permanent and will undoubtedly die out some time.

Gatsby never in the book seems to be very popular. People always come to his parties, and most don’t even know who he is, they really don’t even care for that matter. Even in the very end of the book, once he’s dead, he isn’t very popular All the police and the media are swarming around his home, but they really don’t care about Gatsby, but just the story that they can make from it. Nick is given the responsibility of arranging his funeral. Even the people who were supposed to be his business associates, and good friends, such as Meyer Wolfsheim, found excuses not to go to the funeral. When Nick inquires about the Buchanans, he is told they left on vacation. Like many people in society, they make a mess, then leave it to be cleaned up by others. The only person Nick gets to the funeral is Gatsby’s father, and Owl-Eyes. It’s kind of depressing too. Gatsby’s father, and Owl Eyes, are really the only two people besides Nick, who see the genuine side of Gatsby. The image his father gives the readers is completely different than the one that has been formulating all throughout the novel. His father has known the real side of Gatsby when he wore no masks as a little determined child. Owl Eyes makes the discovery when he discovers the books in the library with real pages. This might also be Fitzgerald putting some final words into the story about idealism versus the reality and harshness of the world.

"Major themes in Fitzgerald’s novels derive from the resolution of tension when one idea triumphs another." (Mangum 1138) Fitzgerald has two main themes in his novel. He intertwines them easily by taking advantage of the setting, and symbolism. He wrote a novel that is very much like Gatsby. The novel is very bland in the way of the plot. There’s not much on the outside, but yet on the inside it is genuine; there are all sorts of hints of what Fitzgerald views about our society that is good and bad, as there are all sorts of little tidbits that no one knows about him. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a novel that was in a way modeled after himself.

in the Great Gatsby. This Side of Paradise was a declaration that he had about the wrongs of his society which he feels need to be corrected. Even though this story takes place in the Twenties, and he is criticizing the society of the twenties, many of the comparisons can be made to today’s society. There is a lot of corruption due to realism and materialism especially. Idealism, nowadays, is almost obsolete in today’s society. Many people are unable to see past the outside, mainly due to the fact that over the years, Americans have become very arrogant and stubborn. Fitzgerald feels that this kind of corruption will result in a loss, it happened to Amory, it happened to himself, he lost Zelda. Maybe his views on the world in the 1920’s can still be applied to today’s world. There are many pure people who dedicate themselves to attain materialistic items that they believe will bring them happiness and never really do.

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