Frances Scott Key Fitzgerald, born September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, is seen today as one of the true great American novelists. Although he lived a life filled with alcoholism, despair, and lost-love, he managed to create the ultimate love story and seemed to pinpoint the "American Dream" in his classic novel, The Great Gatsby. In the novel, Jay Gatsby is the epitome of the "self-made man," in which he dictates his entire life to climbing the social ladder in order to gain wealth, to ultimately win the love of a woman: something that proves to be unattainable. As it turns out, Gatsby's excessive extravagance and love of money, mixed with his obsession for a woman's love, is actually the autobiographical portrayal of Fitzgerald.

While attending Princeton University, Fitzgerald struggled immensely with his grades and spent most of his time catering to his "social" needs. He became quite involved with the Princeton Triangle Club, an undergraduate club which wrote and produced a lively musical comedy each fall, and performed it during the Christmas vacation in a dozen major ci

„hDiYanni, Robert. Literature fourth edition. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 1998.

ties across the country. Fitzgerald was also elected to "Cottage," which was one of the big four clubs at Princeton. "Its lavish weekend parties in impressive surroundings, which attracted girls from New York, Philadelphia and beyond, may well have provided the first grain of inspiration for Fitzgerald's portrayal of Jay Gatsby's fabulous parties on Long Island" (Meyers, 27).

Fitzgerald gives a tremendously visual portrait of Tom's physical stature when he states that Buchanan's clothes could not "hide the enormous power of that body--he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage--a cruel body" (Fitzgerald, 12).

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Approximate Word count = 1978
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)