The American Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald
The American Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 and died in 1940 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Raised up by an ambitious mother and an alcoholic father, he was brought acutely conscious of wealth and privilege. His writing started to hit the lame light in 1920 when he wrote his first novel “This side of paradise” which was received well and was successful, making him a celebrity. It is his third novel “The Great Gatsby” written in 1925 that made him attract more attention. This was attributed to the issue addressed in the novel which was related to the understanding of the American dream, it his consciousness about wealth and the way he was raised up that motivated him to write this piece. “The Great Gatsby is seen as a reflection of his experiences and how these experiences shaped his idea of what it meant by the American dream.
His Experience with the American Dream
After dropping out of Princeton university, Scott Fitzgerald joined the U.S Army and it is here that he got the experience of being an American soldier and what the American dream meant. His witty nature made him an ideal spokesman and that why his idea of the American dream was well received. He was basically a writer struggling to make enough money to suit his extravagant life, the drinking spree and the parties that he attended were enough evidence of his extravagant kind of life. Fitzgerald’s quest to get the attention of his wife who was stinking rich made him live a life not his own only to impress his stunning wife. The Great Gatsby is in fact seen as basically a story about a gangster’s pursuit of an unattainable rich girl (Batchelor 16).
Fitzgerald's Novels and the American Dream
Most of Fitzgerald’s novels reflect on the views held by Americans on the American dream in the 1920’s. it gives the reader a clue of the beliefs, values and dreams associated with the American society during that time and how this shaped the view of the American dream in the years after. (Fitzgerald, et al. 13) The novels highlight that Americans during those days believed that the American dream can be realized if one is able to be possession of a lot of money, wealth which will then lead to the individual being happy and living a better, richer and fuller life. The novels also highlight the role that underhand wealth acquisition contributes to the view of the American dream as most Americans believe that the only easy way to get wealthy and life a happy better life is to engage in the rich-quick schemes which lead to economic prosperity as quick as the phrase itself suggests. This explains why the author portrays the narrator in “The Great Gatsby” in a manner that his wealth and richness is seen to be obtained from underhand and through dubious means which unfortunately ends up not making the character’s life better or happier.
Reflection of Fitzgerald's Life and a Pessimistic View of the American Dream
Tender is the night, one of Fitzgerald’s other novel explores how a psychiatrist was destroyed by his wealthy wife. Like his third novel, “The Great Gatsby” where the narrator is also destroyed in the process trying to acquire wealth and live richer life to impress his wealthy wife, these two novels are seen as a reflection of Fitzgerald’s own life since he also underwent the same version of life. This side of paradise, the first novel of the author was depicted as a timely literary piece of art based on the events that took place in the 1920’s where the youth were the American dream was almost in every youth’s lips with different interpretations of the American dream given. Fitzgerald piece of art then came at the right moment to address this issue and it is why the author was regarded as the society’s spokesman during those times. Fitzgerald’s interpretation of the American dream is how ever seen as pessimistic in the way his stories end with the fate of characters who were in pursuit of wealth ending in tragic and a less happy manner. This explains the reason why some critics of his works see him as a pessimist of the American dream since the expectations of most Americans is that the attainment of the American dream entails acquiring wealth and gaining financial stability, that way one is expected to live a happier and healthier life which is basically the layman’s understanding of the American dream (Bewley 12).
A Changed View of the American Dream
Fitzgerald’s novels challenged my perception of the American dream and changed my view from an optimist point of view to a pessimist point of view. Gatsby a character in the novel who gets all the material possessions and financial stability that any American individual would yearn for ends up living a miserable, unhappy life which depicts how money and wealth is not a guarantee for a happy life hence should not be entailed as part of the components of the American dream. An analysis of the author’s stories would surely make one reflect on how we have entirely been wrong in associating the American dream with wealth and financial stability.
Works Cited
Batchelor, Bob. Gatsby: The Cultural History of the Great American Novel. Lanham: MD Rowman " Littlefield, 2014.
Bewley, Marius. “Scott Fitzgerald’s Criticism of America.” The Sewanee Review. Vol. 62, No. 2. (1954): 223-246. JStor. Web. 11.11.14
Fitzgerald, F S, et al. F. Scott Fitzgerald on Authorship. U of South Carolina P, 1996.
