F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was a very talented writer whose work was not truly appreciated until after his death. People now see that his work is passionate, heartfelt, and very realistic. F. Scott Fitzgeralds life compares to a myriad of his characters in The Great Gatsby. Passion – the word applies to an emotion that is deeply stirring. Many of the things in Fitzgeralds life stirred his emotions and brought about his very passionate writing.
Fitzgerald has a very romantic side which he reflects through his characters: Like the central character of his novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald had an intensely romantic imagination, what he once called a heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, and he charged into experience determined to realize those promises(http:www.novelguides.com/).
Many of his books have similar plots: This is Fitzgeralds first attempt to create his dream of the promises of American life and of the kind of man who could realize them(http:www.novelguides.com/).
In Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby he stereotypes the upper class to be snobbish and selfish. This shows that he had a negative opinion of upper class people and based his descriptions on his opinions. Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand.
They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves.(Doreski 98).
The passion intertwined throughout his writing makes it extraordinary. Fitzgerald outwardly expressed some of his deepest feelings in his work. In all literature, the authors personal life has a tremendous effect on their writing. Reading closely will show that none of the women in The Great Gatsby were honest or sincere. Many believe that losing his first love Ginevra King soured his thoughts on women: He fell in love with Ginevra King, one of the beauties of her generation. However he lost Ginevra and flunked out of Princeton(http://www.novelguides.com/).
Fitzgerald went to war in 1917 hoping to die, but being unsuccessful, he used this as part of Jay Gatsbys life: Then came the war old sport. It was a great relief, and I tried very hard to die, but I seemed to bear an enchanted life(Fitzgerald42).
Fitzgerald uses some of his life experiences for his characters: Like Gatsby, Fitzgerald was driven by his love for a woman who symbolized everything he wanted, even as she led him toward everything he despised(http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/).
In Fitzgeralds heartfelt writing he used much of his own personality traits and many encounters from his own life. People have come to love Fitzgeralds work because it is also very realistic: In their fiction, and in that of later writers such as Sinclair Lewis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Saul Bellow, Realism became so accepted as to make Romantic fiction seem outdated(AOL Encyclopedia).
The readers admire this fact because they feel a type of bond with the characters and what is happening to them. His work is very down-to-earth and practical. Many believe that realistic fiction has been primarily a revolt against the sentimentality and melodrama of Romantic idealism. Fitzgeralds fiction is realistic because he uses most of his personality traits for his characters. Realism is the authors way to describe as accurately and honestly as possible what is observed through the senses, and Fitzgeralds realism has touch many readers and draws them back to read his other books.
Fitzgeralds life is his inspiration for all of his great books. The drama in his life has led to his passionate, heartfelt, and realistic writing. Using his personal experiences, personality traits, and deepest feelings F. Scott Fitzgerald has written some very intriguing literature..