Fitzgerald Comparison 
Jeremiah Dickinson
American Lit
8th Period Comparing Fitzgerald’s life to
The Great Gatsby
Fitzgerald uses
The Great Gatsby to reflect on his own life. Although not every aspect in this story is about Fitzgerald the central theme and mood can be drawn back to Fitzgerald's life. Throughout this story Fitzgerald symbolizes his life experiences through the character “Nick Carraway.” He has learned from his father to suspend judgment (which is an essential element for making him a sympathetic, understanding, good listener full of decency. Carraway opens his narration of The Great Gatsby with the advice his father had imparted to him: “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had” (Fitzgerald 5).
The story is seen through the eyes of Carraway, who views the newly rich inhabitants of West Egg and the old money residents of East Egg with intrigue, pity and disgust. Thinking but not expressing his views allows him to be an insider looking in, living amongst and socializing with people he might otherwise disassociate himself with.
As the conflicted narrator, Carraway states his advantage and dilemma. “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (Fitzgerald 64). Eventually, Carraway’s pointofview bestows himself upon Gatsby’s life. “They’re a rotten crowd,” Carraway tells Gatsby, a romantic fool whose simple, Midwestern belief in love is corrupted by the
Eastern obsession with wealth into which the likes of Tom and Daisy Buchanan escape responsibility. These are the views Fitzgerald uses in
The Great
Gatsby to reflect and emphasize points in his own life. It surpasses all other literary symbols in any other story. Fitzgerald can portray himself in this book and still carry on a fine story through the narrator Nick. This character is
American Lit
8th Period Comparing Fitzgerald’s life to
The Great Gatsby
Fitzgerald uses
The Great Gatsby to reflect on his own life. Although not every aspect in this story is about Fitzgerald the central theme and mood can be drawn back to Fitzgerald's life. Throughout this story Fitzgerald symbolizes his life experiences through the character “Nick Carraway.” He has learned from his father to suspend judgment (which is an essential element for making him a sympathetic, understanding, good listener full of decency. Carraway opens his narration of The Great Gatsby with the advice his father had imparted to him: “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had” (Fitzgerald 5).
The story is seen through the eyes of Carraway, who views the newly rich inhabitants of West Egg and the old money residents of East Egg with intrigue, pity and disgust. Thinking but not expressing his views allows him to be an insider looking in, living amongst and socializing with people he might otherwise disassociate himself with.
As the conflicted narrator, Carraway states his advantage and dilemma. “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (Fitzgerald 64). Eventually, Carraway’s pointofview bestows himself upon Gatsby’s life. “They’re a rotten crowd,” Carraway tells Gatsby, a romantic fool whose simple, Midwestern belief in love is corrupted by the
Eastern obsession with wealth into which the likes of Tom and Daisy Buchanan escape responsibility. These are the views Fitzgerald uses in
The Great
Gatsby to reflect and emphasize points in his own life. It surpasses all other literary symbols in any other story. Fitzgerald can portray himself in this book and still carry on a fine story through the narrator Nick. This character is