Great Gatsby and Drink
Four Guys and a Drunken Lady: The Great Gatsby and Drink
Niallan Collier
Myler Wilkinson
English 111
12 April 2013
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote himself into much of his work and many of the noted symbols and patterns that appear in The Great Gatsby are based on Fitzgerald 's own experiences. Wealth, status, and east versus west are some of the more commonly discussed patterns and symbols in the book. However there is one that curiously is rarely discussed and that is drinking. In a life and a book saturated with liquor both the main characters, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, are repeatedly described as non-drinkers. In the book the drink and sober duality is overturned so that the characters that act "soberly" and down to earth are the drinkers and the non drinkers are out of touch with reality; they are dreamers and act "drunk." On another level Fitzgerald ties multiple themes with drink going even deeper and more personal with the mesmerizing El Greco scene near the end of the book. "I have just the story for your book. Its not written yet. An American girl falls in love with an officier Francais at a Southern camp. Since I last saw you I’ve tried to get married + then tried to drink myself to death but foiled, as have been so many good men, by the sex and the state I have returned to literature" (Brucolli, 34, original spelling) Fitzgerald 's 1919 letter to Edmund Wilson is prescient to the novel The Great Gatsby written much later between 1924 and 1925. In the letter he outlines his dream to write a story that clearly revolves around his meeting and unsuccessful wooing of Zelda Sayre in 1918. It was obviously an idea for him even before he wrote his first novel "This Side of Paradise" in 1920. In this letter he also talks about drinking himself to death in relationship to the failure of his marrying Zelda. It 's a casual remark but it does highlight his drinking which from an early age was notorious and became an increasingly important
Niallan Collier
Myler Wilkinson
English 111
12 April 2013
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote himself into much of his work and many of the noted symbols and patterns that appear in The Great Gatsby are based on Fitzgerald 's own experiences. Wealth, status, and east versus west are some of the more commonly discussed patterns and symbols in the book. However there is one that curiously is rarely discussed and that is drinking. In a life and a book saturated with liquor both the main characters, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, are repeatedly described as non-drinkers. In the book the drink and sober duality is overturned so that the characters that act "soberly" and down to earth are the drinkers and the non drinkers are out of touch with reality; they are dreamers and act "drunk." On another level Fitzgerald ties multiple themes with drink going even deeper and more personal with the mesmerizing El Greco scene near the end of the book. "I have just the story for your book. Its not written yet. An American girl falls in love with an officier Francais at a Southern camp. Since I last saw you I’ve tried to get married + then tried to drink myself to death but foiled, as have been so many good men, by the sex and the state I have returned to literature" (Brucolli, 34, original spelling) Fitzgerald 's 1919 letter to Edmund Wilson is prescient to the novel The Great Gatsby written much later between 1924 and 1925. In the letter he outlines his dream to write a story that clearly revolves around his meeting and unsuccessful wooing of Zelda Sayre in 1918. It was obviously an idea for him even before he wrote his first novel "This Side of Paradise" in 1920. In this letter he also talks about drinking himself to death in relationship to the failure of his marrying Zelda. It 's a casual remark but it does highlight his drinking which from an early age was notorious and became an increasingly important
References: Bruccoli, Matthew J., ed. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A life in Letters. New York: Scribner, 1994. Print. Fitzgerald, F Meyers, Jeffrey. Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography. New York: Harper Collins, 1994. Print. Stallman, R.W. "Gatsby and the Hole in Time." Major Literary Characters. Harold Bloom, ed. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. 1991. 55-63. Questia. Web. 8 April 2013 Wikipaintings contributors Wikipedia contributors. "View of Toledo." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.