"The Great Gatsby"

Paper Summary:

The paper shows how "The Great Gatsby" is an intimate look into the lifestyles of the wealthy young people of America during the 1920s. The paper relates how Fitzgerald and his wife lived that lifestyle themselves. The paper then describes these shallow people who although they seem to have everything, are sad and pathetic because they seem to be searching for something they cannot find.

From the Paper:

"Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896; he was named after relative Francis Scott Key who wrote the "Star Spangled Banner." He attended Princeton University but did not graduate, and in 1917, he joined the Army to fight in World War I, becoming a second lieutenant in the infantry. He never saw action overseas, as the war ended before he was shipped out. However, at Camp Sheridan, near Montgomery, Alabama, his station, he met Zelda Sayre, an 18-year-old daughter of an Alabama judge. He hoped to sell his first novel, "The Romantic Egotist" so they could afford to marry, but the novel was rejected, and he moved to New York to work in advertising to earn enough money to marry Zelda. Impatient, she broke the engagement. He rewrote the novel and it sold as "This Side of Paradise" to Scribners in 1919. From then on, he wrote short stories and novels as his career, and when the novel was published in 1920, he became an overnight success, and quickly married Zelda."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bruccoli, Matthew J. "A Brief Life of Fitzgerald." University of South Carolina. 2003. 10 Nov. 2007.<http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html>
• Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.
• Whitely, Peggy. "Decade 1920-1929." Kingwood College. 2006. 10 Nov. 2007.<http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade20.html>

More papers on "The Great Gatsby":

• Book Review # 36769 : "The Great Gatsby" and 1920s Lifestyle"
• Analytical Essay # 117531 : "A Contemporary Review of "The Great Gatsby"
• Book Review # 33819 : "The Great Gatsby" and Materialism"
• Book Review # 126306 : "'The Great Gatsby' and the American Dream"

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