【正文】 orst mess and tragic in the world, with the acknowledgement of his wife?s affair with someone else and her ambition to be a writer herself, which was, of course, stopped by Fitzgerald out of his pride or protection. This turned out to be the most regretful decision for him, perhaps. If only he had any sense that his indeliberate deeds would drive his wife into a mental mess situation, there could be no 16 possibility that he would have make such a decision. Anyway, now, his marriage, his family was broken. Speaking of the wealth he once pursued, they were gone as the same. For a writer, nothing could be more hurt than the awareness of his ability and inspiration to write diminishing. Unfortunately, that?s what Fitzgerald suffered later in his life. Having dwelled to too long in simple and vulgar things to make money, his wits succumbed to the waste paper. For a year and two, he concentrated on piling dramas or scripts for theaters, efficiency and benefits were the only concerns, therefore, for a long time, no more novels, no more improvement occurred. But he did make some efforts in the last time of his poor life, working on a book called The Last Tycoon, never pleted. Among thousands of millions Americans, Fitzgerald is only one of them, but shared the American dreams and branded with deterioration of this mon share. 4. The Relationship Between the Male Characters and Fitzgerald In the 1920s, the American economy soared, bringing unprecedented levels of prosperity to the nation. The chaos and violence of World War I left America in a state of shock, and the generation that fought in the war turned to be wild and extravagant. The staid conservatism and timeworn values of the previous decade were turned on their ear, as money, opulence, and exuberance became the order of the day. Fitzgerald is the most famous chronicler of 1920s America, an era that he dubbed “the Jazz Age.” He is also the typical product of this time. An obvious feature of his works is the work always closely contacts with his own experience, and the characters in the novel can almost find the model from his surrounding, sometimes, even himself. Contacting the characters with his experience is meaningful. It can help the readers have further understanding and analysis of his works. 17 . Gatsby and Fitzgerald In the novel, Jay Gatsby is the epitome of the “self made man,” in which he dedicates his entire life to climbing the social ladder in order to gain wealth, to ultimately win the love of a woman. As it turns out, Gatsby?s excessive extravagance and love of money, together with his obsession for a woman?s love, are actually the autobiographical portrayal of Fitzgerald. When Gatsby, like Fitzgerald, is training to be an officer to join in the World War I, he falls in love with a beautiful girl, Daisy. However, he is very surprised to realize, despite her sexual responsiveness, that Daisy will not marry him before he had achieved financial success. To Fitzgerald, this is the same reason that Zelda rejected him before he became an extremely wealthy man. Both Gatsby and Fitzgerald are fascinated by money and power, and impressed by glamour and beauty. However, they both know that they can never fully belong to this prosperous and secure world, and that the goal of joining this careless class was an illusion. They still try their best to achieve the goal and have the same experience to earn money although they use the different ways to succeed. After acquiring the success, Fitzgerald found himself in an era of unrestrained materialism with the tone of society as well as Gatsby, particularly in the large cities of the East. But, gradually, Fitzgerald was aware of that wealth destroyed his life, rather than helped him achieve the dream. He died from the irregular life and the alcoholism. So does Gatsby. After a long wait, Gatsby is killed by Gee?s gun. Gatsby bees lovestricken. He devotes his entire life to winning the elusive love, despite realizing at the end that reaching his goal was unachievable. Fitzgerald had the same dream as Gatsby, and also yearned to join the ranks of the upperclass and accordingly obtain the love that had escaped him. Unfortunately, they have the hopelessness and despair oute. Obviously, Gatsby represents one part of Fitzgerald?s personality: the flashy
。 Soc Sci), September. 20xx. 2 Du Yongxin. Joural of Sichuan International Studies University, Jan . , 20xx. 3 Xie Jiashum. Joural of Tangshang Polytechnic College, Vol. 13, No. 3, 20xx. 5 returned the following fall but he left his college permanently in 1917 and decided to join the army, as World War I neared its end. While stationed in Montgomery, Alabama, he met and immediately fell in love with a wild seventeenyearold beauty named Zelda Sayre. Zelda finally agreed to marry him, but her overpowering desire for wealth, fun, and leisure led her to delay their wedding until he could prove a success. And with the publication of This Side of Paradise in 1920, Fitzgerald became a literary sensation, earning enough money and fame to convince Zelda to marry him. In 1922 he published his second novel, The Beautiful and Damned and a collection of short stories, Tales of the Jazz Age. In 1925 Fitzgerald managed to plete his masterpiece: The Great Gatsby. His next novel, Tender Is the Night (1934) was received coldly mainly because America was deep in the Great Depression and nobody wanted to read about expatriates in France. Battered by the failure o f the book and Zelda?s mental breakdowns, he drank to excess and grew seriously ill, died in 1940. Fitzgerald is a famous American modern writer and is called “spokesman in the Jazz