How Did Zelda's Life Affect The Great Gatsby

Like many of the greatest writers of all time F. Scott Fitzgerald implemented many of his own life experiences into his books. Fitzgerald’s life was very difficult and plagued with alcoholism, which greatly affected his relationship with his wife Zelda and his writing. Many of his most famous books, The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, and Tender is the Night show the 1920’s culture that Fitzgerald lived around. The modernist period of the 1920’s was reflected in F. Scott Fitzgeralds marriage to Zelda through the now critically acclaimed The Great Gatsby.

The 1920’s were a time of great social change and discovery. During this time the nation experienced a rapid expansion in wealth. World War 1 had ended two years ago and many of the

During the war many of the men that worked in factories went off to war and the women took their jobs. This showed women that they could do something else with their lives other than stay at home and take care of the kids. This led to the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. Zelda was on the forefront of the women's freedom movement and even was dubbed “the first flapper”. The 1920s played a major role in F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda’s writing and life.(History.com Staff)

There were more than just the culture of the 1920s that affected the way F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote. His life experiences had a profound impact on his writings. F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul Minnesota. He grew up in a middle class household but in a wealthy neighborhood. They lived comfortably off of his mother Mollies inheritance but as a child Fitzgerald felt out of place with all of the wealthy people around him. While at the St.Paul Academy Fitzgerald developed his love for writing and wrote his first story, this passion continued on to Princeton University. While there he wrote plays and articles for the Princeton Tiger. His passion for writing got in the way of his academics and after three years at Princeton he

Scott Fitzgerald implemented his life into his short stories and novels. In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald includes three main ideas that relate to his own life. In The Great Gatsby many of the characters drink quite frequently. Fitzgerald was also a known alcoholic and would frequently attend parties. Another relation between The Great Gatsby and Fitzgerald's personal life is Nick Carraway living among many rich. Nick is an outsider looking in on the ridiculousness of the wealthy. Fitzgerald was just like Nick in this way, he was not very wealthy but he lived among them and saw how they lived. The most significant example of of Fitzgerald's life in The Great Gatsby is Daisy and Gatsby's relationship. When Gatsby meets Daisy and he asks her to marry him she says no and later explains that “rich girls don't marry poor boys”. When Fitzgerald asks Zelda to marry him she doesn't because he doesn't have enough money yet. This is the most blatant example of Fitzgerald injecting his own personal experiences into The Great Gatsby. (Shmoop Editorial