Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American writer best known for his novels and short stories that describe the so-called American "Jazz Age" of the 1920s ("F. Scott Fitzgerald" 1).
He is the author of the novels The Great Gatsby, Tender Is the Night, The Last Tycoon. He is one of the greatest US prose writers of the XX century ("F. Scott Fitzgerald" 1).
In the minds of contemporaries F. Scott Fitzgerald was and remains not only a writer, but a living legend, the embodiment of the spirit of the time. In the 1920s he became the idol of American youth, who saw him as a brilliant exponent of their own world-view. This reputation secured him forever, and even today the American critics continue to call him a singer of "Jazz Age" ("F. Scott Fitzgerald" 1).
He is the writer of extraordinarily subtle turn of mind; he has opened a new era in the development of the literature. Scott Fitzgerald was the first who has spoken on behalf of generation that came into life after a global catastrophe of the First World War. He depicted in his expressive forms not only his dreams and disappointments, but also the inevitable collapse of ideals, far from authentic human values ("F. Scott Fitzgerald" 1).
Fitzgerald, like other writers of Lost Generation, that predominantly lost ideals, persistently sought for some humanity in person. The goal was just one: to find values that can withstand the dollar civilization in which, apparently, cannot be a place for true human feeling, any positive program.
Creative heritage of Scott Fitzgerald is generally very diverse. He has written four completed and one unfinished novel, the play, about a hundred and sixty short stories and a lot of sketches, essays and articles.
Like no other, Fitzgerald felt acutely the pressure of the atmosphere of the militant lack of spirituality, hostility to the art and genuine beauty inherent in American society.
Fitzgerald fully tasted the severity of consciousness of uselessness. As a person he was broken by exhausting struggle with the US business and commerce, which sought to subordinate him to their own standard. As an artist, he came out of this battle as victorious. That's why nowadays readers in America and abroad are increasingly turning to the rich artistic Fitzgerald‘s heritage.
The Great Gatsby is one of the best works of the writer. It shows two the brightest properties of Fitzgerald’s talent – the pathos, the emotional intensity of romance and sharp, even satirical view of the realistic. These properties are interwoven in the artistic fabric of the work, creating a bright and unique picture. And the artistic fabric of any work of literature is primarily it tongue.
The main Fitzgerald‘s objective is debunking of the “American dream” in his novel The Big Gatsby. What is the "American Dream"? It is a desire of the lightning success and fast enrichment. The most important is that happiness and wealth are identical for people who profess postulates that "American Dream."
This myth includes equal opportunities for all people regardless of their starting capital and social origin. The name of this dream embodies the idea that all this is possible only in one country, in America. That is the theory F. Fitzgerald debunks in the novel The Great Gatsby and other works. He argues that the person who put all his life to get wealth, do not become happy because of this, but rather loses his self, his spiritual world and as a result, the desire to live a full life. The author shows the tragedy of a man who all his life sought to wealth that eventually led to his death.
After analysing, we realize that The Great Gatsby is the story of an exemplary of American young man. Gatsby brought himself through the First World War. He was courage, strength, and stability; his military career, military insignia attest to it. In a happy meeting with the traveling rich man, a former competitor of gold in the Far West, Dan Cody he has showed agility and ingenuity, and sagacity and understanding of human nature, that is all that what life teaches a gifted poor.
Gatsby is the man who created himself using the American morality recipes, and possession of wealth is an integral component of purpose and meaning in his life.
It should be noted that his self-esteem does not depend on the means with help of which the wealth has been gained. The central character of the story is confident in the rightness of his choice; he believes that reached everything by his labour.
Therefore, in the novel The Great Gatsby, the image of Gatsby consists of a set of different points of view, thus the tragedy of this character is highlighted. This is a tragedy of extraordinary people who decided to devote themselves to a single case like augmenting of their capital. In this they saw the key to human happiness. Gatsby speculating on the stock exchange, getting considerable fortune, only to gain entitlement to the woman he loved. But money, despite their apparent power, cannot bring him happiness.
The “American Dream" controls Jay Gatsby. His rules are kind of conduct code of the resolute man who believes in the "dream". Such a person is endowed with diligence, thrift, sober interest; all the qualities that help to achieve success in life, by own example show that anyone can achieve just what he or she wants. However wanderings and exploits of Gatsby lead to a tragic end.
The tragedy of life Gatsby is that he was a stranger to the class, which he wanted and tried to join. Gatsby is doomed to loneliness. He was alone in his life, abandoned by his guests. He was standing in the evening on the shore and looked plaintively to a distant green light in the neighbourhood’s house. As well he found himself alone after his death, no one of countless friends and fellows, including the beautiful lady, his love, came to hold him at the last path.
Works Cited
“F. Scott Fitzgerald.” 2012. FamousAuthors.org 22 November, http://www.famousauthors.org/f-scott-fitzgerald
