Priscilla Berstler
Dr. Hall
The Great Gatsby
November 15, 2014

The Great Gatsby
In many cases, one can always find at least one significant similarity between author and his novels major character. F. Scott Fitzgerald is the author of the famous novel, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses his past experiences for the base of his main character, Jay Gatsby. By changing specific details, he gave Jay a life of his own.
A major similarity between the two is that they both fell madly in love with a woman, Gatsby fell for a married girl named Daisy Buchanan, and Fitzgerald fell for Zelda Sayre. Fitzgerald was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry and assigned to Camp Sheridan outside of Montgomery, Alabama. It was there that he met and fell in love with a girl named Zelda Sayre, the daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge. The war ended in November 1918, before Fitzgerald was ever deployed, he moved to New York City hoping to launch a career in advertising that was profitable enough to convince Zelda to marry him. Zelda, a girl coming from wealth, became very sick after being married to Fitzgerald and despite the strain on their relationship; her husband loved her to no end. This love is paralleled in Gatsby’s feelings towards Daisy. While the hardship for Fitzgerald and Zelda was her schizophrenia, Jay’s love for Daisy was put on hold when he was shipped out during World War I. before they were initially separated; his love for her was evident in this quote from The Great Gatsby, “Well, there I was, ‘way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I don’t care. What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do?” (Fitzgerald p. 150).
Daisy could not wait for a poor soldier; she married a rich man Tom. After Gatsby got out of the Army, he vowed to earn a lot of money so that he could win Daisy’s love back. He had previously faked his wealth with the help of his military status. Since he was now out of the military, he could not fake it and his love drove him to become upper class. He realized that he would never have a chance to win her love and her commitment without money. He went to work with Meyer Wolfsheim, who was thought to be guilty of fixing the results of the World Series in 1919. It was later found out that he was a bootlegger. He carried out his business through a great deal of drug stores that he owned. Yet, it is not enough to earn Daisy's commitment or pull her away from her beloved husband, Tom. Daisy never ends up leaving Tom for Gatsby. Like Gatsby, there was an affair involved in both relationships. Zelda cheated on Fitzgerald but he overlooked this and they stayed together. Daisy had an affair with Jay Gatsby and led him to believe that she was going to eventually leave her husband for him. But this dream of Gatsby’s never happened. Unlike Gatsby, Fitzgerald obtained and kept Zelda’s