The Great Gatsby

Oh, The Great Gatsby. What a wonderful book! I have read some before in grade ten but couldn't get into it. After starting the novel again this year, I see so much more. The novel is very well written and structured. I really can see the characters coming to life on the pages and their surroundings in my own eyes.

Just for fun, I did some background research about F. Scott Fitzgerald and the writing of The Great Gatsby.


After the birth of their child, the Fitzgeralds moved to Great Neck, Long Island in October 1922, appropriating Great Neck as the setting for The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald's neighbors included such newly wealthy New Yorkers as writer Ring Lardner, actor Lew Fields and comedian Ed Wynn. Great Neck, on the shores of Long Island Sound, sat across a bay from Manhasset Neck or Cow Neck Peninsula, which includes the communities of Port Washington, ManorHaven, Port Washington North and Sands Point, and was home to many of New York's wealthiest established families. In his novel, Great Neck became the new-money peninsula of "West Egg" and Manhasset Neck the old-money peninsula of "East Egg".

Progress on the novel was slow. In May 1923, the Fitzgeralds moved to the French Riviera, where the novel would come to completion. In November, he sent the draft to his publisher Perkins and his agent Harold Ober. The Fitzgeralds again relocated, this time to Rome, for the winter. Fitzgerald made revisions through the winter after Perkins informed him that the novel was too vague and Gatsby's biographical section too long. Content after a few rounds of revision, Fitzgerald returned the final batch of revised galleys in the middle of February 1925.

I found a lot of interesting facts about the novel also. Daisy is based off of a Chicago heiress named Ginevra King who Fitzgerald fell in love with. Just like the novel, he was a poor boy in love with a rich girl and she could and would not marry him. It is said that Fitzgerald used a line in the novel that he was said to by Mr. King, Ginevra father: "poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls" which also appears in the novel said by Daisy to Gatsby. Also the bill board with the hovering eyes are suppose to represent Daisy.

Jordan Baker was also based off of someone Fitzgerald knew who was good friend with Ginevra King. Her name was Edith Cummings. was one of the premier amateur golfers of her generation. She was one of the Big Four debutantes in Chicago, at the end of the First World War. She became nationally famous following her 1923 victory in the United States Women's Amateur Golf Championship. On August 25, 1924, she became the first golfer and first female athlete to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

I can't wait to continue reading this novel! It's going to be great!