Mental Illness In The Great Gatsby

The Roaring Twenties was a time of decadence, wealth, and freedom. Many authors tried to capture the essence of that time, but no one covered it quite like F. Scott Fitzgerald. He chronicled life in the Jazz Age in his novels while trying to establish himself in it. F. Scott Fitzgerald captured the themes of the Roaring Twenties in his novels through his unique style. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota to Mary McQuillan and Edward Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s family lived in New York for the first decade of his life, but moved back to St. Paul when Fitzgerald’s father lost his job. Fitzgerald displayed early talent as a writer and as a 13 year old at St. Paul Academy, Fitzgerald had his first story …show more content…
Fitzgerald had always been somewhat of a drinker, but during this time he started to become an alcoholic and suffered periods of writer’s block (“F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography”). Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda started to suffer from a mental illness and it affected his writing negatively (Willett). It actually took Fitzgerald nine years to publish his next novel, Tender is the Night, about an American psychiatrist in France and his problematic marriage to a patient (“F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography”). Zelda’s mental illness was a big influence on Fitzgerald when writing this novel and it is actually the subject of it (Willet). The French Riviera, where Fitzgerald lived, provided the background for the story (Mangum, Introduction). While in France, the Fitzgeralds socialized with a group of American expatriates. The main character in Tender is the Night, Dick Diver, was based on one of these expatriates, Gerald Murphy (Mizener). Overall, Tender is the Night was mostly received poorly due to its shifting viewpoints and mixed up order of events. In Fitzgerald’s time, Tender is the Night was considered a commercial failure. However, now it is considered as one of the great novels in American history (“F. Scott Fitzgerald