Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was a short story writer and novelist in his time. His work is primary known after his death in 1940s. Now being considered one of the greatest writers, The Great Gatsby helped him accomplish this title along with his other works. Having little sales while he was alive, he died believing he was unsuccessful, not knowing what was to come for him.

The Great Gatsby was released in 1925. During this time, the atmosphere in New York was changing. The youth in the city was growing rather differently than it had in the past. As a new generation was taking over, they swayed away from their parent’s traditions and their conservative attitudes. The era itself (the 1920s) consist of different names such as The Jazz Era, but what F. Scotts Fitzgerald writes about is somewhat a reflection of his experiences during this time.

As times were changing the children of parents who were indigent wanted to have a better life. Their success made them apart of the name nouveau riche. The name itself, nouveau riche, come from the French, meaning new rich. Becoming apart of this was a change from old money because of the way they had spent it. From throwing lavish parties to being pretentious with their style, it was a change in society.

As changes appeared in the 1920s, women started behaving differently. They wore a new style of clothing, had new attitudes and became more flamboyant. The new attitude can be contributed by nouveau riche and the way they used that to express themselves. With that they felt they were on top of the world and could be anything they wanted to be. As the older society viewed them as being scandalous, new money was slowly taking over the community and mindset of the city.

From leaving the classroom at a young age, he was lured to a life of crime. He made his early money by being a gambler and becoming a loan shark to locals. Arnold Rothstein later became a millionaire and eventually opened his own casino and invested in the racetracks. From acquiring a variety of connections, he became widely known and procured different nicknames. He had ties to rigging the World Series in 1919, but was never indicted. After this, he continued business as usual. He was shot at a poker table and later died in the hospital. The character ‘Meyer Wolfsheim’ in The Great Gatsby, was a reflection of him as being portrayed in the book as a Jewish man, who gambles and fixes the World Series.

The novel itself was written in 1922 and publish in 1925. He sold around 20,000 copies in the first year and each copy was about $2. He was inspired by the parties he attended and the money class around him as he longed to be apart of that new culture.