Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby in the 1920s, an era of flappers, prohibition, and the American Dream.
Prohibition was when alcohol was made illegal in the United States.
A flapper was a young woman who always tried to enjoy herself and did not follow conventional standards of behavior.
The American Dream was this idea of building yourself up from nothing and making it in the world.

Fitzgerald grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota as half Irish and half old American stock.
His family was wealthy but he saw his father lose his job and pride.
Fitzgerald was never snobbish and always thought he could do better.
He wanted to go to Princeton and did until he decided to drop out.

Fitzgerald became an infantry officer as America prepared for World War I.
He was commissioned to Montgomery, Alabama where he met his future wife, Zelda.
However, Fitzgerald was not a successful writer yet and Zelda’s parents were making her marry well. Therefore, Fitzgerald’s first book published, This Side of Paradise, not only launched his literary career, but his marriage as well.

Fitzgerald became a symbol of “what goes up must come down” due to his early success.
He was upset that he had everything and thought of how he would never be as happy as he was then.
Fitzgerald had anxiety over what he would do next.

Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby to show what it was actually like to live in the times of the 1920s.
He wanted to show what was behind all the glamor and riches.
The public thought the book was too scandalous for the times.

The Great Gatsby is really about the decline of the American Dream and the hollowness of the upper class.