Women And Money In F.S. Fitzgerald's Major Works

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), the representative figure of the 1920's, is now ranked, together with W. Faulkner and E. Hemingway, one of the prominent novelists in modern American literature. His The Great Gatsby is considered an American classic, an almost flawless masterpiece, for which T. S. Eliot praised that he had taken the first important step in the American novel since James.As the poet of the "Jazz Age", Fitzgerald created the "Romance of Money", which confirmed his eternal contribution to American literature. Since his childhood, Fitzgerald became conscious of the value of money, and aware that "the very rich are different from you and me". He once loved a girl, but was turned down for he had not enough money; and the same thing happened again between him and Zelda, the daughter of a prominent judge, who, later, influenced his works and his whole life. In order to support his "golden girl" to join the gorgeous life, money became his life-long pursuit! This thesis just examines three typical women characters in Fitzgerald's major novels, to study how they conquered men in the circle of money and love; also, it seeks how Zelda, the genuine "golden girl" in his real life, determined the writer's tragic ending. Women and money did provide Fitzgerald with sufficient sources for his literary creation, but were also the destructive forces to his whole life.The saga of Fitzgerald ended as a tragedy. His "Money Romance" with dreaming girls thus came to an end. He left the latter generations not only a legacy in literary field, but a profound lesson on women and money, which helps us define our own time.