Even though The Great Gatsby is not an autobiography, there are a number of autobiographical details. First, both Gatsby and Fitzgerald lived in the same time period, the roaring twenties. So, both experienced the same ethos. Second, Fitzgerald fell in love with a woman of higher standing, a socialite (Zelda) like Gatsby did with Daisy in the novel. Moreover, both men tried their best to win them over. Their methods were different, but both were passionate. Jay Gatsby threw elaborate parties to attract Daisy; Fitzgerald wrote. Fitzgerald also served in WWI, like Gatsby. Also both men lived in Europe for a time.

If we change directions just a bit, then we can also make the case that other characters in the novel also reflect Fitzgerald’s life. Some characters in the novel, such as Nick and Tom, attended Yale University and knew the life of a top Ivy league college. The same can be said of Fitzgerald—he attended Princeton University until he quit after being placed on academic probation.

F. Scott Fitzgerald aspired to be like the wealthy like those East Egg residents. Fitzgerald and his wife3 Zelda traipsed after the wealthy all through the French Riviera, and acquiring many debts in trying to be like them. He appeared to have a love/hate relationship with the elite-wanting to be one of them , and yet at times deeply critical of them.

In many ways, F. Scott Fitzgerald lives out his personal aspirations and fears through his character of Jay Gatsby. Like Gatsby, Fitzgerald often hobnobbed with the social elite, but felt out of place, or like a poser, among them.

But perhaps the most direct parallel to his actual life can be found in the unrequited pursuit of elusive love. Once, on a visit home from college, the young FSF met a sixteen year old beauty named Ginerva King. In the novel, Gatsby meets Daisy when she is a child. Like Daisy Fay in "Gatsby," Giverna was wealthy and far above Fitzgerald's status. She had a sense of privilege and innate superiority and a sensual, seductive manner, as does Daisy.

The parallels between the fictional Daisy and the real-life relationship FSF had with Ginerva King are inconstancy and unattainability. Despite these obstacles, Gatsby's love for Daisy Fay remains constant and so too does Fitzgerald's for Ginerva.

In what way is The Great Gatsby an autobiographical novel? Does the character of Nick or the character of Gatsby seem most like Fitzgerald?

The character of Gatsby resembles F. Scott Fitzgerald more than Nick does. Fitzgerald was a romantic. He admired the rich. He came from a humble background, but he went to Princeton, a rich playboys school in those days, and picked up the habits and values of the rich. Then when he became a successful writer he had to prostitute his talents in order to keep making money to keep up with his wealthy friends. He married Zelda, who came from a prominent family and had expensive tastes. All his life Fitzgerald wanted to be rich and upper-class.He seems to be speaking about himself through Gatsby. His books were always about the rich, especiallyThe Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby,andTenderis the Night. His short stories were also about rich, leisure-class people. He was a successful writer because the American public also admired and were curious about the rich. Then tastes and interests changed with the coming of the Great Depression, and Fitzgerald found that his subject matter was no longer in demand.

How autobiographical is The Great Gatsby?

The perspective on wealth and its trappings and particularly the way that people who were born into it acted is certainly a common strain in both Nick's life and F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Both had the experience of being around wealthy people but lacked that same level of wealth (though they were both comfortably well off) that entitled one to looking down upon "new money" or those who had to work for their wealth.

The setting for the story also mimics part of Fitzgerald's life as he spent quite a few years living on Long Island and writing about the antics of the people there, similar to the way that Nick chronicles the parties that Gatsby throws and the behavior of the people at the parties.

The sense of being an outsider is also one that may have origins in Fitzgerald's own life as he never felt very successful while alive due to the fact that his writings weren't particularly in favor until after his death.