Fitzgerald's self-discipline is portrayed through Gatsby's strict life schedule that is shown to us at the end, by Henry C. Gatz. Fitzgerald understood hard work, to get ahead in life, and money to live a happy joyful life "wealth, he saw, was important too because wealth alone makes it possible for a man actually to live the life the imagination conceives" (Mizener 77). This statement about Fitzgerald mirrors the statement about Gatsby's importance of wealth "he overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons." (Bloom 33). They both have the idea that in order to become successful and achieve greatness you must have the proper and best possible "training.".
While at Princeton Fitzgerald doesn't gain many friends and is unpopular. He tries to change this through sports like football and baseball, but fails miserably. He then tries to gain popularity through his literary expressions, but only makes him look overly boastful and a showoff like Gatsby. This arrogant behavior made Fitzgerald's limited friends dis-like him and talk bad about him. This is seen through Gatsby's party guests when they act loyal to Gatsby, but really they dislike his superior-like behavior and make stories about him.
Fitzgerald popularity failure seemed to follow him wherever he went. He tried to constantly fit in somewhere, but just didn't seem to fit in Princeton life. He was barred from many social clubs with prestige. The rich and wealthy class people rejected him mainly on his middle-class family background. These moments in Fitzgerald's life can be compared when people, in the book, without knowing him, scorned Gatsby and refused to accept his mysterious past. .
As previously mentioned Fitzgerald and the book's characters both lived during the Roaring Twenties as well as World War II. During the war Fitzgerald was in the 45th Infantry and Gatsby was said to be in the Seventh Infantry.