Gatsby’s estate wasn’t all that was inspired by the real-life comings and goings of the most beloved couple of the Jazz Age.
Many of the characters were based on flesh and blood friends and lovers. Daisy was based on Ginevra King, a Chicago debutante and one of Fitzgerald’s girlfriends.
One Fitzgerald scholar says his romance with King was the most important relationship he experienced, even more so than the one with his wife.
That may be true, considering that these words, found written in Fitzgerald’s ledger, are thought to have been said by King’s father: “Poor boys shouldn’t think of marrying rich girls.”Also, Fitzgerald was repeatedly ambivalent about the book’s title and he considered a variety of alternatives, including titles that referenced the Roman character Trimalchio; the title he was last documented to have desired was Under the Red, White, and Blue.
— The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald