F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald a mixed Southern and Irish descent was born on September 24, 1986 in St. Paul, Minnesota and was given his three names after the writer of The Star Spangled Banner though they were distantly related. He was the son of Edward and Mary. His source of talent remains unknown as his father was from Maryland and became a salesman when his furniture business failed; his mother was a daughter of an Irish immigrant.
He attended the St. Paul Academy and at thirteen years his first writing, a detective story appeared in the school newspaper, between 1911 and 1913, he attended a Catholic prep school in New Jersey where he met Father S. Fay who encouraged his ambitions for individual distinction and accomplishments. In 1917 he abandoned his studies due to his poor academic records and wrote the scripts and lyrics for the Princeton Triangle Club musicals and contributed to the Princeton humor magazines and the Nassau Literary Magazine.
Also, in 1917, he joined the army and certain that he would die in the war he wrote a novel The Romantic Egoistic which was praised of its originality, in1918 he fell in love with eighteen-year-old Zelda Sayre which raised his hopes of the success of the novel but unfortunately it was rejected after revision. (Matthew 1981) Fitzgerald quit his job in 1919 and returned to St. Paul to revise his novel as This side of Paradise which was on Amory Blaine.
By the end of the winter season in 1919, he started his career as a writer of stories for the magazines and working through agent H. Ober his work of writing novels was interrupted and wrote creative writing for the rest of his life which was more profitable. His best market for the stories was The Saturday Evening post which made him be regarded as a Post writer. At the age of twenty-four years in 1920, the publication of This Side of Paradise made him famous and married Zelda Sayre in New York.
In New York he wrote his second novel The Beautiful and Damned, his debts started to grow, at the same time his wife was expectant with their child who was born in October 1921. Towards the end of 1922 they moved to Great Neck where he managed to get out of debts by writing short stories, however, his progress on the third novel was inhibited by the distractions of Great Neck and New York and his increased drinking habits which made him be recognized as an irresponsible writer. Though he was a great and thorough writer this reputation made his critics win over him (Latham 1970).
In search of calm for his work, he and his family went to France in 1924 and wrote The Great Gatsby during summer, between the winter of 1924 and 1925, he revised The Great Gatsby in Rome and was published in April on their way to Paris, this novel marked an outstanding move on of Fitzgerald’s work but its sales were poor. They remained in France until the end of 1926 and made little advancement on his fourth novel they returned to America to flee the distractions of France. In the spring of 1929, the family returned to France where Zelda’s health was spoiled by his intense ballet work this further led to the separation of the couple.
In early 1930, Zelda suffered her first collapse and was receiving treatment in Switzerland until September 1931; this led to Fitzgerald suspending novel writing and wrote short stories to pay for psychiatric treatment. In the fall of 1931, the Fitzgeralds returned to America and in February 1932 Zelda deteriorated and went to John Hopkins Hospital and spent the rest of her life as a patient during this time she wrote Save me the Waltz which brought disagreement with her husband and made him complete his fourth novel Tender is the Night which was published in 1934.
In 1937 he went to Hollywood alone where he worked screenplays and completed only one before he was fired of his drinking. In 1939 he began writing a Hollywood novel The Last Tycoon when he died of heart attack before finishing it; he died believing himself a failure. The Great Gatsby is a novel by F. S. Fitzgerald which was published on April 1925 and although it was not popular immediately after publication it has been the most well-liked classic in modern American novel.
It is designed to refresh the role of fictitious reading in American culture and although it is only less than two hundred pages it is the most read literature in America. It is a great book which offers explanation and delight awakening our thoughts and enlarging our humanity. (Latham1970). Critics have in general agreed that the novel is the greatest accomplishment in Fitzgerald’s career and it does not only reflect the setting of the jazz-age exploration of American dream of wealth and happiness but addresses the bigger questions of vanishing traditional values in this era of increasing materialism and distrust.
Early reviews of this novel varied which led to the sale of few copies before the death of the author; critics have praised the Fitzgerald’s strongly woven storyline and especially the position of narrator Nick C. who in his quest to get freedom from his thin life takes a job and rents a bungalow next to a mansion. (Whitley 1976) Fitzgerald has criticized the wealthy regarding the established traditional and acceptable behavior.
He has shown that most people during the 1940 had left certain values which were morally right and accepted and adopted new ones. This made them discover new things and mistreated the new ideas that were being set by America and the people who collaborated in search of these new ideas were the rich as they had a higher chance of performing in the time of rebellion. In his novel he has criticized all the wealthy people in it as they show their true personalities. Nick lived in the middle of the wealthy people thus helping others during trials and problems.
Nicks nature when relating with others was different as he had just become rich and was in balance only when others differed in opinions and was therefore representing other classes in society but not the wealthy class, To criticize the wealthy therefore, Fitzgerald used Nicks character to balance the personalities as he never fitted in the class anyway but without him a lot of things would not have worked out. (Fitzgerald 1991) The role of Nick in the novel is inconsistent and ambiguous so is the whole story, the novel talks a lot about Nick, Gatsby and Daisy.
Nick is a drawn in stranger who plays a role of witnessing and recording of events. Although he is not willing to participate in others embroilments and is often annoyed by them he participates even so. He is caught up in Tom’s relationship with Myrtle and the periods he stays in the sitting room of the lovers house as they are in the bedroom together portrays him further as a passive accomplice. He is also a go between for Gatsby and Daisy as the pair unites in his house and he invites Daisy there for this purpose.
During the party at Gatsby’s place he acts as a watch for Tom as the couple sleep over on Nick’s porch this contradicts his claim as a honest person that he has ever known and this has led to many critics considering him as full of himself. Still, he perceive himself as captivated and repelled by his experiences but this is the source of the novel’s picture of a meretricious society as both captivating and repelling, and it is this characteristic that makes Nick to see Gatsby as a representative of everything which he has an unchanged contempt and at the same time the personification of beautiful hope.
(Whitley 1976) The novel lacks a religious belief system as God is absent from the skies and the part of restlessness in the generation can be described as in search for conviction that can fill the space created by the post war loss. Nick clings to his honesty and being a careful person in a world filled by many careless people. Daisy lives for the present and as a person whose tomorrow and the days after are terrifying lapses of a wayward blindness to such matters.
Gatsby is attractive and creates a sense of wonder in Nick for the daring nature of his impossible but incorruptible dream. It is the attempt itself and the firm belief that he can achieve the impossible synergy that makes Gatsby more than the sum of his reality. As a teenager he has transformed himself from Midwest origins to a wealthy person for whom everything is possible. (Fitzgerald 1991) For all characters in the novel, the connection between the past and future, and individual liability is an issue for the decisions they make in navigating at hand issues between them.
Nick seems to think that being careful and honest can keep him out of danger but that is not true as he is as careless as every one else. Works Cited Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1981) A. Latham F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood (1970) Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Simon and Schuster Inc. , New York: (1991). Whitley, John S. F. Scott Fitzgerald: “The Great Gatsby. ” London: Edward Arnold, (1976).
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