Fitzgerald Biography Essay

Submitted By shailoyie16
Words: 1146
Pages: 5
Open Document
Biographical Essay:

The novels and stories for which F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known examine an entire generation's search for the elusive American dream of wealth and happiness. The glamour and easygoing ways of the youthful, wealthy characters portrayed in Fitzgerald's novels This Side of Paradise (1920), The Beautiful and Damned (1922), and The Great Gatsby (1925) were taken from Fitzgerald's own life and that of his wife and friends.

Nevertheless, they reflect only one side of a writer whose second and final decade of work portrayed a life marred by alcoholism and financial difficulties, troubled by lost love, and frustrated by lack of inspiration. Much like his personal experience, Fitzgerald's works mirror the headiness, ambition, despair, and disillusionment of America in his lifetime.

Admires rich and beautiful

Born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of well-to-do Midwestern parents, Francis Scott Fitzgerald was an exceptionally smart child with an early interest in writing plays and poetry. As a young man he copied the actions of the rich, youthful, and beautiful, a social group with whom he maintained a lifelong love-hate relationship.

Following two years in an eastern preparatory school, he enrolled in 1913 at Princeton University. His first stories appeared in Nassau Lit, Princeton's literary magazine, which was edited by his friend and fellow student Edmund Wilson.

Writes novels

Leaving Princeton for the army during World War I (1914-18), Fitzgerald spent his weekends in camp writing the earliest draft of his first novel, This Side of Paradise. The acceptance of this work for publication in 1919 and the resulting popular and financial success it achieved enabled Fitzgerald to marry Zelda Sayre. Zelda was a socially prominent young woman he had met and courted during his army days. She significantly affected her husband's life and career. During the 1920s she was Fitzgerald's private literary consultant and editor, while publicly she matched Fitzgerald's extravagant tastes and passion in living for the moment.

While continuing to illustrate the manners of the Roaring Twenties, Fitzgerald's second and third novels, as well as the story collections published between novels, were evidence of a growing awareness of the shallowness and brutal insensitivity that are sometimes part of American society. These weaknesses and America's lost ideals are movingly described in Fitzgerald's strongest and most famous work, The Great Gatsby (1925). Although it gained the respect of many prominent American writers and is now considered a classic, The Great Gatsby was not a popular success and marked the beginning of the author's decline in popularity.

Another commercial disappointment, Tender Is the Night (1934) reflected the disillusionment and strain caused by the Great Depression and Zelda's gradual deterioration from schizophrenia. (Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that leads to an inability to function normally.) Zelda eventually suffered a breakdown. These events scarred Fitzgerald, contributing to a deep despair. This brought his career to a near standstill during the mid-1930s. Fitzgerald described the unhappy events in detail in the three confessional "Crack-Up" essays of 1936, which brilliantly portray his pain and suffering. Trying to start anew, he became a motion-picture scriptwriter and began The Last Tycoon, a novel based on his Hollywood experiences. The novel remained unfinished when he died of a heart attack on December 21, 1940.

Critical evaluation

In his first two novels, This Side of Paradise and The Beautiful and Damned, Fitzgerald examined the lives of young characters who much resembled Fitzgerald and his friends. They lived for pleasure and acquisitions, yet also were jaded and rebellious. These wealthy Eastern youths helped secure the popular image of a "lost generation" both entranced and repelled by American materialism.
Show More

Related Documents: Fitzgerald Biography Essay

F Scott Fitzgerald Biography

like F. Scott Fitzgerald. He chronicled life in the Jazz Age in his novels while trying to establish himself in it. F Scott Fitzgerald captured the themes of the Roaring Twenties in his novels through his unique style. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota to Mary McQuillan and Edward Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s family lived in New York for the first decade of his life, but moved back to St. Paul when Fitzgerald’s father lost his job. Fitzgerald displayed early…

Words 1787 - Pages 8

F Scott Fitzgerald Research Paper

something, you write because you have something to say.” American novelist and short story writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald, explains the purpose behind his writing with this quote. As one of the most iconic writers of the twenties, it is quite ironic that he was so diligent about putting purpose in his literature because in reality, he felt there was no purpose to his life (“F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography”). From moving often as a child, to not knowing how to handle money or family as an adult, Fitzgerald’s…

Words 1045 - Pages 5

The Great Gatsby's Psychoanalytical Therapy

one, however, in contrast with the less dramatic experience of Nick (Hanzo). Fitzgerald uses his life experience and frustration, to portray himself through the characters of Jay Gatsby, and Nick Caraway, and Zelda Fitzgerald as Daisy Buchanan. In the novel, Gatsby is characterized as a mysteriously wealthy, extravagant figure. Gatsby actually comes from a “shiftless and unsuccessful farm people” (Fitzgerald 98). Fitzgerald comes from a poor, Midwestern family. His father’s wicker business fails…

Words 521 - Pages 3

Amandas Essays

4 December 2012 Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald On September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, one of the most famous American novelist and short story writer was born. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is famous for writing novels and short stories about the life in the Jazz Age. The Jazz Age was a time period in the 1920s when jazz music and dancing became extremely popular. During his Hollywood years, Fitzgerald married his wife Zelda, where they partied and had an entertaining life together. Their…

Words 1354 - Pages 6

Scott Fitzgerald Essays

Clarissa Chambers LIT1000 M/W Noon Project Paper F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Literary Legend Large parties filled with dancing sounds from instruments that were just becoming popular; ladies dressed in a newer style than what was ever seen before and showed a more intimate look that made the men want to dance. Flashy materialistic items were purchased and Hollywood was born. Social get-togethers and traditions were crushed by the Great War and a newer society was developed. During this period, also known…

Words 1746 - Pages 7

Compare And Contrast Donald Trump And Tom Buchanan

A world where morals are not seen and are not used is a world no one wants to live in… yet, this is the world today. The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald tells a twisted love story that inevitably is destroyed, and the antagonist of the novel gets everything whereas the protagonist just dies. Tom Buchanan's rude and ill mannered ways caused success in his life similar to Donald Trump, who surprisingly is leading the GOP election after saying racist remarks… no one WAS supposed to vote ‘Team Trump’…

Words 1108 - Pages 5

F. Scott Fitzgerald Essay

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age[->0], a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.[1] Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation[->1]" of the 1920s. He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise[->2], The Beautiful and Damned[->3], The Great Gatsby[->4] (his most famous),…

Words 1625 - Pages 7

Examples Of Disillusionment In American Literature

great strong land of love," indicates that he wishes America would return to the optimistic state it was in before WWI.[endnoteRef:7] [6: Langston Hughes, The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (New York: Knopf, 1995) 189-191.] [7: ?F. Scott Fitzgerald.? History Online (n.p.,…

Words 1647 - Pages 7

The Assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Julius Caesar Essay

try to become a citizen but was unsuccessful. In January of 1963, Lee purchased a .38 revolver, and a rifle and telescopic sight through the mail in March. During April, Oswald shot at, but missed, Edwin Walker, a former army general (Britannica Biographies). Some say that Kennedy was one of the most influential presidents in the 20th century, and others say that he was reckless. One example of his recklessness would be during the Cuban Missile Crisis when the team he sent into cuba were captured and…

Words 456 - Pages 2

Essay on JFK: A biography

John F. Kennedy: A Biography Every person in the world has strived to be remembered as an important character in other people’s lives. Whether that person knew it or not, they had an impact on others. Some people try to model their behavior off of a specific person that has impacted the world greatly. For many people, that idol is America’s 35th president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. His ability to lead and his determination make him a perfect example of what every person should strive to be. Even…

Words 1935 - Pages 8