F SCOTT FITZGERALD Essay, Research Paper

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

DIANA CHOW

03/25/96

Welcome to the roaring 1920’s! The Jazz Age. A period within time which the passive behaviors, beliefs, and purity of the past generations, were tossed aside to create room for the changes America

was about to experience! The birth of independent voting rights for women, lavishing parties, and where excitement was to be found in every corner. This was the era in which the people were considered the “Lost

Generation,” and from this environment emerged a eminent writer of those times. Francis Scott Fitzgerald.

Born to the calm and submissive atmosphere of St. Paul Minnesota, he came from a line of highly regarded men and women from his family’s past. His most famous relative by far was Francis Scott

Key. The writer of our national anthem. Though he was certainly the most famous Fitzgerald, his mother was the most eccentric. Often dressed in miss-matched shoes and had a peculiar behavior, she at one time stared

at a woman whose husband was dying and said: “I’m trying to decide how you’ll look in the mourning.”

“I helped him by encouraging his urge to write adventures. It was also his best work. He did not shine in his other subjects. It was the pride in his literary work that put him in his real bent.” Recalls his

St. Paul Academy teacher. From that prestigious school he then traveled and began attendance in Princeton University. Not a promising student he was often late to his classes. His excuse was once “Sir-it’s absurd to

expect me to be on time. I’m a genius!!!” Though the “Princeton years” we not his most memorable, it provided an outlet for his writing, and talent.

During his junior year he left Princeton and entered the army in 1917. Though he was never sent to battle for his country, there he began work on the short story, The Romantic Egoist, which was

published as This Side of Paradise. Though rejected it later returns as a imitated nationwide sensation. When time and America began evolving, then was his work beginning to receive its time awaited praise. The Jazz

Age had arrived! By this period Fitzgerald had already found his love and married the enchanting Zelda Syre. She was an accomplished writer, ballet dancer, and painter. Though every one of these qualities were

contributions to her vivid personality, her flaws were seen by many! “Her rudeness, selfishness and lack of self restraint! She abuses men terribly then cuts and breaks dates with them, yawns in their faces, and they

come back for more!” recalls Fitzgerald. As the jaded, rebellious “flaming youth” of the new era went on, it brought life to Fitzgerald’s story which became and instant hit. This Side of Paradise. And during America’s

decade of prosperity, excess, and abandon, he became noted as the spokesman for the Jazz Age.

He continued to write, and he then achieved his strongest and greatest work which described the weaknesses and the ideals which America lost. The Great Gatsby. Now considered a classic of our

times, it marked the beginning of the author’s decline in popularity. This and several other factors effected his writing. Zelda’s schizophrenia, lack of inspiration, efforts in remaining a good father for his daughter

Scottie, and financial difficulties.

“…Ability to perceive the reality behind the glittering carnival, the face behind the mask.” This was the work of Fitzgerald in which our society and numerous prominent American writers respect

today. Without Fitzgerald’s writings a piece of our heritage and culture in the 20’s may have been lost. The unmatched voice of the Jazz Age.