This Side of Paradise was written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald and later published in 1920. When Fitzgerald published the book, it would be the make or break for everything he loved. But to him what was most important was to win a gorgeous girl's hand in marriage, her being Zelda Sayre. She was his muse, a star in almost every book and short story he has ever written, a tale of a man with great ambitions and the girl who cannot marry him because of his lack of money. Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in Minnesota to a middle class family, and attended "the school for the Pretty and Lazy”, Princeton University, where his alcoholism is thought to have started. After the publication of This Side of Paradise, he was thrown into the limelight, meeting fame, other authors, and his growing addiction to drinking. Fitzgerald was influenced by every inch of his reality and reshaped it to fit an unidealized take on the world in his novel. An almost biographical fiction, Fitzgerald captured the true essence of what adolescence is, romantically cynical yet …show more content…
There was something fascinating about playing cat and mouse with someone's feelings, many people believe that Fitzgerald thought that this type of playing with the heart could only lead into the result of having one true winner. In ‘A Kiss for Amory’ you can easily find how manipulative Amory is at such a young age, he never cared for Myra, a young he used to play with he just used her and then left her without really a care, “ But Amory, being on the spot, leaned over quickly and kissed Myra's cheek….Sudden revulsion seized Amory, disgust, loathing for the whole incident. He desired frantically to be away, never to see Myra again” (Book 1, Chapter 1, pg. 17). He even later told Rosalind, his one and only love, that once he kissed a girl, he would not be scared of her, implying that once he did he would have the higher ground in the
Francis Scott Fitzgerald, also known under his writer’s name, F. Scott Fitzgerald, is revered as a famous American novelist for his writing masterpieces in the 1920’s and 1930’s. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about his extravagant lifestyle in America that his wife, Zelda, their friends, and him lived during that era. In fact, a lot of his novels and essays were based off of real-life situations with exaggerated plots and twists. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels were the readers looking glass into his tragic life that resulted in sad endings in his books, and ultimately his own life. F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in a nice neighborhood, but growing up, he wasn’t privileged.
The aspect of self-discovery is something that is only granted to those who learn to let go of their foolish desires to conform to the norms of society. In his semi-autobiographical novel This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald creates a fictional version of himself through the book's main character, Amory Blaine, a male protagonist, who struggles in discovering his self-identity, of which he soon does. After learning that molding himself to the ways of society does not satisfy him, Amory soon finds the love of his life, a girl named Rosalind Connage. However, after losing her to another man, Amory’s heart is completely crushed, and he is never the same afterwards. Throughout the book, Amory changes from a selfish, self-absorbed, cocky adolescent
Mizener, Arthur, ed. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1963.
Mizener, Arthur, ed. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1963.
Mizener, Arthur, ed. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1963.
Certain authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, wanted to reflect the horrors that the world had experienced not a decade ago. In 1914, one of the most destructive and pointless wars in history plagued the world: World War I. This war destroyed a whole generation of young men, something one would refer to as the “Lost Generation”. Modernism was a time that allowed the barbarity of the war to simmer down and eventually, disappear altogether. One such author that thrived in this period was F. Scott Fitzgerald, a young poet and author who considered himself the best of his time. One could say that this self-absorption was what fueled his drive to be the most famous modernist the world had seen. As The New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean mentions in her literary summary of Fitzgerald’s works, “I didn’t know till fifteen that there was anyone in the world except me, and it cost me plenty” (Orlean xi). One of the key factors that influenced and shaped Fitzgerald’s writing was World War I, with one of his most famous novels, This Side Of Paradise, being published directly after the war in 1920. Yet his most famous writing was the book, The Great Gatsby, a novel about striving to achieve the American dream, except finding out when succeeding that this dream was not a desire at all. Fitzgerald himself lived a life full of partying and traveling the world. According to the Norton Anthology of American Literature, “In the 1920’s and 1930’s F. Scott Fitzgerald was equally equally famous as a writer and as a celebrity author whose lifestyle seemed to symbolize the two decades; in the 1920’s he stood for all-night partying, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure while in the 1930’s he stood for the gloomy aftermath of excess” (Baym 2124). A fur...
“Riding in a taxi one afternoon between very tall buildings under a mauve and rosy sky; I began to bawl because I had everything I wanted and knew I would never be so happy again.”(Fitzgerald). F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, into a very prestigious, catholic family. Edward, his father, was from Maryland, and had a strong allegiance to the Old South and its values. Fitzgerald’s mother, Mary, was the daughter of an Irish immigrant who became wealthy as a wholesale grocer in St. Paul. His upbringing, affected much of his writing career. Half the time F. Scott Fitzgerald thought of himself as the “heir of his father's tradition, which included the author of The Star-Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key, after whom he was named” (F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography). The other half the time he acted as “straight 1850 potato-famine Irish” (F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography). Consequently, he had typically indecisive feelings about American life, which seemed to him at once “vulgar and dazzlingly promising” (F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography). This idea is expressed in much of Fitzgerald’s writing. From an early age he had an “intensely romantic imagination” (F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography); he longed for a life of passion, fame and luxury.
Secondly, following the completion of high school, Zelda met a gentleman by the name of F. Scott Fitzgerald, at a country club dance, in 1918. Fitzgerald, at the time, was an Army officer stationed in Camp Sheridan (“Zelda Fitzgerald” n.p.). Fitzgerald was, instantly, drawn towards her (Shmoop Editorial Team n.p.). Fitzgerald, eventually, was discharged from the Army and moved back to New York (“The Legend of Zelda” n.p.). That was the moment he decided to propose to Zelda (Shmoop Editorial Team n.p.). Zelda and her family knew, though, that Fitzgerald lacked the finances needed to support Zelda or, potentially, a family so Zelda declined. Fitzgerald knew he was not the only one who wanted to pursue a romance with Zelda. Determined to reach his goals of accomplishing a relationship with Zelda and gaining financial stability, he decided to write his first book – This Side of Paradise (“Zelda Fitzgerald” n.p.).
Magill, Frank N. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Vol. 3. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem, 1983. 953-67. Print.
There are certain struggles in life that some are not sufficiently knowledgeable to overcome. A prevalent issue, F. Scott Fitzgerald was unwillingly forced into, during the twentieth century, was naiveness. This brought common misconceptions of what makes life worthwhile. The novel, This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is influenced by his adolescent to adult years. Through the character of Amory Blaine, Fitzgerald portrays that naiveness and conceit can prevent life fulfillment.
middle of paper ... ... was believed by some to have helped create the flapper culture. His most famous piece, The Great Gatsby, was about how rich Americans during the Jazz age were shallow and self-centered. (Wikipedia.com) Once the term Lost Generation became nationally known, many flappers took it up to try and be rebels against American culture and society.
Like many of the greatest writers of all time F. Scott Fitzgerald implemented many of his own life experiences into his books. Fitzgerald’s life was very difficult and plagued with alcoholism, which greatly affected his relationship with his wife Zelda and his writing. Many of his most famous books, The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, and Tender is the Night show the 1920’s culture that Fitzgerald lived around. The modernist period of the 1920’s was reflected in F. Scott Fitzgeralds marriage to Zelda through the now critically acclaimed The Great Gatsby.
In 1897, consequently to the collapse of Edwards business, the family moved to New York, in order for Edward to take up a job as a salesman for Proctor and Gamble. Be that as it may, their moved was brief after Edward was let go from his employment in 1908, inciting a move back the St. Paul where the Fitzgerald’s lived off the McQuillan family fortune, (Fitzgerald, Bruccoli and Baughman, 1995). For the next 14 years, Scott invested the larger part of his time at boarding school, at Princeton University, in the army, and in New York City (Ibid, 1995). Fitzgerald’s writing career began to take off in 1920 after the publication of his first novel, This Side of Paradise (Bruccoli and Smith, 1981). The novel received glowing reviews (Ibid, 1981) and secured Fitzgerald’s place as one of the country’s most promising young
Brett Nelson Professor Jeffrey Morgan LIT221 November 16, 2014 This Side of Paradise: Literary Elements and the Path to Self-discovery F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1920 novel “This Side of Paradise,” was supremely controversial for its time. The Modernism ideals presented throughout the piece, such as those of socialism and feminism, demonstrated a great deal about the time period and the rapid societal changes. Amidst the novels modernistic values however, lies the true message of the book, self-discovery. Self-discovery is a very American quality, as American’s have been trying to discovery themselves since first landing on the shores. The melting pot that is the United States has always struggled with self-identity to some extent, in part, because
In writing this book, commonly refered to as the “Great American Novel”, F. Scott Fitzgerald achieved in showing future generations what the early twenties were like, and the kinds of people that lived then. He did this in a beautifully written novel with in-depth characters, a captivating plot, and a wonderful sense of the time period.