Porcelain and Pink by F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald is celebrated as one of the premier writers and authors of the 1920s and 1930s. His lyrical stunts awed the buyers of his novels and short stories; probably the most obvious of these feats would be his use of irony. In 1922, Fitzgerald ability to weave irony into both “Porcelain and Pink” and “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” by creating characters with false identities that cause conflicts later on in the story.

Fitzgerald, like he does in most of his stories, starts us off with a brief overview of the location and the people that are there. In “Porcelain and Pink” Fitzgerald describes Julie’s sister Lois as “…nearly her double in face and voice, but her clothes and expression marks her as a conservative,” (Fitzgerald “Pink” 271). A case of mistaken identity which is what the story revolves around is not as easy to find in “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.” In that story, a poor boy from Hades, a town on the Mississippi River, goes to St. Midas’ School where he acquaints himself with the extremely wealthy boys who go there. Even the name of the school implies that he will become extremely rich; which he does when he meets Percy Washington “…a quite handsome boy… [who is] pleasant in his manner and exceedingly well dressed,” (Fitzgerald “Diamond” 281). This conflicts with the image we are given of John Unger, who is considered to be extremely poor by all of the other boys who go to St. Midas’ school; when he admits to being from the town of Hades. This fact leads John to only answer the question of where he is from hesitantly, and to constantly be in search of wealthy friends to spend time with. John’s apparent belief the hiding his origin will lead him to find well-off friends leads him to agree to “…spend the s...

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... understand or as easy as picking out a porcelain diamond.

Works Cited

Bruccoli, Matthew J. "A Brief Life of Fitzgerald." A Brief Life of Fitzgerald. University of South Carolina, 4 Dec. 2003. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. .

Donaldson, S. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Brandies.edu. Brandies University, n.d. Web. 3 Mar 2014. .

Fitzgerald, Francis S. "Porcelain and Pink." Jazz Age Stories. New York: Penguin, 1998. 270-79. Print.

Fitzgerald, Francis S. "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz." Jazz Age Stories. Ed. Patrick O'Donnell. New York: Penguin, 1998. 280-317. Print.

Magnum, Bryant. "Fitzgerald, F. Scott (September, 1896-December, 1940); American novelist and short-story writer." Vcu.edu. Fitzroy-Dearborn, n.d. Web. 3 Mar 2014. .