Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was a writer very much of his own time. “As Malcolm Cowley once put it, he lived in a room full of clocks and calendars” (Donaldson). Fitzgerald was born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Scott spent most of his first decade in Buffalo and Syracuse, due to his father's job. When Proctor and Gamble let Edward Fitzgerald go, he returned his family to Saint Paul, where he began consuming large amounts of alcohol, which later plays an immense role in Scott's adult life. The hardships with the loss of three sisters, his relationship with Zelda Sayre, and his unique ability to synthesize both the world around him and the artistic drive within him is what influenced Scott to write the amazing stories, plays, and novels that have went down in American literature as some of the most remarkable pieces of literature to ever be wrote. Scott Fitzgerald's writing was enormously inspired by the loss of his three sisters, his relationships with Zelda Sayre, and his ability to separate the world and his work. The first years of Scott's life were colored by grief and loss. The Fitzgerald family was in deep mourning the afternoon that Scott was born, due to the loss of Mollie and Edward Fitzgerald's two daughters that both died from an illness almost three months before Mollie gave birth to Scott. “Although his mother never spoke of the deaths of her first two children, Scott claimed he felt the effects” (Boon 13). Fitzgerald associated the tragedy of his sisters with his career as a writer. A little more than three years later, another sister was born into the family, but only lived one hour. The deaths of his sisters heavily affected his life as a child and an adult. Fitzgera... ... middle of paper ... ...reflects a lot on recollections of his childhood and a young child's longing for the material things in life, until he realizes over the years when he has became a successful and wealthy adult that the greatest value of dreams resides in hard work and striving, not in fulfillment. A majority of Fitzgerald's writings mirror his relationship with Zelda Sayre. Zelda suffered several breakdowns in both her physical and mental health, and sought treatment in and out of clinics from 1930 until her death. “Zelda's mental illness, the subject of Fitzgerald's fourth novel, Tender is the Night, had a debilitating effect on Scott's writing” (Palmisano). The extravagant living made possible by Fitzgerald's success, however, took its toll. Constantly globe-trotting, the Fitzgeralds tried to vain to escape or at least seek respite from Zelda's mental illness and Scott's alcoholism.
There were more than just the culture of the 1920s that affected the way F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote. His life experiences had a profound impact on his writings. F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul Minnesota. He grew up in a middle class household but in a wealthy neighborhood. They lived comfortably off of his mother Mollies inheritance but as a child Fitzgerald felt out of place with all of the wealthy people around him. While at the St.Paul Academy Fitzgerald developed his love for writing and wrote his first story, this passion continued on to Princeton University. While there he wrote plays and articles for the Princeton Tiger. His passion for writing got in the way of his academics and after three years at Princeton he
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.
Fitzgerald’s life came to be in September of 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. His father, Edward Fitzgerald, an alcoholic and failed wicker furniture maker, had a proud aristocracy, which his wife, Mary (Mollie) McQuillan, was appreciative of. Mollie had an abundance of inheritance, but no family name to live up too. The family of Catholics lived in upstate New York until Edward was dismissed as a salesman. They then moved back to St. Paul to live off of Mollie’s hefty inheritance.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was born September 24th, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. His first novel's achievement made him well-known and allowed him to marry Zelda, but he later derived into drinking while his wife had developed many mental problems. Right after the “failed” Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood to become a scriptwriter. He died at the age of 44 of a heart attack in 1940, his final novel only half way completed.
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. There, he attended Saint Paul Academy where his passion for writing began. At thirteen, he completed his first story that was published in the Academy’s newspaper. Later, Fitzgerald moved to New Jersey and attended the Newman school for two years from 1911 to 1913. Fitzgerald went on to attend Princeton University; there he wrote scripts and lyrics for the musicals performed at the University. He also contributed greatly to the Princeton Tiger and Nassau Literary Magazines.
Fitzgerald was gaining notoriety. It was said to be a representation of the free lifestyle and relaxed morals of what became known as the "Lost Generation.” This couple “personified the immense lure of the East, of young fame, of dissolution and early death.” (Milford, 2011, p. 6) She was said to be his muse, but there was also talk that he plagiarized much of his writing from her journals. In addition, to inspiring his major heroines, she supplied him with many other memorable lines. “Much has been written on Zelda Fitzgerald as F. Scott Fitzgerald's muse and as a victim of mental illness.” (Grogan, 2015, p.110) Zelda was considered an embodiment of the Jazz Age (1920-1929), and had a very tumultuous, substance abuse filled life with Mr.
“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.
As a child he and his family moved around very much but once settling down he attended various private schools. In 1911 he went to the Newman School, where he would experience bullying and teasing, he then translated his feelings in his book The Freshest Boy, it told his story about how he struggled during school (Rielly 7).But the struggles that he had helped him grow as a writer because after the upsetting year at Newman School, he travelled to New York where he continued to write, especially plays. He starred in some plays and he also contributed to the school’s magazine, the Newman News, all before he left for Princeton (Rielly 7). In 1913 he entered Princeton, he was placed in academic probation in 1915 and in 1917 he joined the army (“F. Scott Fitzgerald” db). While stationed in Montgomery, Alabama he met Zelda Sayre, the love of his life (Rielly xvi). During this time he began to work his first novel, This Side of Paradise, and it was an instant success and Fitzgerald earn quite a...
Fitzgerald was born on September 28th 1896 into an upper middle class family living in Saint Paul Minnesota. His mother and father Mollie and Edward Fitzgerald named him after his second cousin three times removed Francis Scott Key the author of the star spangled banner. His mother previously had two children Mary and Louise who unfortunately passed away before he was born from illnesses at the ages of one and three. Mollie Fitzgerald became pregnant once more after that but lost the baby an hour after birth. However in 1901 Scott’s Sister Annabel was born completing the family.
Inge, M. Thomas, and Eric Solomon. "F. Scott Fitzgerald: Overview." Reference Guide to American Literature. Ed. Jim Kamp. 3rd ed. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “I am not a great man, but sometimes I think the impersonal and objective quality of my talent, and the sacrifices of it, in pieces, to preserve its essential value has some sort of epic grandeur” (“F. Scott Fitzgerald” St. James). Fitzgerald had heavy drinking problems and faced many financial failures throughout his life of writing but has proved to be gifted in many ways of writing. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was a short story writer, an essayist, and a novelist that was most famous during the Jazz Age of the 1920s and the Great Depression of the 1930s.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1869, in St. Paul Minnesota and died December 21, 1940 in Hollywood by heart attack. He was the son of Edward Fitzgerald and Mary McQuillan. Neither of them were writers or had anything to do with writing for that matter so where F. Scott got his writing skills from is unknown, but it likely came from his father’s side for his father’s great-great-grandfather was the brother of Francis Scott key’s grandfather. Francis Scott Key is who F. Scott Fitzgerald is named after. He also wrote the “Star Spangle Banner”. F. Scott was the pride and joy of his parents, especially his mother; she would often show him off and make him sing and entertain when family or company came to visit. He did this till he was 15. His father was an alcoholic but had great manners that he passed on to his son. But even with being the apple in his parent’s eye he had little respect for them; he believed he was of royal blood and that he was dropped off on the Fitzgerald’s doorstep. Ever since F. Scott was a child he believed he was meant for something more, but he had no idea he’d become an American literally legend. (Donaldson)
In 1898 at Saint Paul, Minnesota, born into a middle-upper class family, Fitzgerald was named after his famous second cousin Francis Scott Key but he finally went by the familiar name Scott Fitzgerald. Also he was named after his late sister, Louise Scott, one of two sisters who died shortly before his birth. "Well, three months before I was born my mother lost her other two children ... I think I started then to be a writer." His parents were Mollie (McQuillan) and Edward Fitzgerald. His mother was of Irish ancestry, and his father had Irish and English descent.
On Wednesday February 12 of 1890 F. Scott Fitzgerald's parents were married in Washington D.C. Six years later on September 24, 1896 Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born at his home 481 Laurel Ave. in St. Paul, Minnesota. His two infant older sisters had died from a violent influenza so that by the time Fitzgerald came along Mollie Fitzgerald had become the proverbial nightmare that known as an overprotective mother. Fitzgerald's mother was no traditional mother though, for she was known for her eccentricities. These eccentricities disturbed young Scott's life, "Fitzgerald later described his mother as 'half insane with pathological nervous worry'" (Bruccoli 15), but nothing worried anyone in the family so much as his father's failure to hold down a job. It was because his father lost his job as a wicker furniture manufacturer and salesman the family was forced to move from St. Paul to Buffalo in April of 1898, where his father began work for Proctor and Gamble. In January of 1901 the family moved from Buffalo to Syracuse where Edward had been transferred by his employer and where, on Sunday July 21, 1901 Scott's younger sister Annabel was born. Just two years later the family was back in Buffalo and just five years after that the family had returned to St. Paul and Grandma McQuillan's money.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was exceptionally equivocal towards the American dream. He saw it as intriguing and lustrous yet dangerous and complex. His thoughts and his works express his extensive and adventurous imagination. Fitzgerald lived a life of disappointment and depression. His novels are representations of his life and his struggles. He had many marital issues and eventually divorced which led him into the pit of alcoholism. His books reveal his emotion and therefore rarely entertain a happy ending. Both books I have selected revolve around the struggle of love. The Great Gatsby is about the struggle for love and Tender is The Night is about the struggle to keep love. These themes are directly related to his own life issues. These experiences that F. Scott Fitzgerald has lived through has translated into his work and therefore the reader notices common themes throughout his stories. F. Scott Fitzgerald incorporates continuity between the themes of classifying people, money and love, and idealism in his novels.