F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24,1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. His father, Edward Fitzgerald, was a proud man from Maryland. Fitzgerald’s mother, Mary (Mollie) McQuillan, was the daughter of a humble, but wealthy Irish immigrant. Fitzgerald, being the only child to survive childhood, was spoiled and was the apple of his mother's eye. Following his father's dismissal from a job in upstate New York, the family relocated back to St Paul in 1908 and lived a comfortable life funded by Mollie Fitzgerald’s inheritance. F. Scott Fitzgerald's life would exemplify both sides of the “American Dream”- the joy of wealth, love, and success paired with the tragedies that come with overindulgence and failures.
Named after another very famous American, his distant cousin Francis Scott Key, Fitzgerald was if not born to be certainly named to be an American legend. After a stint at Princeton, where he wrote and partied in lieu of actually going to class, Fitzgerald enlisted in the Army. Knowing that no amount of money could buy him his safety, Fitzgerald was scared of death. Not necessarily death but more scared of dying without leaving something to be remembered by. This fear fueled his first hastily written novel. When he submitted The Romantic Egoist to Charles Scribner’s Sons it was rejected. This was one of Fitzgerald’s first attempts to capturing the “American Dream” and also one of his first failures. Unwavered by this failure and on the advice of the publishers, Fitzgerald was determined to revise the novel and resubmit it. Time did not stop because of his failure, Fitzgerald was still enlisted in the military and still had the constant fear of being shipped overseas. That fear was suppressed when Fitzgerald was reassigned to a...
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...ld left a legacy behind that one cannot forget. His persistance after many different trails and errors made his life the true “American Dream.”
Works Cited
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"F. Scott Fitzgerald." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. ""The Only Thing Worse than a Boy Who Hates You: A Boy That Loves You."" Goodreads. Goodreads, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Kretzmer, Sybil S. "Fitzgerald Through Other Eyes." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 24 Sept. 1995. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Willet, Erika. "F Scott Fitzgerald and the American Dream." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2014.
Willet, Erika. "Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Artist, Writer, Dancer, and Wife." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2014.
This website lists Fitzgerald’s published works and offers a detailed biography of the author himself. The highlighted texts serve to differentiate different eras in Fitzgerald’s life. The site also offers several links wherein additional information regarding influential people and events can be researched.
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. Fitzgerald, F. S., and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A New Collection. The. New York: Scribner, 1989.
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...
Fitzgerald, F S, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A New
Shmoop Editorial Team. "F. Scott Fitzgerald: Zelda Fitzgerald." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 29 May 2014.
The American Dream is a concept that has been wielded in American Literature since its beginnings. The ‘American Dream’ ideal follows the life of an ordinary man wanting to achieve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The original goal of the American dream was to pursue freedom and a greater good, but throughout time the goals have shifted to accumulating wealth, high social status, etc. As such, deplorable moral and social values have evolved from a materialistic pursuit of happiness. In “Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity”, Roland Marchand describes a man that he believed to be the prime example of a 1920’s man. Marchand writes, “Not only did he flourish in the fast-paced, modern urban milieu of skyscrapers, taxicabs, and pleasure- seeking crowds, but he proclaimed himself an expert on the latest crazes in fashion, contemporary lingo, and popular pastimes.” (Marchand) This description shows material success as the model for the American Dream. In his novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald reveals the characterization of his characters through the use of symbols and motifs to emphasize the corruption of the American Dream.
"A Brief Life of Fitzgerald." A Brief Life of Fitzgerald. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2014. .
Bloom, Harold. “Biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald.” F. Scott Fitzgerald: Comprehensive Research and Study Guide. United States of America: Chelsea House Publishers, 2000. Print.
Trilling, Lionel. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.
Despite how impossible it is, every person tries to achieve his or her dream so they can be happy or successful. The American Dream is being more powerful or better than anyone was before. In his stories Fitzgerald argues that this “American Dream” cannot be reached. No matter what it is, be it topping the social ladder, or getting the girl, or just being satisfied with one’s life, it just cannot be reached. There is always something stopping one from achieving one’s dream. Whether it is disadvantages or limitations sprung from social status, or other uncontrollable barriers blocking the dream, it is not something that can ever truly be enjoyed.
Fahey, William. F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Dream. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1973.
Cullen, Jim. The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation. New York: Oxford, 2003. Print.
Piper, Henry Dan. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Critical Portrait. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965.