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Literature as the imitation
The importance of creative writing
The importance of creative writing
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Recommended: Literature as the imitation
They say that art imitates life…or life imitates art. Either one is somewhat hard to believe. A few brushes of a paintbrush on a canvas, a mirror image on the film of a camera, or even a special combination of the 26 letters of the alphabet onto a page—imitating life? Of course, people can paint life, or take pictures of life, and even write about life. It’s a bit more obvious that the concept of life imitating art is a bit harder to believe. But you can learn from art—especially from the literary art. Books are teachers that you can become. When making art, you put a bit of yourself into it—it becomes a bit of you, and you become a bit of it. You can read about characters, fictional or otherwise, and want to be them. You place yourself in their shoes and learn from their mistakes and you inevitably become them for a little bit. When art imitates life, life in turn imitates art. Art imitating life is so common; we hardly ever point it out. We notice a few lives quite clearly through a self-portrait, a song, or even a book. Sometimes it isn’t as intentional as the artist meant it to be. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses events from his life so thoroughly in his novel, The Great Gatsby, leading us to believe he wrote the novel as a sort of autobiography emphasizing his interesting life and his relationship with his wife.
Fitzgerald was ambitious at a young age, and seemed to always know he’d have a place in the world. As described in PBS’s biography of Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, September 24th, 1896, his father a failed wicker furniture salesman and his mother an Irish immigrant by the name of Mary (Mollie) McQuillan with a large inheritance (PBS). In St. Paul, the family lived comfortably on Mollie’s inheritanc...
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...ing romance and first years as newlyweds immortalized into the pages of one of Fitzgerald’s most iconic novels. Fitzgerald’s unique writing style of fictionalizing real events that happened in his past gives his writing more enthusiasm and flavor comparatively to some writers.
Works Cited
Baughman, Judith S. "Art Imitating Life in Fitzgerald's Novels." Art Imitating Life in Fitzgerald's Novels. The Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina, 4 Dec. 2003. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
Bruccoli, Matthew J. "A Brief Life of Fitzgerald." Biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, 2009. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print.
PBS. "F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Dream & Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Artist, Writer, Dancer and Wife." PBS. The Public Broadcasting System, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
He was raised in the upper-crest Summit Ave. neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota, but he was the poorest boy in his neighborhood and at his private school. When Fitzgerald proposed to Zelda, she declined until he was financially stable to maintain her lifestyle. Zelda personifies the love interests of F. Scott Fitzgerald novels, such as Daisy, The Great Gatsby, and Judy Jones, Winter Dreams.
Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of famous author F. Scott Fitzgerald, lived an extravagant life. Her life may not have been well known in the same way that her husbands was, but many people still knew of her nonetheless. Fitzgerald was born on July 24, 1900 in Montgomery, Alabama. Her family was rather well known throughout the government. Fitzgerald’s father, Anthony Dickinson Sayre, served on the Supreme Court of Alabama. Zelda’s great-uncle and grandfather served in the United States Senate. Her mother was Minnie Buckner Machen Sayre. Fitzgerald was the youngest among her five siblings. During her adolescence, she was a dancer. She also challenged the normal things a teenage girl her age would do by drinking, smoking, and socializing with boys. She
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print.
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.
“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.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "F. Scott Fitzgerald: Zelda Fitzgerald." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 29 May 2014.
Characters in books can reveal the author feeling toward the world. In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald suggested the moral decline of the period in America history through the interpersonal relationships among his characters. The book indicates the worthlessness of materialism, the futile quest of Myrtle and Gatsby, and how America's moral values had diminished. Despite his newly acquired fortune, Gatsby's monitory means could not afford his only true wish, therefore he cannot buy everything which is important to Daisy. (Fitzgerald, -page 42) What you wish for is not always what you want or not all that glitters is gold.
Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended Princeton University, but flunked out and joined the US army. While in the army, he met the love of his life Zelda. Zelda refused to commit to him without him having a steady job. After being discharged, he moved to New York City to pursue a career of advertising. After only a few months, he returned to St. Paul to continue his writing career. His first novel's success made him famous and let him marry the woman he loved. His recently found fame gave him a bad reputation that made some people see him as less than a serious literary genius. The Fitzgeralds enjoyed fame and fortune, and the characters in The Great Gatsby closely resemble these characteristics. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is very wealthy and successful, which is what Fitzgerald strived for his entire life. The life Fitzgerald led and the life he wished to lead is reflected in the extravagant life of Jay Gatsby. Gatsby and Fitzgerald were also similar in their devotion to their lovers. Although Zelda spent her final years in an asylum, Fitzgerald continued to be loyal to her. Gatsby spent his entire trying to win back the love of his life, even when things seemed hopeless.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print.
F. Scott Fitzgerald is a famous novelist known for his numerous works, such as The Great Gatsby. In his novels, Fitzgerald uses a lot of the same concepts and themes to have the same story line in these works. The Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise are two examples of Fitzgerald’s use of similar characteristics.
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.
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
Fitzgerald was brought up in an upper class family and was highly educated throughout his life. He pursued writing at Princeton University, but was put into academic probation shortly after. Afterwards, he decided to drop out and continue his passion for writing novels and short stories. Fitzgerald then joined the army when his first story was unapproved. Upon his return, he met a southern Alabama belle named Zelda . Since she was a spoiled young lady, she declined Fitzgerald’s proposals, after seeing he had no fortune and had encouraged to firstly seek his fortune of his own. Throughout their life together the rich and adventurous couple maintained a crazy lifestyle filled with extravagant parties all over Europe. That soon ended when Zelda
Fahey, William. F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Dream. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1973.
Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. The.