F. Scott Fitzgerald - (1896-1940)
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San Pedro High School in San Pedro, California
Read another essay on F. Scott Fitzgerald written by California students
Eyal Amir and Heather Booty.
I. Biography
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 to December 21, 1940) was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and was the second cousin of the author of the National Anthem. His
father, Edward, was from Maryland. Fitzgerald's mother, Mary McQuillan, was the daughter of an Irish immigrant. Both parents were Catholics. Fitzgerald's first writing appeared in the school newspaper while attending St. Paul
Academy when he was thirteen. Through the ages of fifteen to seventeen, he attended a Catholic prep school in New Jersey called the Newman School. There, he met Father
Sigourney Fay. Fitzgerald neglected most of his studies because of his literary apprenticeship. Along with writing the lyrics for the Princeton Triangle Club musicals, he also wrote for Princeton Tiger humor magazine and the
Nassau Literary Magazine. Since he was an unlikely graduate because of his grades, Fitzgerald joined the army in 1917 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry. Convinced that he was going to die
he quickly wrote a novel entitled, "The Romantic Egotist". When Fitzgerald was assigned to Camp Sheridean, near Montgomory, Alabama, in June
1918, he fell in love. The girl was eighteen-year-old Zelda Sayre, the youngest daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge. This unwavering romance led to hope in the success of
his novel, but then it was rejected. Fitzgerald was then sent oversees, right before the war ended. He then went to New York City to try to make a living so he could get married with
Zelda, but she grew impatient and broke off the engagement. II. Professional Life Fitzgerald quit his job in July 1919 and when he returned to St. Paul, he rewrote his novel This Side of Paradise
and was accepted by an editor named Maxwell Perkins of Scribner's in September. This novel tracks the work ambitions and love failures of Amory Blaine.
In the fall of 1919 Fitzgerald began his career as a writer of stories for big name magazines. Fitzgerald's best story market was The Saturday Evening Post and he was referenced as a
"Post writer." His new commercial stories were about an independent and determined young American female who appeared in "The Offshore Pirate" and "Bernice Bobs Her Hair." When This Side of Paradise
was published on March 26, 1920, Fitzgerald, 24, practically became famous overnight. One week later he married Zelda in New York City. He attempted to have a serious reputation, but his gigolo image didn't let him.
After a great summer in Westport, Connecticut, the newlyweds settled in an apartment in New York City. This was when he wrote his second novel, The Beautiful and Damned. In
1921, Zelda became pregnant and they took their very first trip to Europe. When they came back, they settled in St. Paul and their only child, Frances Scott (Scottie) Fitzgerald, was born in October 1921.
In the fall of 1922, they moved to Long Island to be close to Broadway for Fitzgerald's play The Vegetable. But it failed, and to get out of debt, he wrote short stories. And with all of
these distractions going on around him, his drinking increased. Often, there were domestic fights, usually sparked by alcoholic struggles. Because he drank so much, people thought that he was not a responsible writer. But he
was a careful reviser who would check and revise his work many times before an actual final draft. The main theme of Fitzgerald's work is aspiration. Fitzgerald became identifiable
with "The Jazz Age": "It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire." In the spring of 1924, the Fitzgeralds went to France. Then, he wrote The Great Gatsby
during the summer in Valescure. Their marriage was hurt because Zelda became involved with a French naval aviator. Later on, while on the Riviera, they became good friends with Gerald and Sara Murphy.
The Fitzgeralds spent their winter in Rome and he revised the novel. It was published in April of 1925. The Great Gatsby obtained a lot of praise, but the sales of the novel were
dissatisfying. But stage and movie rights helped bring in more income. Fitzgerald's fourth novel made almost no progress at all. It was temporarily titled The Boy Who Killed His Mother, Our Type, and
The World's Fair. After their vacation in France, they returned to America. But after a brief time of screen writing in Hollywood, Fitzgerald rented a mansion near Wilmington, Delaware, in spring
1927. Zelda intended to become a professional dancer. In the spring of 1929, they returned to France, where Zelda's ballet work intensified. This damaged her health. Zelda suffered
her first nervous breakdown in April 1930. She was treated at Prangins clinic until September 1931. Meanwhile, Fitzgerald lived in Swiss hotels and to pay for psychiatric treatment, he wrote more short stories.
Fitzgerald's top grossing story fee was of $4,000 for The Saturday Evening Post. He wasn't really one of the top paid authors of his time. Throughout the 1920's his average yearly
income was $25,000. That was good money in those days. He and his wife were a bit careless with their money and were not able to manage their own finances.
The Fitzgeralds returned to America in 1931 and they rented a house in Montgomery. Fitzgerald made another trip to Hollywood that same year and, unfortunately, it was
unsuccessful. In February 1932, Zelda endured a relapse and after that, she entered John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. She spent the rest of her life as a resident of nursing homes.
Around 1932, Fitzgerald wrote and completed his fourth novel, Tender Is the Night, while in the rented house called, "La Paix." The novel was published in 1934 and it was set in
France during the 1920's and it was about a guy named Dick Diver who is a psychiatrist who is married to an extremely rich mental patient. Fitzgerald went through some tough times, and this period is known as "the crack up." It
was from 1936-1937 and this title was taken from the title of an essay that he wrote in 1936. During this period, he was a drunk, he was sick and he was in debt. He was unable to write
so he lived in different hotels in the region close by Asheville, North Carolina. Fitzgerald could not maintain a house for his daughter anymore and by the time she was fourteen she
was sent to boarding school. Regardless, Fitzgerald was still a caring father. In the summer of 1937, Fitzgerald went to Hollywood, California and had a six-month
contract with MGM at $1,000 a week. While in California, he arranged Three Comrades in 1938. His contract was then renewed for another year. This time, MGM paid him $1,250 a
week. This was a huge amount back then because of the depression. Fitzgerald paid off most of his debts, but his visits to the East to go see Zelda in Baltimore were harmful and
not helpful. During his stay in California, he fell in love with a columnist writer named Sheilah Graham. Their love stayed strong in spite of some problems. He started writing his Hollywood novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon
, when he died of a heart attack in Sheilah's apartment. He had already written more than half of the novel. Zelda died in a fire in Highland Hospital in 1948. III. Fitzgerald's Inspirations
Influences: Some of the regional influences were where he grew up. Fitzgerald grew up in St. Paul. He also visited Europe a lot. He went to go visit his wife, Zelda, in Boston and in
North Carolina while she was in hospitals. He spent some time in Camp Sheridan near Montgomery, where he was a second lieutenant during 1917. Another regional influence is
the Newman School, where he met Father Sigourney Fay who encouraged Fitzgerald to follow his aspirations for personal excellence and achievement. He also spent some time
trying to make a living in New York City. One more regional influence is California. He came to California in order to try to find a new way of writing and he also spent the remainder of
his life in California. The major influences on Fitzgerald were ambition, literature, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, Princeton and alcohol. IV. Literary Works The Jelly-Bean V. Fitzgerald Quotes
Fitzgerald's style of writing is clear, harmonious, colorful and witty. Some of the quotes from Fitzgerald were: "All good writing is swimming undated water and holding your breath."
"A writer can spin on about his adventures after thirty, after forty, after fifty, but the criteria by which these adventures are weighed and valued are irrevocably settled in the age of twenty-five."
This essay was submitted by a student of Kathy Honda Stein, a teacher at San Pedro High School in California.
Bernice Bobs Her Hair
The Camel's Back
Head and Shoulders
The Ice Palace
The Jellybean
May Day
Myra Meet His Family
The Offshore Pirate
This Side of Paradise (1920)
The Beautiful and Damned
The Great Gatsby (1925)
The Saturday Evening (1929)
Tender Is the Night (1934)
The Vegetable (play, 1922)
Three Comrades (screen credit, 1938)