F Scott Fitzgerald Influences

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Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His father, Edward, was an aristocrat and his mother, Mary (Mollie) McQuillan, came from working class Irish immigrants. Francis was named after a distant relative, who was the composer of "The Star-Spangled Banner." With his parents being from such distinct traditions and backgrounds, Fitzgerald had a confusing mix of feelings. In his own words, he would describe his mother's family as "straight 1850 potato-famine Irish." His mother's father became wealthy as a wholesale grocer in St. Paul. As a result, he saw the promise of "The American Dream" both offensive and amazing. Fitzgerald’s parents were Catholic, and they raised him in the church and sent him…show more content…
He also wrote and acted in four plays. He wrote these plays when he was around 15 years old. His first play was “The Girl from Lazy J”, and a local theatre club produced it. The same club also produced three other plays over the next three years; they were The Captured Shadow, The Coward, and the Assorted Spirits. While in school he became part of the Triangle Club, a dramatic club whose members were from the elite of high society. He also became well-known in the literary life of the university and made lifelong friendships with Edmund Wilson and John Peale Bishop. Despite his social success, he struggled academically and flunked out of Princeton. In November of 1917, Fitzgerald joined the Army. While stationed in Alabama he met Zelda Sayre, her father was an Alabama Supreme Court Judge. Fitzgerald and Zelda fell in love. However, Fitzgerald needed to improve his financial situation before he could marry her. Fitzgerald left for New York determined to make a fortune. Instead of making a fortune, he took an advertising job that paid a mere $90 a month. Zelda broke their engagement and Fitzgerald returned to St. Paul in Minnesota. In order to prove himself, and to win the hand of Zelda, he rewrote a novel he had started at…show more content…
This first novel captured a mood of spiritual desolation in the aftermath of World War I and a growing, devil-may-care pursuit of pleasure among the American upper classes. The book was a commercial and critical success. His instant success enabled Fitzgerald and Zelda to be married a week later. Afterwards, Fitzgerald regularly contributed short stories to different periodicals like the high-tone Scribner's Magazine and the Saturday Evening Post. He wrote about cosmopolitan life in New York City during Prohibition. A short time after arriving in France, Fitzgerald completed his most famous and respected novel, “The Great Gatsby”. The book shows how Fitzgerald had a divided nature. You see this in the hero Jay Gatsby and the narrator, Nick Carraway. Jay represents the naive Midwesterner bewitched by the American dream who amasses great wealth and uses it to pursue a spoiled, married, upper-class girl, and the love of his youth. Nick, on the other, hand is a compassionate Princeton gentleman who regards the dream with suspicion. Some regard “The Great Gatsby” as the most profoundly American novel of its time. A year later, Fitzgerald has a collection of short stories entitled “All The Sad Young Men” published. This book will mark the end of the most productive time of Fitzgerald's life. The next ten years were full of chaos and misery. Fitzgerald began to drink heavily, and Zelda began to slowly
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