It seems at first easy to look to the author when considering lots of the experiences of Fitzgerald and that of his protagonist Anthony Patch. Fitzgerald’s work of ‘The Beautiful and Damned’ was published in 1922, the beginning of an era where prohibition attempted to keep the type of people like Anthony Patch himself from becoming an alcoholic. ‘F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for his turbulent personal life’ so it could be thought that because of his turbulent and unhealthy lifestyle during the aftermath of the success of his first book Fitzgerald chose to take his ‘social context’ and life and place it into a novel thus Anthony Patch was created.
In the beginning of the novel Fitzgerald makes us aware that the protagonist is ‘Oblivious to the social system’ if Anthony himself is ‘oblivious’ then couldn't we make the assumption that Fitzgerald in the beginning of his career saw himself just as ‘oblivious’ to the social system Anthony was ignoring right outside of his window. Something which is particularly significant of the episode where Anthony begins university. If the novel its self does in fact push the reader towards seeing Fitzgerald and his protagonist as ‘Oblivious’ to their social circle which is waiting for them then one could suggest that the way in which both men do find themselves attending Ivy League colleges
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could perpetuate the ‘ideology’ of Fitzgerald’s protagonist. The way in which both Princeton and Harvard are surrounded by the stigma of having the best of the best students puts foreword the idealisation of them both being a part of the elite hierarchy as they hold the pretentious and prestige nature of the upper to middle class social standing of both colleges but if they do in fact eventually find themselves emerged within the social systems of the pretentious university's then isn't it possible Fitzgerald is blaming the elite universities for his capitalistic nature? Following on this beings to make structural sense because as the novel progresses the reader can witness conflicting elements in the ending of the novel to the beginning where Anthony seeks out and feels comfort in people who are seen to be oblivious to their surrounding social system like he used to be so much so he becomes ‘Unable to live with the rich’ because of the ’unstable middle class’ to which he belonged. The use of ‘Unstable’ itself could mirror the way Fitzgerald feels about the way he lives his life at the time, H Bertens suggests that it could be ‘The way we experience the world’ that would affect the way Fitzgerald would see himself within society and the way he may in fact be writing about some of the circumstances he is in. H Bertens suggests that ‘Capitalism alienates people from themselves’ so it could be thought that within a state like Manhattan which is famous for its constant on the go life style where many are constantly working to get to the top they are in essence just becoming a part of the haze in the city they choose to live in. a clear mirroring quality between the two is that they’re both found to live in ‘New York of course’. As P Barry suggests, writers are ‘Constantly formed by their social contexts’ so it makes sense for Fitzgerald to place Anthony in the same place if it means he can place into the novel itself more detail because he is then only writing about his surroundings. The fact that Anthony’s ‘affair with Dorothy Raycroft’ is described as an ‘inevitable result of his increasing carelessness’ shows how Fitzgerald may be talking from experience as his long list of mistresses don’t go unknown to the public eye.
Even though ‘Zelda was institutionalised’ she was ‘still very much married to him’ and the constant affairs before Zelda’s breakdown are thought to be what eventually pushed her to become an unstable being. It's found in the novel that Gloria’s mental health doesn't suffer but by the end Anthony's does, Fitzgerald may have used his ‘social context’ and made use of mental health issues within his
novel.
The Beautiful Struggle and The Wire deeply expressed the Black experience. Both factors gave the perspective on how Black individuals view society based on what they go through. The book, The Beautiful Struggle, covers Ta-Nehisi Coates’s childhood and adolescence of growing up in Baltimore, Maryland. In the show, The Wire, it is based on a group of four boys who are also being raised in Baltimore, Maryland. The Beautiful Struggle and The Wire are comparable because the book and the show both consist of young Black boys who are trying to find a place in life where they belong, while being surrounded by street challenges such as, violence, gangs, and drugs. Also, the character Dukie in The Wire and the character Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Beautiful
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.
How would you feel if you had family problems? In 1987, Sandra Cisneros released a novel called My Wicked, Wicked Ways. In the book, she has a poem also named “My Wicked, Wicked Ways.” The poem about the narrator looking at an old picture. The narrator then has flashbacks about his family. The narrator mentions what the father did, and how the mother reacted to the father’s actions. During the flashback, it is revealed that the father is cheating on his wife. The mother, gets mad at the father, but the father doesn’t stop. The mother ends up getting used to the father’s infidelity, and just lets it happen for the next few years. At the end of the flashback, the narrator speaks in a disappointed, but smug, tone about how he was the baby being held by the mother in the picture. After drawing out the connotations and the shifts of the poem, I can say the theme of this poem is “In society,
Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s visionary writing style during the early twentieth century revolutionized a new style for other writers. “Theme is most dramatically expressed through character, and Fitzgerald used the people he created to convey his personal vision of the world” (Keshmiri 2). As Keshmiri states, Fitzgerald, unlike many other writers at the time, expresses his stories through the development of the characters. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and The Beautiful and the Damned illustrate the many flaws of human nature and how these flaws contribute to the downfall of the characters through their obsession with status, their inability to accept reality, and the use of alcohol.
Fitzgerald, of course, was an author, so the reason behind the book being written was that he hoped to gain popularity and earn money, which he successfully accomplished. To Fitzgerald, the novel was a "consciously artistic achievement" and allowed him to achieve his goals of status and revenue, even though the fame came slightly after he might have hoped.
To begin with, social class has always been of great importance in society, more money means more power and more respect. Friendship and acquaintances are based purely on whom someone is in contact with and how much fame and money they have. In the “Great Gatsby”, Fitzgerald presents two distinct types of wealthy people. First, there are people like the Buchanan’s and Jordan Baker who were born into wealth. Their families have had money for many generations; hence they are "old money”. The “old money” people, Daisy, Tom, Jordan and their social class, are considered the elite group; the societies highest. They are judgmental and superficial failing to look at the emotions of the people around them and sometimes them selves. “It’s a b****’, said Tom decisively. ‘Here’s your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it”(Fitzgerald, 30). Tom is very aggressive verbally and nonverbally, he thinks he’s always right and likes bossing people around, to show them that he has power over them. All the “elite” are superior and never questioned as with their influence they can do anything. Second there are people like Gatsby who are from a l...
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.
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...
“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.
Fitzgerald’s novel The Beautiful and Damned narrates a story of Anthony Patch, a grandson of millionaire Adam Patch who dislikes his grandson because he does not work hard enough to prove himself as an heir of his wealth. Anthony waits for his grandfather to die so he can become heir of Patch wealth. In a process of getting wealth he marries a golden girl Gloria Gilbert. Both indulge themselves in marry making hence meet their end in a complete self destruction.
In fact, it could be argued that Fitzgerald created an “...alter ego, Nick Caraway, [and] recalls wistfully the America of his youth” and the chaos of a transition to the eastern way of life through this character (Zeitz). Fitzgerald appeared to have a sense of contempt for the wealthy and it is evident in the way he often described them: “wanderers, confident girls who weave here and there among the stouter and more stable become for a sharp, joyous moment the center of a group, and then, excited with triumph, glide on through the sea-change of faces and voices and color under the constantly changing light” (Fitzgerald 41). Fitzgerald was surrounded by these shallow, vivacious women and, logically, they would fill the background of the extraordinary parties that Scott and Zelda would attend. Besides accurately portraying the personalities of the jazz age, Fitzgerald also artfully recounted the historical aspects that his generation faced. The prohibition had little effect on the characters of the novel, as insinuated with Gatsby’s “drug store business”, just as it had little effect on the wealthy during the 1920’s. More Americans than ever could afford electricity, glassware, jewelry, and trips to the theater or an amusement park (Zeitz). The line between classes became more and more blurred as luxuries became easier to gain.
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’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, reveals thin threads woven between himself and the novel, revealing the truth about a corrupted society filled with discontentment and superficiality. From marriages to women to an impossible dream, all these aspects of Fitzgerald’s life influences his work, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald’s novel quite closely resembles his own circumstances through his portrayal of the characters and the society of the 1920’s. Though Fitzgerald himself lived in a society of shallowness, he was able to portray that the emptiness in society would not bring anyone happiness. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the characters in The Great Gatsby to represent the people in his own life and to show that wealth causes corruption.
In 1897, consequently to the collapse of Edwards business, the family moved to New York, in order for Edward to take up a job as a salesman for Proctor and Gamble. Be that as it may, their moved was brief after Edward was let go from his employment in 1908, inciting a move back the St. Paul where the Fitzgerald’s lived off the McQuillan family fortune, (Fitzgerald, Bruccoli and Baughman, 1995). For the next 14 years, Scott invested the larger part of his time at boarding school, at Princeton University, in the army, and in New York City (Ibid, 1995). Fitzgerald’s writing career began to take off in 1920 after the publication of his first novel, This Side of Paradise (Bruccoli and Smith, 1981). The novel received glowing reviews (Ibid, 1981) and secured Fitzgerald’s place as one of the country’s most promising young
Indeed, “The Crack-up” is unlike any essays we read, because contrary to most other writers in their works, like Scott Russell Sanders in “Under the Influence,” where he reveals his father’s secret of alcoholism or Maxine Hong Kingston in “No Name Women,” where she discloses a family secret about something unjust that happened to her aunt, Fitzgerald is willing to convict himself instead. He explicitly declares his own absolute, catastrophic breakage, compares himself to a cracked and useless plate, and implies that he has no hopes of recovering from the breakage at all: “I suddenly realized that I had prematurely cracked…Hence this sequel—a cracked plate’s further history” (524) and “…at three o’clock in the morning, a forgotten package has the same tragic importance as a death sentence, and the cure doesn’t work—and in a real dark night of [his] soul it is always three o’clock in the morning, day after day” (525). The essay also serves little than to reveal his breakdown; it seems to entirely be an account of cynic lament rather than his attempt to re-inspire and rejuvenate himself. But why would a writer of Fitzgerald’s merit and renown risk his image and career by advertising his own debility? And even more importantly, if his enervation was as critical as he