Dual Visionary of The Jazz Age: An Insight on F. Scott Fitzgerald

“So we beat on, boats against the current, born back ceaselessly into the past” (The Great Gatsby – Fitzgerald 189). Once a natural talent, which one is born with, reveals itself, a person develops a destiny. F. Scott Fitzgerald utilized his natural talent and enhanced the many styles of writings throughout the 19th century. His personal style displays a literal yet emotional affect and an obvious yet restricted. The reflections of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life onto his writings exemplify a more intense and pure story rather than only imagination. F. Scott Fitzgerald experienced a tremendously turbulent lifestyle in which he went through dysfunctional relationships, alcoholism, a countless number of deaths, and became a brilliant writer due to his remarkable talents. More important than his commercial success was the impact of Fitzgerald’s books on the younger generation of writers. “Babylon Revisited” is the story of a father’s attempt to regain the custody of his daughter after recovering from the death of his wife and his own battle with alcoholism. Among other of Fitzgerald’s most popular works is “The Curious case of Benjamin Button”.  It’s a fictitious short story about a man who begins his life as an old man at the age of seventy and ages backwards every year. This is one of his most memorable short stories ever written. Fitzgerald uses satire in many of his works and usually includes themes such as the effects of money and power. “This technique of combining the elements of literal dialogue and carefully timed images was destined to become one of the most distinctive features of American prose style during the next decade” (Piper 35). It did not originate with Fitzgerald; earlier examples can be found in the fiction of Mark Twain and Stephen Crane. Also Ernest Hemingway used this technique elaborately. Literary devices used by Fitzgerald, which have awed us all, are his overwhelming use of imagery with rhythm, assonance, rhyme, foreshadowing and symbols. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 24, 1896.  He was born into an upper-middle class family. His mother’s families, McQuillans, were wealthy and publicly well-known. Edward Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald’s father, owned a wicker-furniture business, however shortly after the birth of Fitzgerald, the business failed. The Fitzgeralds ended up moving to Buffalo, New York where Edward took a job as a salesman. In 1908 when success “sold out”, they traveled back to St. Paul and Edward went to work for his father-in-law. Before the birth of F. Scott Fitzgerald, three of his sisters died at birth or soon after. Their losses impacted Fitzgerald’s perspective on death, and contributed and influenced his writings. Fitzgerald was a sickly child and dealt with more than the normal amount of childhood illnesses. At the age of one he was already suffering from bronchitis. His mother would let him stay home from school whenever he felt like it – which was often. As a boy Fitzgerald used to imagine that he was born royalty but had turned up on the Fitzgeralds’ doorstep. All the disappointments that Fitzgerald experienced with his family, especially the unsuccessfulness of his father, influenced his writings. In his heart, however, Fitzgerald was never very close to his parents (Ander Le Vot 15). His mother discouraged him increasingly and was unsympathetic towards his ambitions. However, Fitzgerald’s father is the one who taught him to love literature and introduced him to poetry such as the many works of Edgar Allen Poe. 

Fitzgerald was a horrible speller, not because he was ignorant, but because he spelled the way he heard words spoken. “He cared less for words themselves than for what they revealed about the people who used them” (Piper 30). Since childhood he had learned to listen for those subtle differences in tone and pitch that exposed distinctive personality and character traits. Fitzgerald kept a “thought book” in which he predominantly wrote about girls. Of Violet Stockton he wrote: “She spoke with a soft southern accent leaving out the ‘r’s.” Scott’s sister, Annabel, and him did not have a close relationship or much in common. Conversely, he had great respect for her and saw her as “the real matriarch of my family, a dried-up old maid, but with character and culture.” For the most part, Fitzgerald was privately educated; he attended Newman School in Hackensack, New Jersey, from 1911 to 1913 and worked on the school newspaper. From Fitzgerald’s mother’s family’s grocery business, he received the money that sent him to Princeton University. In 1913 he attended Princeton University where he really exhibited his love for theatre. In the fall of 1915, when Fitzgerald was a sophomore, he was diagnosed with malaria and temporarily dropped out. He returned for his junior year but cut too many classes and was on the verge of flunking when he left—this time for good—to join the Army as a second lieutenant. Even though Fitzgerald never graduated Princeton, he presented a standard theme for all of the major protagonists in his works: the character either goes to Harvard, Princeton, and Yale (Juliet Lapidos). While stationed in Montgomery in 1918, Fitzgerald met and fell in love with Zelda Sayre, an 18 year old imaginative and spoiled girl. A constant stream of passionate and argumentative love letters punctuated the period of their engagement while Fitzgerald worked in Manhattan and Zelda remained at her parents’ home in Montgomery. After the army, Fitzgerald made it into advertising in his birth town of St. Paul, but only for a brief period. Meanwhile he was writing his first novel, “This Side of Paradise”, which considerably imitates, to an extent, some of Scott’s incidents in school and with girls. One specific experience reflects one of Fitzgerald’s girlfriends, Ginevra King. King’s father told Fitzgerald that “poor boys shouldn’t think of marrying rich girls” (Andreas Teuber). Another influence for “This Side of Paradise” was an idealization of Fitzgerald’s friendship with Father Sigourney Fay, an older man who devoted his life to religion. “For the first time an adult outside the family circle listened to him attentively and took him seriously” (Andre Le Vot 25). In 1925, “The Great Gatsby” was published. This great American novel is highly respected and extremely well-known. The voice of the novel and the central figure is Nick Carraway; however, Gatsby is the hero and the most memorable character. Fitzgerald created the character of Nick of how he wishes that he could be. But in fact, he resembles greatly the character of Gatsby. The Symbolism throughout this novel is vastly creative and well-written. Fitzgerald composes many references to time which is a major theme in this novel such as: the Buchanan lawn is described as “jumping over sundials”; Nick’s famous list of people who attended Gatsby’s parties is written on a timetable; Gatsby knocks over a clock; and Klipspringer plays “In the meantime, In between time—” (Matthew J. Bruccoli). Another novel that at present time is considered beautiful is “The Beautiful and damned”. This book was not appreciated critically and not well received financially either. The story revolves around Anthony patch, “…he does nothing while waiting for something of meaning to arrive, never realizing that meaning had passed him by, in the end leaving him with nothing” (Garret Wilson). Fitzgerald’s last completed novel, “Tender is the Night”, is an expressive romance about Dick Diver and the complicated relationships he has with his wife, Nicole, and an 18 year old girl, Rosemary. Fitzgerald obtained the title of “Tender is the Night” from a poem by John Keats called “Ode to the Nightingale”. Both the poem and the novel have many of the same themes in common as well as the progression from youthfulness to death and decline. In 1996 the city of Rockville honored the centennial of the birth of F. Scott Fitzgerald. An F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference was held and many awards were honored to the achievements of the American modernist writer. In 2009, Fitzgerald was nominated for the USC Scripter Award for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. 

Fitzgerald studied and practiced writing verse with an enhanced poet named John Peale Bishop. Fitzgerald learned an appropriate way to put words together and with this new understanding he would frequently overwrite. “An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmaster of ever afterwards” (F. Scott Fitzgerald). His writing style is very clear and easy to comprehend. He writes with a melodic and lyrical manner, and does so with much color. The witty circumstances in his stories add perfectly to all tones and make his works effective. The imagery that Fitzgerald uses stands out the most with any of his works. “There was a faint, barely perceptible movement of the water as the fresh flow from one end urged its way toward the drain at the other. With little ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves … A small gust of wind that scarcely corrugated the surface was enough to disturb its accidental course with its accidental burden. The touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing, like the leg of compass, a thin red circle in the water” (The Great Gatsby – Fitzgerald 170). His illustrious writing is well-known in the way that it relates to the themes of each work. In addition to his overly descriptive context, Fitzgerald writes with an amazingly realistic style that can easily assimilate the world around him. Because of his excessive drinking, society depicted Fitzgerald as an irresponsible writer when in fact he would revise his works extremely thoroughly and would go through many drafts. In 1936, after falling onto the painful rocks of bankruptcy, Fitzgerald pitifully tried to commit suicide by drinking a bottle of morphine. His life amended after that when in 1937 he obtained a contract with MGM and then in 1939 met a woman named Sheilah Graham. Fitzgerald experienced a heart attack in 1940 and then a month later died of another heart attack on December 21, 1940. 

In December of 1930, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote one of his finest and meaningful short stories, “Babylon Revisited”, that invested many of his own problems. Charlie Wales had recently lost his wife and just recovered from being dependent on alcohol. He was trying to get his life back in order after making mistakes by concluding his addiction to alcohol and attempting to gain custody of his daughter, Honoria.  Charlie feels as if he is a “…king stripped of his kingdom, his past, his illusions” (Andre Le Vot 256). Charlie’s future can only be determined from his past which is unfortunately filled with irresponsibility. Charlie undergoes much guilt for his past actions but is ready to move on and fix his loneliness before it begins to reflect on Honoria. “A great wave of protectiveness went over him. He thought he knew what to do for her. He believed in character; he wanted to jump back a whole generation and trust in character again as the eternally valuable element” (Babylon Revisited – Fitzgerald). Fitzgerald finishes the story off with a compromise: Charlie will eventually gain custody of his daughter, however, Marion, Charlie’s sister-in-law, keeps guardianship over her for the moment. Fitzgerald would say that “Babylon Revisited” was his farewell to youth. “I not only announced the birth of my young illusions in ‘This Side of Paradise’ but pretty much the death of them in some of my last Post stories like ‘Babylon Revisited’” (Letter – Fitzgerald 588). The friction between Charlie and his wife Helen represents the relationship between Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. The setting is during the Jazz Age and the depression which are the time periods that corresponded to Fitzgerald’s life. More evidence of Fitzgerald’s life in “Babylon revisited” is the decline of his finance and well-being. “…financial prosperity contrasts ironically with his moral poverty…torn by remorse and anxiety” (Ander Le Vot 256). What makes this short story more effective than others by Fitzgerald is the way he builds up the drama of the story rather than presenting the beginning with the entire history. Symbolism in the title occurs for the meaning of Babylon. The ancient biblical city of Babylon symbolizes the setting of the story, Paris, in the way that Babylon represented sin and everyone in it was considered demons. Paris is compared to Babylon because in the story Paris corrupted Charlie.

One of Fitzgerald’s notable short stories from Tales of the Jazz Age, which was written primarily for his own entertainment, was “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. The Buttons were a wealthy family and lived a great life, however, their lives changed when their son, Benjamin Button, was born. Benjamin’s birth was immensely different from normal babies; if he would even be considered a baby at all since he was born as a seventy year old man. Benjamin continues to grow younger each year while everyone around him is growing older. If one thing is true it’s that Benjamin Button lives his life to the fullest and experiences all he can such as education, enlisting in the army, and many women. Yet his life starts to slip away until he is incapable of remembering all of life’s memories. Fitzgerald once explained that his story “The Curious case of Benjamin Button” was inspired by a remark by Mark Twain. Twain stated that it is a pity that the best part of life comes at the beginning and the worst part at the end. The satire of “Benjamin Button” is the need for social self-preservation that is so important that it blinds everyone from seeing Benjamin’s situation for the significance it really is, and for seeing Benjamin for who he really is. The tone is mostly whimsical, satirical, and somewhat poignant. Towards the conclusion of the story the attitude shifts from fictional to real. The emotions, thoughts, and most importantly the entire plot line develops into a more genuine tone, and all satire alters into an actual, dramatic manner. Fitzgerald uses much imagery and utilizes all the senses in a brilliant way. 

Using ones imagination to write a story does not create an intense and appreciated work as does writing from ones own life experiences and transforming that into fiction. Being born into an upper-middle class family, Fitzgerald was able to get the proper education that he needed, however, he wasn’t determined to finish college. Fitzgerald incorporates many elements from his own life into his short story “Babylon Revisited”: his family members, time period, and dysfunctional situations. The protagonists of the story is Charlie Wales, a man determined to get his life back in order after losing his wife, the stock market crash, and getting over an alcohol addiction. Charlie tries to convince anyone that he is a changed man and sees life differently now, however, he can’t seem to make up for his past. In the satirical fantasy of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Benjamin Button ages backwards as everyone else grows up the “normal” way. This moving and revitalizing work explains the joys of life and sadness of death and at the same time critiques the society. Even though this story presents fictional aspects, it still reveals a real and emotional point of view in the sense that everyone is lost eventually. “…devoured already by that eternal inertia which comes to live with each of us one day and stays with us to the end” (The Curious case of Benjamin Button – Fitzgerald). Fitzgerald is extremely effective in the way he utilizes literary elements into his writing. His technique of illustrating the scenes is what draws readers into his works. However, his symbolism and foreshadowing are close behind. F. Scott Fitzgerald has provided the world with much knowledge from his works and became the symbol of the jazz age. The idealism he presented to us always left readers satisfied. “ Literary miracles are the work of writers who come closer than other writers to expressing what is in their minds through  innate genius augmented by control, technique, craft” (Bruccoli).

Works Citied

Books

• Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925.
• Le Vot, Andre. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography. N.p.: Doubleday & Company,
       Inc., 1983.
• Piper, Henry Dan. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Critical Portrait. Canada: Holt,
       Rinehart, and Winston of Canada, 1965.
• Turnbull, Andrew. Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald. New York: Scribners, 1971.

Web Sites

• Lapidos, Juliet. “Harvard, Yale, or Princeton?” Slate. 23 Dec. 2008. 25 Apr.
       2009 .
• Teuber, Andrea. F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography. 25 Apr. 2009
       .
• Wilson, Garret. “Notes: The Beautiful and the Damned.” garret Wilson. 2000. 22
       Apr. 2009
       beautifuldamned.html>.