F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most famous writers of all time in American History.

The

childhood and life of F. Scott Fitzgerald are extremely important and telling in his writing style, ability,

and characterization which all make him so impressive and relevant, especially in Great Gatsby and

Winter Dreams which are still read in classrooms today. No other author embodies or sums up the Jazz

age better than this author. He reaches his peak in the 1920's, just like this time period and crashes, just

like his life. Fitzgerald writes about love that tragically fails.

He was born September 24, 1896 to an extremely patriotic family, he was named after previous

relative who (4). He grew up in a suburb of St. Paul Minnesota, in a wealthy area (4). The people of the

area had a feeling of entitlement and smugness (27). His parents got married late and decided to have

children at a late age too(30). The first two kids died, then he is born, and then another sibling infant

died (30). This reveals that his parents strongly desired children but were unable to have them, so they

likely loved their son an extremely large amount, even for parents. It also shows a link to where he

finds his sense of tragedy. He understood that just because people loved each other did not

automatically mean that they were going to be okay and everything was going to be easy. He saw that

love was not always enough, and that hard work too was not always enough, but that sometimes luck

has a strong roll in the situation too.

Family's financial situation was difficult too. His mother inherited an family fortune, that she

had to split with two psychotic spend thrift sisters (29). Without the inheritance, Fitzgerald's father

could not have supported the family (29). This could also explain why Fitzgerald's writings never had

a happy ending. He saw that life wasn't always rags to riches stories like everybody wanted to see, but

that you can go from the top straight down. He watched it happen to his aunts, his family, and predicted

it would happen to the economies of the 1920's. It was shown in his writings, for example in Great

Gatsby, Gatsby is killed, and in Winter Dreams, the main character never ends up with the woman he

loved.

Fitzgerald was emitted into Princeton class of 1917 where he had a very interesting college
experience (6). He got into Princeton which is a very difficult school to get into, so he was definitely

smart. While in college, he was not exactly the typical student. “He thrilled to the poetry of Princeton,

to the colorful crowds at the football games, to the snatches of song drifting across the campus, to the

mellow lamp light back of Nasco Hall (7). He was a good student, but in contrast the Henry Thereau he

was a normal person. He was not trying to stand out and be unique for uniques sake like an crazy

person, but he fit in with people. He was not an outcast, or a Transcendentalist weirdo, loaner, but he

was normal. He flunked out and graduated later (11).

While in college, he finds a love for writing. He discovers that he has a love for literature and

reading. He writes for school magazines and lyrics for triangle club musicals (8) Doing these things

helped his writing ability but hurt his grades (8). A teacher once attempted to fail him, because his

grades were not up to par, and Fitzgerald said “Sir, you can't do that, I'm a writer”(8). After his

struggles in college, he found his love of life, writing and was able to do great things. If it was not for

Princeton, Fitzgerald may never have decided to write. Then World War II strikes and he chooses to go

into the military (9). He got sick and tired of all the marching drills and felt that the military was an

obstacle in the way of his writing (9). This is where he meets the future love of his life Zelda.

Zelda refuses to marry him until he has some success as a writer (10). As soon as “This Side of

Paradise” is published they got married, in fact within the next week (10). He wrote it at his parents

house, where he basically imprisoned himself there until he finished the book. Unless he was settled

down, in a calm secluded area, he had a tough time writing something extremely good efficiently. He

was only age 23, when he was writing such deep material (14). Unfortunately, the more they learned

about each other, the less the were attracted to each other. Fitzgerald and Zelda's love was constantly

dissipating, and never really got better. This likely was one of the reasons that in Fitzgerald's writing,

love always looses. Reason being that love is not something that really lasts but in fact is something

that starts out for a short period of time and dissipates.

Another example of Fitzgerald having difficulty with calming down and writing is that when he
went to the French Riviera he was finally able to get some work done. This is where he created “The

Great Gatsby,” which is his finest piece of work. Until he settles down, he cannot write good things. He

may have had ADD or ADHD. His personality was fast paced, and all over the place, and is likely the

reason for why he embodies the “Roaring Twenties.”

Zelda and Fitzgerald had a unique relationship. They would compete with each other on who

could be the craziest. “Drank, went to parties and made gossip columns.” One string of events started

with F. Scot Fitzgerald ripping off his shirt in the middle of a Theater, then his wife road on the hood of

a taxi, then they both jumped into public fountains (18). This is because they are starving for attention.

They want everybody to look at them. They cannot stand not bing the most, best, craziest, of what

every they are trying to do. They do not even care if the people are listening think of them as psychos,

as long as someone is looking. They were crazy, self admiring, and drunk, which is basically the 1920's

in a nutshell. One time, Fitzgerald said “Parties are a form of suicide”(19). This statement is very ironic

because if he felt that way, every time he partied, he was committing suicide, then he would stop. But it

seems like he was unable to stop, like he was addicted to a life of prosperity and partying. In many

ways, it is true for him. He died at age forty of a heart attack, which is unusually young, this is likely

because of all the partying had worn out his body. At the same time, it is said that Fitzgerald had a

sense of entitlement. He felt he should be “blessed with wealth.”