Fitzgerald, F. Scott

Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Fitzgerald's Midwestern family had the traditions of the upper classes, but none of the financial security to support those traditions. At a young age, Fitzgerald was aware that he was never completely a part of aristocratic society. However, he was always motivated to succeed in life and this drive ultimately led him to produce the literature he wrote. Fitzgerald entered Princeton in 1913, and in 1917 left college for an army commission. While stationed in Alabama at Camp Sheridan, Fitzgerald met his future wife, Zelda Sayre. On April 3, 1920, Fitzgerald and Sayre married and in October 1921, Zelda gave birth to their only child, a daughter, Frances Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald ultimately suffered a heart attack in November of 1940 and in December of that same year a second heart attack took his life.

Fitzgerald left behind his literary masterpieces. Some of his works are This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is the Night. In Fitzgerald's novels, the settings he chose proved important. Settings used by Fitzgerald include the home, bars, schools, and the city. The city—especially New York City—intrigued Fitzgerald, but also baffled him, because while the city embodied the accomplishment of civilization and gave people opportunities, it was also a hideous place constantly threatening people with its corrupting evils. Fitzgerald saw the city as serving the double function of a physical locale and a psychological emblem. In using the city as a physical locale, Fitzgerald described the city itself in great detail. However, when he used the city as a psychological emblem, Fitzgerald placed emphasis not on what a person saw, but rather on the way a person viewed the scene.

The most recurrent setting in Fitzgerald's fiction is New York City. Fitzgerald relied on his experience as a former resident of New York City to capture the feel of metropolitan life in his literary works. Fitzgerald viewed New York City as a paradox; New York City was a mecca for glamour, romance, and opportunity, while at the same time New York City was a place of degeneration, despair, and mystery. Fitzgerald first presented the image of New York City as a symbol of the most sophisticated and glamorous qualities of urban life in his novel This Side of Paradise and in his short story “May Day.” However, in Fitzgerald's novel The Beautiful and Damned, the image of New York City was blemished, and in The Great Gatsby, the city appeared most desolate. Both dazzled and baffled by New York City, Fitzgerald articulated this setting in his writing and sought to discover the meaning of city life.