F Scott Fitzgerald Analysis

Who, truly, was F. Scott Fitzgerald? Although some scholars persist that he was a sinful, evil drunkard who did not deserve his fame and others argue that he was a great American writer, but what anyone can see is that his life is talked about time and time again. One person discussing Fitzgerald is Scott Donaldson, who, in his writing of “A Few Words about F. Scott Fitzgerald”, used the methods of real life situations and evidence, Fitzgerald’s works and intelligent language to effectively convince his audience that Fitzgerald was a tragic American hero. Firstly, Donaldson builds up his argument by giving background on Fitzgerald’s tragic life and encounters. Telling an anecdote of when a former college sweetheart rejected F. Scott, Donaldson

Throughout the text, he uses long, complex words and vocabulary that makes him appear as a very brilliant, well spoken person. Even with sentences that could perhaps be simpler and less excessive, Donaldson rounds out and brings every sentence to the height of its possibility, like in the beginning of the essay, when Donaldson recounts, “So diminished in stature, Fitzgerald becomes the Chronicler of the Jazz Age, or the Artist in Spite of Himself, or - the most prevalent stereotype of all - the Writer as a Burnt-Out Case: a man whose tragic couse functions as a cautionary tale for more commonsensical aftercomers.” This elongated sentence, although difficult to persist through, shows any reader than Donaldson is an intelligent person; using sophisticated vocabulary shows that Donaldson has authority and knowledge about what he is discussing. Throughout Scott Donaldson’s essay, “A Few Words about F. Scott Fitzgerald”, Donaldson uses the techniques of recounting Fitzgerald’s personal life, situations from F. Scott’s writing, and strong language in order to effectively convince his audience that Fitzgerald was a tragic hero. Although Fitzgerald’s life is too immoral for some, Donaldson adequately persuades the reader that Fitzgerald’s actions did not take away from his