F Scott Fitzgerald Biography

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in September of 1896 in St. Paul Minnesota. With his father’s job at Procter & Gamble Fitzgerald and his family had to move back and forth between Buffalo and Syracuse, New York. When his father lost his job they had to move back to St. Paul. At that time Fitzgerald started school at St. Paul Academy. This is the school where he saw writing that was not in cursive in a newspaper. A couple years later Fitzgerald’s parents sent him to a prestigious catholic school called Newman School. At this school he met Father Sigourney Fay. Father Sigourney Fay saw that Fitzgerald had a gift with his writing and he encouraged Fitzgerald to continue his writing and turn it into a career. After graduating from Newman School, Fitzgerald

He went back to Paris to get his daughter back. This was a portion of Fitzgerald’s life in a short story. Fitzgerald and Charlie Wales had a lot in common. Fitzgerald also lived in Europe and drank heavily and had the party and rich lifestyle with his wife and friends. He crashed with the stock market in 1929 lost money and was in serious debt even though he wrote over a hundred short stories and they were ready to go. This led him to becoming a drunk and his wife Zelda was so depressed of how their lives changed. She lost it and was sent to a mental hospital. Unfortunately his wife died when the hospital burned down. At this time he could not write anything anymore he had writer’s block because of his excessive drinking and not having a clear head which made his financial problems even worse. Like Charlie he was able to turn his life around and start doing what he loved to do which was writing more unique stories and made a steady life in the United

F. Scott Fitzgerald set the story in Paris during the early thirties but used the world “Babylon”. Babylon was a place mentioned in “The Book of Revelation”; his place was extravagant, flashy, and full of sin. The term Babylon was used as a symbol to describe Paris and Charlie revisiting Paris. When he returns the readers are introduced to his old life and all of the sin he and the people he wanted to hang around did. This whole story is significant because Fitzgerald was able to pour out the emotions he was feeling. He wanted to write a story about someone who was immature and did everything wrong in their life but, they changed and are no longer that person. He did not just make the change for himself; it was also for his loved ones who saw him as a disappointment. When reading this one can see the freedom and hope this character felt and had.

A writer named Michael Witkoski wrote an article for Magill’s Survey of American Literature. He says Charlie came to realize the meanings of the word “dissipate” and describes Paris as a place of wasting and where wasting takes place (Witkoski). The way F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote this story was an alert and careful way meaning he made sure he used the emotions of pain, independence, and relief to pull the readers into the story of a family with a lot of tensions between them. He wanted the reader to have a better understanding of all sides of the