F Scott Fitzgerald Transition To Adulthood example essay topic

F. Scott Fitzgerald lived an amazing life throughout time, overcoming obstacles in his path and persevering through trials and tribulations. As a man who has gone through over four decades of experiencing an overwhelming amount of accomplishments, as well as hardships, F. Scott Fitzgerald is therefore acknowledged as a "True Man". In fact, his struggles through childhood, his transition to adulthood and his unstable literary career acknowledges him as a "Real Man" who is more like a hero. To begin with, F. Scott Fitzgerald's childhood was a common one, like other children who grew up during the late nineteenth century.

His origin played a key role in how he came to live his life according to the "American Dream". Of the Irish ethnicity, F. Scott Fitzgerald was born September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. His family life was one to be considered average for the late 1800's. His mother, Mary Mc Quill a, and father, Edward Fitzgerald were middle class Americans who worked hard to maintain a stable family.

Mary Mc Quill an, was the daughter of an Irish immigrant who became wealthy as a wholesale grocer in St. Paul. Both were Catholics. Edward Fitzgerald failed as a manufacturer of wicker furniture in St. Paul, and he became a salesman for Procter & Gamble in upstate New York. After he was dismissed in 1908, when his son was twelve, the family returned to St. Paul and lived comfortably on Mary Fitzgerald's inheritance. Both were of the Catholic decent. F. Scott Fitzgerald, named after his distant cousin, Francis Scott Key, the composer of the Star Spangled Banner, was the only child born to his fortunate parents. Due to several issues, his family moved regularly.

Also, F. Scott Fitzgerald transition to adulthood came about with a dramatic twist as he experienced ups and downs as any normal being would. Starting as a young lad and entering the field of becoming a "man", Francis began to start a new life. He entered Princeton University in 1913 but allowed other prerogatives to take over his priorities. For example, Fitzgerald neglected his studies for his literary apprenticeship. He wrote the scripts and lyrics for the Princeton Triangle Club musicals and was a contributor to the Princeton Tiger humor magazine and the Nassau Literary Magazine.

His college friends included Edmund Wilson and John Peale Bishop. On academic probation and unlikely to graduate, Fitzgerald joined the army in 1917 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry. Convinced that he would die in the war, he rapidly wrote a novel, "The Romantic Egotist". The letter of rejection from Charles Scribner's Sons praised the novel's originality and asked that it be resubmitted when revised. In June 1918 Fitzgerald was assigned to Camp Sheridan, near Montgomery, Alabama, where he fell in love with Zelda Sayre. The war ended just before he was to be sent overseas.

After his discharge in 1919 he went to New York City to seek his fortune in order to marry Zelda, but things didn't work out according to plan, so Fitzgerald quit his job in July 1919 and returned to St. Paul. However, Francis' transition to adulthood had its down falls as well. On his way of starting a literary career, Francis' debt grew steadily. Zelda had discovered she was expecting a child and, and to make matters worse for this unstable situation, Francis drank his money away. Nonetheless, F. Scott Fitzgerald began his literary career, which miraculously saved the life of him and his family. Fitzgerald commenced his career as a writer of stories for the mass-circulation magazines.

Working through agent Harold Ober, Fitzgerald interrupted work on his novels to write moneymaking popular fiction for the rest of his life. The Saturday Evening Post became Fitzgerald's best story market, and he was regarded as a "Post writer". The publication of This Side of Paradise made the twenty-four-year-old Fitzgerald famous almost overnight. Fitzgerald was then able to write his way out of debt with short stories.

After his time in the limelight began to fade away, his literary career had begun to take a down fall for the worst. His playboy image impeded the proper assessment of his work. The distractions of Great Neck and New York prevented Fitzgerald from making progress on his third novel. During this time his drinking increased. He was an alcoholic, but he wrote during the few times he was caught sober. Zelda Fitzgerald regularly got "tight", but she was not an alcoholic.

There were frequent domestic rows, usually triggered by drinking bouts. F. Scott Francis' reputation as a drinker inspired the myth that he was an irresponsible writer. Seeking tranquility for his work the Fitzgeralds went to France in the spring of 1924 where he wrote The Great Gatsby, but sales of Gatsby were disappointing. The Fitzgeralds then returned to America to escape the distractions of France. Zelda's intense ballet work damaged her health and contributed to the couple's estrangement. In April 1930 she suffered her first breakdown. Francis' work on his novel was again suspended as he wrote short stories to pay for psychiatric treatment for Zelda.

In the period from 1936-1937, known as "the crack-up", Fitzgerald was ill, drunk, in debt, and unable to write commercial stories. Fitzgerald went to Hollywood alone in the summer of 1937 with a six-month Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer screenwriting contract at $1,000 a week. He received his only screen credit for adapting Three Comrades (1938). Although Fitzgerald paid off most of his debts, he was unable to save any money that would help him survive his struggles.

After MGM dropped his option at the end of 1938, Fitzgerald worked as a freelance script writer and wrote short-short stories for Esquire. He began his Hollywood novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, in 1939 and had written more than half of a working draft when he died of a heart attack in Graham's apartment on December 21, 1940. In conclusion, F. Scott Fitzgerald perished believing that he was nothing more than a failure, seeming to have been destined for literary obscurity. On the contrary, Francis Scott Fitzgerald was a renowned and respected author whose literary works will be highly appraised and remembered for a lifetime. His struggles through common, everyday life obstacles proved that he indeed was a "man's man", a "true man", and a "hero".

Bibliography

Curley, D., Kramer, M., & Kramer, E. (1969).
In A library of literary criticism: Modern American literature vol. 1. (pp 397-404). New York: Fredrick Unger The Gale Group. (1999).