F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 to Edward Fitzgerald and Mary McQuillan. Edward Fitzgerald attempted to make a living as a furniture manufacturer but he failed and was forced to live off his wife's inheritance. Mary McQuillan's parents were wealthy Irish immigrants and their money would allow F. Scott and his younger sister Annabel to live very comfortably. His early life in St. Paul, Minnesota was like that of any other child. He attended St. Paul Academy until he was 15 and it was here that Fitzgerald's writing career began. Although it is not known when Scott first began to write, his first publication was at 13, a detective story put i

ack to St. Paul. At the birth of his daughter, F. Scott records Zelda's first words as she come out from anesthesia; "I hope it's a - beautiful little fool" (Milford).

what set him apart from all other novelists. Fitzgerald utilized onomatopoeias, the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it, consistently. This literary device assisted to allow the setting and people come alive in Scott's stories. "The couples exchange artificial, effortless smiles, facetiously repeat "la-de-da-da dum-dum," and then the clatter of young feminine voices soars over the burst of clapping" (Fitzgerald). This quote from Bernice Bobs Her Hair shows this figurative device that Fitzgerald uses repeatedly to voice what the characters in his stories are doing. Further examples of onomatopoeic characters appear in The Offshore Pirate, where F. Scott wrote "Splush", "Ten-shun" and "Yas-suh" to show the language of the shipmen and remind the reader of the setting.

The Depression also had an impact on Scott's writing as well as his own self-esteem. As a direct result of the misdistribution of wealth in America that only multiplied in the 20's, America went through what would be known as The Great Depression from about 1929-1939 (www.amatecon.com). This time was especially hard on the Fitzgeralds as they had considerable trouble keeping their finances straight and were winding themselves into debt. Also, the ability of the average American to buy a book was close to nil. The impoverished condition of the country caused F. Scott Fitzgerald's books to sell minimally. Even Tender is the Night, written in 1934, which was on the best-seller's list, and sold, very well for a novel during the depression, was not up to Scott's standards. This caused him to lose some faith in his writing and dampened his self-esteem even further.

Fitzgerald has an incredible ability to use literary techniques such as symbolism and heroism in his works. Symbolism is the artistic invention that is a method of revealing or suggesting relevant material (Webster's). The Great Gatsby is one of F. Scott's novels that have innumerable amounts of symbolic material. The East and West Eggs represented the separation of social classes in America. The east egg was the richer, higher society, while the west egg was either the poor or new poor that were not up to the caliber of the east. Also in The Great Gatsby, the reappearing green light symbolizes the fact that Gatsby is unable to attain what he has been longing for, Daisy. The light remains far away and out of his reach throughout the story just like Daisy (Centenary). The heroism utilized by F. Scott is defined as a literary device in which the author writes the protagonist as a person who learns a hard-earned lesson and in more classical novels dies a tragic death. T!

F. Scott Fitzgerald uses numerous classical themes in his works, even when the stories pertain to his own life. The Great Gatsby itself contains a "rags to riches" tale and The Beautiful and the Damned, along with many of his other novels and stories, refers to the consistent corruption of people with money. F. Scott enjoyed utilizing the themes about money because of his own obsessions and his father's failure. The Beautiful and the Damned repeatedly appertains to Edward Fitzgerald's unsuccessful career and his dependence on his wife's inheritance. Scott used these themes to express his own feelings and regrets toward his childhood and father. Bernice Bobs Her Hair is a short story that stereotypes the desperate way women compete to rise in social class. Numerous authors have related women's struggle for success and F. Scott is no exception. Bernice Bobs Her Hair was actually written after a memo Scott wrote to his sister Annabel suggesting how she become popular (Ce!

2. Graham, Sheila. College of One. New York: Viking, 1967.

1. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. This Side of Paradise. New Y

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