Bio of the Month F Scott Fitzgerald
BIOGRAPHY®: F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
Extended Activities | References
- How did the failures of F. Scott Fitzgerald's father affect F. Scott's life and attitudes?
- Why are the 1920s known as the Roaring Twenties? What made this decade so different from the decades that led up to it or those that followed?
- How did the Jazz Age, a moniker Fitzgerald coined, provide a climate favorable to his work?
- Although he attended the finest schools, Fitzgerald came from a modest background. How did he use his budding literary talents to gain social acceptance during his schooldays?
- Zelda Fitzgerald was the quintessential “southern belle” during her youth. What is a “southern belle”? How does it reflect cultural differences between the northern and southern regions of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
- How was Fitzgerald a spokesperson for his generation? Can you compare him with any celebrity today who is a spokesperson for his/her generation?
- Although Ernest Hemingway and Fitzgerald were friends, why was there a jealous tension between them? Had they collaborated, how could they have used their jealousy to create a great work?
- The Roaring Twenties gave way to the Great Depression of the 1930s. How did F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's lives mirror the historical timeline of their era?
- How did Fitzgerald draw on his own life experiences to create his characters and plot lines?
- How did alcoholism play a role in the destruction of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald's lives?
- The following are the famous concluding lines of Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby: “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . And then one fine morning – So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” These lines not only display Fitzgerald’s supreme command of the written word, but they also convey a popular sentiment of the 1920s and 1930s and can be analyzed even by those who haven’t read the book. What do you make of this passage? How does it relate to what you saw in the program?
- “My generation of radicals and breakers-down never found anything to take the place of the old virtues of work and courage and the old graces of courtesy and politeness.” What do you make of this quote? What were some of the defining characteristics of Fitzgerald’s generation? What major events influenced this generation? Why were they labeled the Lost Generation?
- Look at the following quote, taken from one of Fitzgerald’s notebooks: “Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.” What do you think this quote means? How can this maxim be applied to Fitzgerald’s own life? In what ways was Fitzgerald’s life successful? In what ways was it tragic?
- The early 20th century was a tumultuous time period in Western history. Create a timeline that compares the events of the 1920s and 1930s to Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s lives. You may want to differentiate between political, economic and social events.
- Fitzgerald is known for creating some of the most complex and realistic characters in his fiction. Read a work of F. Scott Fitzgerald and write an essay that explores how his characters are a reflection of the people and events in his own life.
- Research clothing styles of the 1920s and 1930s, then design your own outfits for the two decades. How do the clothing styles reflect the different moods and circumstances of these two decades?