F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Reading List and Book Analysis
F. Scott Fitzgerald was a classic fiction writer of the Jazz Age. Many readers revere his writing style because his prose is full of poetic imagery that transports them into the 1920s. In this post, we are listing his works while analyzing a few novels and short stories.
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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Fiction Published Novels
This Side of Paradise (1920)
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz (1922) — Novella
The Beautiful and Damned (1922)
The Great Gatsby (1926)
Tender is the Night (1934)
Novel’s published after Fitzgerald’s death:
The Last Tycoon (1941)
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote hundreds of short stories throughout his writing career. Of those short stories, we are discussing theme in Bernice Bobs Her Hair, and imagery in Winter’s Dream.
*The books highlighted are those we review and analyze below.
About the Author
F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, and passed on December 21, 1940. Like Hemingway, he was a writer of The Lost Generation. Fitzgerald was an American writer, essayist, and veteran. Much of his prose revolved around deconstructing society during the Jazz Age.
The Great Gatsby:
Book Review and Analysis
180 Pages | Fiction | F. Scott Fitzgerald
2004 Scribner trade paperback edition
Summary:
Nick Carraway narrates the story. He befriends a billionaire who moves in nearby, Jay Gatsby. As we learn more about this mysterious man, we discover that he seeks to reunite with his past love, Daisy Buchannan— Nick’s second cousin. Problem is—she’s married, but Gatsby believes that what they shared was special, that they can recreate the past, and doing so is worth every risk.
“Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”
Structure:
Fitzgerald is a master of character creation and poetic prose. Instantaneously the author puts you into Nick’s world with his powerful character voice. Then, he captures the essence of human nature and society through his masterful worldbuilding. Because we see the world through Nick’s eyes, we witness human behavior, and society as if he were the omniscient narrator. It’s perfectly paced as Fitzgerald easily flows between descriptive poetry and Nick’s point of view. Everything ties up at the end, and the twist ending is shocking (if you’re unfamiliar, you’re in for a surprise). This book is a page-turner.
Theme:
The themes I’m going to focus on are society and romance.
Society
Nick is disenchanted. He watches the world tear down his one and only friend, and through Nick, we observe it, too. Nick sees through the façade of those who encroach upon Gatsby. Within this world, they live within the bubbles they create, and are the cause of their own destruction because of it. They hide behind their masks and live a herd-like reality— Gatsby is the only individual.
“He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.”
Romance
Fitzgerald juxtaposes Gatsby’s romantic beliefs against society, which is the degeneration of moral.
Gatsby believes in romance— he believes in love. As a young man, he reinvents himself for it, but when he returns to reunite with it later in life, it’s not the same. His past love, Daisy is not only married—she’s different. Her ideals of romance died with her youth. As he tries to rekindle their romance, he believes that their love is worth every risk. He wants Daisy to leave her husband; he believes they can turn back time and return to who they were.
“Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock.”
Afterthoughts:
This was a beautifully tragic story. Extreme heartbreak yet riveting. F. Scott Fitzgerald's diction is poetic with layers of meaning behind his words; I found myself mesmerized.
“As we passed over the dark bridge her wan face fell lazily against my coat’s shoulder and the formidable stroke of thirty died away with the reassuring pressure of her hand.
So we drove on towards death through the cooling twilight.”
Rating: ★★★★★
The Beautiful and Damned
Book Review and Analysis
2002 Modern Library Paperback Edition
378 Pages | Classic Fiction | F. Scott Fitzgerald
Summary:
Anthony Patch has a Harvard education and a trust fund waiting for him, but this promise of prosperity leads him to live a careless lifestyle. Aimless yet desiring the high life, he is consumed by extravagant parties and indulgences of the 1920's culture. Because of his carless behavior, Anthony’s grandfather removes him from the inheritance. As Anthony pursues Gloria— a vain but exotic woman, their financial stress increases. They must navigate financial hardship, as they fight to win the lawsuit for the inheritance Anthony they believe is rightfully theirs.
Structure:
The Beautiful and Damned is interestingly formatted— it’s not your typical novel. Fitzgerald breaks the book into parts, and within those parts there are sections that include headings that navigate the story. It feels like vignettes within this larger piece.
I can’t help but wonder if the structure was crafted this way because it’s believed to be autobiographical to Fitzgerald’s life with Zelda, so it feels more like entries within their lives. However, I enjoyed the sections because it broke apart the pacing of the novel. Because this story is so long, the sections make it more accessible and digestible.
The only part of the formatting that threw me were the pieces of dialogue written as if we’re reading a script. It wasn’t unpleasant, but definitely pulls a reader out of an immersive experience.
Theme:
Now— this story is a satire. These characters are exaggerated, and this story revolves around the descent of this couple, while reflecting on society and wealth. The themes I am analyzing in this book review and analysis of The Beautiful and Damned are alcoholism, marriage, and vanity.
Alcoholism
Fitzgerald’s always reflects on the roaring twenties; the glamor of parties and people. The Beautiful and Damned is no different, in fact, it’s more extreme. Our characters fall into alcoholism, which becomes Anthony’s vice to escape reality.
“Oh, he was a pretentious fool, making careers out of cocktails and meanwhile regretting, weekly and secretly, the collapse of an insufficient and wretched idealism. He had garnished his soul in the subtlest taste and now he longed for the old rubbish. He was empty, it seemed, empty as an old bottle —”
Anthony’s reliance on alcohol deepens when he and Gloria fall into financial despair; they run from their problems and into the next party. Although their pocketbook is nearly empty, they feel the need to maintain their societal status. They want to appear wealthier than they are and to do so means drowning their poverty with more liquor.
“There was a kindliness about intoxication – there was the indescribable gloss and glamour it gave, like the memories of ephemeral and faded evenings.”
Marriage
Anthony and Gloria’s love affair begins between honesty and delusion. Although Gloria is flippant and vain, he still pursues her. He’s mesmerized by her beauty and exotic nature. It overrules the rest. But, it’s no surprise their marriage is filled with arguments and resentment.
Despite Anthony’s inital pull towards her, he still cheats on her when he is drafted. Anthony’s infidelity plagues him, yet he continues with the affair when he’s away.
After his return, it’s as if they are those youthful people of the past—for a little while. They deceive their romance and themselves, living in an illusion until they are together long enough for them to fall back into the same old patterns.
Their love story falls further into despair as their funds continue to deplete, but neither take responsibility. The two bicker and fiercely control each other; an effect of Anthony’s drinking and Gloria’s continued selfishness.
“Like a figure in a dream he came back into her life across the ballroom on that November evening – and all through long hours that held familiar gladness she took him close to her breast, nursing an illusion of happiness and security she had not thought that she would know again.”
Vanity
Anthony and Gloria are both vain as they feel the desire to maintain their social status despite falling into debt. To them, extravagant trips and parties are the meaning of success.
Gloria’s vanity runs in on herself; she is obsessed with youth and beauty, which we witness crush their marriage as she learns to deal with the inevitable.
“Gloria would be twenty-six in May. There was nothing, she had said, that she wanted, except to be young and beautiful for a long time, to be gay and happy, and to have money and love.”
Truthfully, this book took some time to get through because of it’s length, but also because of the descent into despair these two fall into is emotionally taxing. Despite this, I am giving it a 4-star rating because Fitzgerald's prose is enchanting, and he's an outstanding storyteller.
Rating: ★★★★
Short Story Analysis
Summary:
This book is a collection of short stories by various classic American authors.
Within this collection, those of Fitzgerald’s include: Bernice Bobs Her Hair, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, and Winter Dreams.
The short stories we are discussing are: Bernice Bobs Her Hair and Winter Dreams.
Bernice Bobs Her Hair
Fitzgerald has a way of enchanting a reader through his characters with poetry. In Bernice Gets a Bob, we are examining the culture within this world.
This story is a glance into how human values change within societal pressures: Bernice is a sweet girl who’s morals lean into an older era. She’s traditional. Within the story, it’s reference that she lives like the sisters of, Little Women (the book by Louisa May Alcott). So her grace and reserved nature are considered repulsive and boring, especially to the boys.
When Bernice overhears her cousin speaking ill of her, she tries to become more like the other girls. Bernice begins to discuss subjects like her hair over what she’s studying. Bernice tells white lies about bobbing her hair to make her seem exotic, so when she’s pressured into finally do it, her whole worldview changes. Bernice becomes disenchanted by society and what she thought fitting in meant to her.
This is a powerful story that is absolutely worth reading.
“At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide. ”
Winter Dreams
I admire this story, but the plot feels similar to The Great Gatsby. We are going to explore how Fitzgerald uses imagery within this story, giving it depth and beauty.
Fitzgerald’s writing is poetic, giving his characters and world-building a dreamy tone. He gives depth while painting a picture figuratively for the literal emotions the characters experience, and those the reader will connect with.
“Her arms, burned to butternut, moved sinuously among the dull platinum ripples, elbow appearing first, casting the forearm back with a cadence of falling water, then reaching out and down, stabbing a path ahead.”
Why imagery is important to the reading experience
Imagery immerses your reader. They want to feel a story, not just read one. It also imbues layers of meaning a reader can glean.
“Later in the afternoon the sun went down with a riotous swirl of gold and varying blues and scarlets, and left the dry, rustling night of Western summer.”
Oftentimes, this type of prose is criticized; it is referred to as, purple prose. However, there are moments to embellish a scene because the writer is creating emphasis on a feeling, character, setting, etc. Not every sentence will be written with imagery or metaphor—in fact, that’s where this type of writing gets the label. To avoid overdoing this within your own writing, be sure you’re aware of the story’s pacing. But, don’t abstain from expressing through literary devices because of what other people say. More than anything, your art needs to be true to you and the story you’re telling.
And like Fitzgerald said, “you write a story because you have something to say,” and often expressing that comes through in varying ways. Writing is to create an emotional experience, not just tell a reader what to feel.
Creating this world for your reader can be direct and clear, other-times, you may be conveying the intangible, which can only be expressed creatively. To write a story is to imbue poetry while maintaining clarity and precision—every word matters.
Share your thoughts on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books in the comments below.
Happy reading!
