Comparing The Beautiful Are Damned In This Side Of Paradise By F. Scott Fitzgerald
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The Beautiful Are Damned In This Side of Paradise
When most people hear the name F. Scott Fitzgerald, they think of The Great Gatsby, but the American author was so much more. Scott and his wife wrote novels that influenced America for years past their time. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s writings showed the positive and negative sides of the American Dream, and it challenged the traditional upbringings to create a more independent identity for the American woman. Through Zelda’s free spirited lifestyle, Scott gained his inspiration for his writing. Her lifestyle only became wilder, driving Scott away from her and into the arms of another woman. The large wedge forced between their marriage began to have a negative effect on both of their writing…show more content… Before truly pursuing his career in writing, Scott was writing articles for the “Princeton Tiger” and the “Nassau Literary Magazine.” He spent much of his time on writing, and his grades at Princeton started to drop. After being put on academic probation, Scott joined the Army. During World War I Scott spent much of his time in the European trenches. During this time he went through a personal awakening, and expressed this through his novel, The Romantic Egoist. The first breakthrough in Scott's career occurred after the publication of This Side of Paradise. The novel was the third edition of The Romantic Egoist that Scott submitted to Scribner's. After the novel was submitted the publishing company finally accepted it, and he practically became an overnight superstar. Scott's later writing was heavily influenced by jazz music and culture. His novel, The Beautiful and Damned was influenced by the time period, and it helped him gain credibility as a writer of satire about the wealthy and the influential people in America. The couple's love for all things rich and famous, was reflected in the novel. One of Scott's most well-known novels, The Great Gatsby, is influenced by the idea of the American Dream. The novel is a perfect summary of the Jazz Age with the motifs of materialism and love. After the publication of the novel, Scott’s life began to spiral downwards. The couple tried to travel the globe to escape the demons of their minds. The demon for Scott begin his growing alcoholism. Furthermore, the addiction to alcohol did not help his prolonged writer’s block, and most likely did not help Zelda’s growing mental health problems. Scott and Zelda travel’s was tireless, as if they did not keep moving they would die. “He was born sleepless, without a talent for rest or the desire for it.” His