The Clash of Ideals in the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1.0, University of Freiburg, course: Modernism and the American Novel, language: English, abstract: Romance in connection with materialism is a recurrent theme in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels and the vast majority of his short stories. The heroes and heroines of his works strive for love and money with tenacity and desperation. Fitzgerald repeatedly tells the story of a poor young man falling in love with a rich and beautiful girl who rejects him for his poverty and lack of status. The author’s biography provides him with enough experience in the matter to make these accounts credible and entertaining. In the run of his career, however, Fitzgerald expands and changes his view on materialism and love. This paper works out the ambiguity with which Fitzgerald treats both subjects and the way he gradually changes his attitude towards them. Love and money, glamour and disillusionment are interwoven and make a great part of the author’s life story. I will point out that the young worshipper of the glitter and glamour of high society turned into a sharp critic of that same world and finally, towards the end of his life, loses his obsession with the topic.