Kate Maurer - CliffsNotes on Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby

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Library of Congress Control Number: 00-104430

ISBN: 0-7645-8601-7

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v1.0813

About the Author

Kate Maurer received her Ph.D. in English from Marquette University and is currently an Assistant Professor of Composition and English at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

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CliffsNotes on Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby supplements the original work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the novel, a graphical character map, critical commentaries, and expanded glossaries. CliffsNotes Review tests your comprehension of the original text and reinforces learning with questions and answers, practice projects, and more. For further information on F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby, check out the CliffsNotes Resource Center.

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The Early Years

September 24, 1896 marks the birth date of F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the foremost twentieth century American writers. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, young Scott was christened Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, in honor of his second cousin three times removed, Francis Scott Key, the author of the National Anthem. His father, Edward, brought breeding, charm, and a sense of elegance to the family, although as a businessman, he experienced only marginal financial success. Fitzgeralds mother, Mollie McQuillan, was the daughter of an Irish immigrant who made a fortune in the wholesale grocery business. Although she came from a family of means, she had little interest in society life, except as it regarded her sons future. The family lived comfortably on the outskirts of the citys most fashionable residential neighborhood, Summit Avenue, thanks largely to the generosity of the McQuillan family. Although the Fitzgeralds lived just blocks from the citys most elegant and wealthy families, they were not considered rich and therefore were perched precariously on the communitys social hierarchy. They possessed what some critics have come to call a certain genteel shabbiness. It seems likely much of Fitzgeralds interest in society life began in his youth in Minnesota when he would play and associate with the rich children of the neighborhooddancing, sailing, swimming, sleddingall the time knowing he was never entirely a part of their society.

The Fitzgeralds lived in Minnesota on and off during Scotts youth. When his fathers business folded in 1897, the elder Fitzgerald took a job the following year as a salesman for Procter and Gamble, consequently moving his family to New York, first to Buffalo, then Syracuse, and then back to Buffalo. He was fired from his job in 1908, and just months before Scotts twelfth birthday, the family returned to St. Paul where the McQuillan family still lived. From that point, the Fitzgeralds essentially lived off the McQuillan family fortune. Although Scott would call St. Paul home from 1908 to 1922, he was often not there. Rather, he spent much of that time at boarding school, at Princeton University, in the army, and in New York City.

Prep School and College

Although Edward and Mollie Fitzgerald did not mingle much in the society life of their community, they saw to it that Scott met the right people. He attended the prep school and dancing classes where the elite sent their children. In 1908, Fitzgerald entered the St. Paul Academy where he was received with mixed welcome (many of the students apparently thought he was too arrogant). He excelled in debate and athletics, pushing himself continually. In 1909, The Mystery of the Raymond Mortgage was published in the school magazine