Travis Leonard
Mrs. Hoots
27 November 2012
AP Language
A Lover, Long Lost: F. Scott Fitzgerald On the cold morning of September 24, 1896, in St. Paul Minnesota, a failed furniture manufacturer by the name of Edward Fitzgerald, and his wealthy wife Mary, enjoyed the thrill of bringing a baby boy into the world. Being proud of Edward Fitzgerald’s lineage, the couple named their child Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. Edward was raised by Catholic parents, who adhered to the Old South’s values. After failing at manufacturing furniture, Edward Fitzgerald moved his family to Upstate New York, where he became a salesman. However, when Edward Fitzgerald was dismissed from work in 1908, the family moved back to St. Paul where they lived contentedly on Mary’s fortune. Young Fitzgerald’s parents enrolled him at St. Paul Academy at the age of thirteen, where he first developed his love for writing. His first writing in print was for the Academy’s newspaper, that very year. Fitzgerald then, in 1911, transferred to a new school, called the Newman School, a Catholic prep school in New Jersey. A major influence on his life, Father Sigourney Fay, encouraged Fitzgerald’s powerful ambition for accomplishment and distinction. This powerful ambition that Fitzgerald possessed placed him in college at Princeton. However, in his pursuit of a writing career, Fitzgerald almost completely abandoned his studies for writing, typing articles for humor magazines, the Nassau Literary Magazine, and writing the lyrics and scripts for the Princeton Triangle Club. Unlikely to graduate from Princeton because of his abandoned studies, Fitzgerald joined the army in 1917, and in the infantry, became second lieutenant. The novel, “The Romantic Egotist,” was the outcome of Fitzgerald’s belief that he would die in the war. The novel was not published, but praised for its originality, and the publisher asked for a resubmission after the book was revised. In 1918, Fitzgerald was assigned to Camp Sheridan, in Alabama, where he quickly fell in love with a wealthy eighteen-year-old named Zelda Sayre. After another rejection letter from the publisher, Sayre broke off the engagement between the couple out of fear of Fitzgerald’s lack of income. Meanwhile, Fitzgerald was discharged from