08/16/2006 - Essay (Part 2)
I had some difficulty writing this. In all honesty, I had great difficulty writing this. It was kind of scary. I felt really good about the introduction and still do but I suspect that had to do with my not writing many opinions, its the history of the story you really can’t argue with it. This, however, can be disagreed with. I don’t know. I never thought this part of the argument would be as long as it is. That said, hopefully the rest turn out this good. I am paying special attention to the structure of the essay, trying my hardest to keep it in threes. For instance, there are three topics relating to Sterrett’s introduction; location, narrative structure, and character introduction. Following the introduction are three arguments outlining his excess. Granted, one of those arguments is fairly thin. But in my defense, I think it is pretty self-explanatory if you’ve taken the time to read the story. I guess I am trying my best to emulate Fitzgerald’s unique structure. I probably shouldn’t be that conscience about my writing. Hopefully the remaining parts won’t take as long to write but I have a feeling they will. Procrastination is one of my best qualities.
May Day: Gordon Sterrett
Bank Of America Plaza is an incredibly banal building. The block that once housed the exquisite Biltmore has turned itself into a forgetable, dull, grey eyesore. But, then again, it is a bank. The Biltmore, a famous New York City hotel that lied between 42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue was an upscale chain of hotels that tried to evoke the “Vanderbilt family’s Biltmore Estate” (Wikipedia, Biltmore Hotel) name. Designed by the architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore, the red granite New York Biltmore was founded by John McEntee Bowman (Wikipedia, New York Biltmore Hotel). The extravagant hotel, that begins “May Day”, is the first in a series of closely tied together locations that begin to illustrate the excesses of the newer generation. When Fitzgerald introduces Gordon Sterrett, the dishevled war veteran against the backdrop of the upper echelon that inhabits the Biltmore the stark difference between the two generations becomes obvious.
As Fitzgerald begins to introduce characters in “May Day” he uses a particularly effective narrative device by referring to characters by describing a particular physical characteristic instead of simply calling them by name. For instance, when Fitzgerald first introduces Gordon Sterrett he writes,
“The inquirer was dressed in a well-cut, shabby suit. He was small, slender, and darkly handsome; his eyes were framed above with unusually long eyelashes and below with the blue semicircle of ill health, this latter effect heightened by an unnatural glow which colored his face like a low, incessant fever” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 62).
Fitzgerald is able to let the reader see through his character’s eyes. The narrator does not interfere with character’s thoughts, thus allowing the narration to be completely truthful. “May Day” does not proceed unless Fitzgerald’s characters allow it to. The technique that Fitzgerald has begun to use, first identifying a character by physical description then giving their name, will play a prominent role in the later chapters of the novella. In effect, this technique will become a camera for the reader to view the actions of “May Day” through the perspective of many different characters.
Fitzgerald’s “memorable men” were those that were roughly the same age as Fitzgerald when he composed them (New Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Neglected Stories, Martine).Gordon Sterrett, perhaps the most tragic character of “May Day”, is characterized as being one of those men. The similarities do not end with age, both returned home from the war at roughly the same time: Fitzgerald on February 21st 1919 (Bruccoli, 110), Sterrett, “got back from France in February” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 65). The two men were struggling artists working unfulfilling jobs: Fitzgerald worked the advertisement angle while trying to moonlight as a writer and Sterrett, unable to fund his dream as an artist, worked in exporting. Both, too, were unable to provide for the women they loved. Fitzgerald struggled to keep his engagement with Zelda Sayre. Ultimately losing her to patience, Fitzgerald returned home to St. Paul and focused whatever energy he had left into writing This Side of Paradise. On the other hand, Sterrett juggles two romantic relationships that are doomed to fail. A loose caricature of Fitzgerald, Sterrett embodies Fitzgerald’s frustrations surrounding the time he spent in New York City. He is Fitzgerald’s meditation on being unable to adapt to the excess of a new generation.
“Gordon collapsed unexpectedly upon the bed; lay there inert and spiritless. His mouth, which habitually dropped a little open when his face was in repose, became suddenly helpless and pathetic.
“What’s the matter?” asked Dean quickly.
“Oh, God!”
“What’s the matter?”
“Every God damn thing in the world,” he said miserably. “I’ve absolutely gone to pieces, Phil. I’m all in.”
“Huh?”
“I’m all in.” His voice was shaking” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 64-65).
Something is wrong with Gordon Sterrett. The stench of emptiness and desperation surrounds him. The man that had “received a scattering vote in the senior elections at college for being the best-dressed man in his class” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 63) is a shell of his former self. Throughout the novella he is absent. His body is present, however the mind is elsewhere.
The trauma of war can have paralyzing and lasting effects on its combatants. World War I introduced a disease that had previously can unrecognized by most of the medical community. Soldiers were reporting a myriad of stress related symptoms. “The most severe might include hysteria, disorientation, delusion, limb paralysis and loss of speech” (Making the Modern World). Other, more common symptoms associated with the ailment were “slowing of the reaction time, difficulty prioritising, difficulty initiating routine tasks, preoccupation with minor issues and familiar tasks, indecision and lack of concentration, loss of initiative with fatigue and exhaustion” (Wikipedia, Combat Stress Reaction). Usually these indicators came after extreme stress suffered on the battlefield. For instance, Henry Farr, a member of the British Expeditionary Force, fought in the trenches of World War I. His position was under constant bombardment from shells eventually causing him to collapse in convulsions. Returning to the frontlines, Farr eventually broke down and said he could simply go on no longer (World Socialist Web Site). Labeled “Shell Shock”, it would eventually become recognized as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Despite the mystery that surrounds Sterrett’s service in World War I, something changed inside him while in France. Sterrett is the walking dead; preoccupied with his dream of becoming an artist, indecisiveness regarding his true feelings for Edith, and inability recognize his depression, instead focusing all his energy on money. Coupled with the excesses of the newer generation, Sterrett simply cannot go on.
Sterrett is severely depressed. From the very beginning of “May Day” Fitzgerald isn’t exactly subtle when it comes to Sterrett’s emotions. Gordon Sterrett’s “dream” is to become an illustrator for magazines. Feeling his glory days slipping from his grasp, Sterrett reaches out to Phillip Dean, a college friend for a loan to get back on his feet. Obviously envious of Dean’s lifestyle and money, Sterrett has convinced himself that by fulfilling his dream all his problems will magically disappear. But how will becoming an artist solve his problems? How will becoming an artist fix his situation with Jewel Hudson? From the context of Sterrett’s comments,
“She's got a letter all written to send to my family. Oh, she's got me, all right. I've got to have some money for her” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 67)
it is very possible that she is pregnant. Jobs don’t make children disappear. How will a job convince Edith Bradin to fall head over heels in love with him? Jobs don’t make decisions. How will a job cure his depression? That’s just it, a job won’t solve any of these problems. They run much deeper than Sterrett cares to admit. He is preoccupying himself with this impossible scenario. Sterrett’s obsession with returning to the fast, excessive life he was once accustomed has consumed him. Sterrett doesn’t realize that this impossible dream is causing him more harm than good. By allowing himself to believe it is possible he is quickly slipping further into depression. Eventually his unfulfilled dream of excess will lead him to suicide.
“With a little ready money I can take a few weeks off and get started” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 68).
As the newest generation falls to new levels of gluttony Sterrett seems desperate to catch up, ignoring any priority that he has. Sterrett’s first priority should be finding employment, not money. His “dream” of being an illustrator is highly suspect. Throughout “May Day” he negates those wishes by saying things that contradict his conversation with Dean. For instance, when Jewel first confronts Sterrett about missing an earlier dinner date Sterrett never mentions his conversation with Dean. In fact, Jewel specifically says,
“I don't care about the money that bad. I didn't start bothering you about it at all until you began neglecting me” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 102).
The money is a non-issue. Sterrett used Jewel and his “dream” as arguments for a handout, never attending to spend money on either of them. The entire conversation, too, negates any statement Sterrett made about Jewel earlier. She is painted as a money hungry whore by Sterrett, however in all actuality she turns about to be an extremely loving person that is obviously worried about her partner. This obsession with money has turned Sterrett into a liar. The money becomes more important than any relationship that he still has.
“I know all about you!” she said fiercely. “Nice friend, you are, I'll say. He told me about you” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 115).
Jewel’s comments about Dean suggest that Sterrett told her some fairly unflattering things. Despite Dean listening to Sterrett and offering some helpful advice, he chooses to berate Dean for not giving him a handout. Just as he had done earlier with Dean when talking about Jewel, Sterrett chooses to ignore his relationships and instead focus on money. In turn, he has made money his number one priority, anything else is simply inconsequential.
“Then he took a taxi to the room where he had been living on East Twenty-seventh Street, and, leaning across the table that held his drawing materials, fired a cartridge into his head just behind the temple” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 125).
Description is an integral part of “May Day”. Fitzgerald describes everything in painstaking detail. One would expect that if these drawing materials had any distinguishing characteristics Fitzgerald would say so, however they are simply drawing materials. Earlier in the novel Sterrett tells Dean, “I haven’t had the money to buy decent drawing materials” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 68), however the decent drawing materials that Sterrett claims he doesn’t own have been sitting in his apartment, unused for the entire duration of the novella. Sterrett is a liar. Throughout the novel his priorities are misplaced. If he had really wanted to become an artist he could have. However his true dream, were his priorities really lied, were in money not illustration.
May Day: Gordon Sterrett
Bank Of America Plaza is an incredibly banal building. The block that once housed the exquisite Biltmore has turned itself into a forgetable, dull, grey eyesore. But, then again, it is a bank. The Biltmore, a famous New York City hotel that lied between 42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue was an upscale chain of hotels that tried to evoke the “Vanderbilt family’s Biltmore Estate” (Wikipedia, Biltmore Hotel) name. Designed by the architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore, the red granite New York Biltmore was founded by John McEntee Bowman (Wikipedia, New York Biltmore Hotel). The extravagant hotel, that begins “May Day”, is the first in a series of closely tied together locations that begin to illustrate the excesses of the newer generation. When Fitzgerald introduces Gordon Sterrett, the dishevled war veteran against the backdrop of the upper echelon that inhabits the Biltmore the stark difference between the two generations becomes obvious.
As Fitzgerald begins to introduce characters in “May Day” he uses a particularly effective narrative device by referring to characters by describing a particular physical characteristic instead of simply calling them by name. For instance, when Fitzgerald first introduces Gordon Sterrett he writes,
“The inquirer was dressed in a well-cut, shabby suit. He was small, slender, and darkly handsome; his eyes were framed above with unusually long eyelashes and below with the blue semicircle of ill health, this latter effect heightened by an unnatural glow which colored his face like a low, incessant fever” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 62).
Fitzgerald is able to let the reader see through his character’s eyes. The narrator does not interfere with character’s thoughts, thus allowing the narration to be completely truthful. “May Day” does not proceed unless Fitzgerald’s characters allow it to. The technique that Fitzgerald has begun to use, first identifying a character by physical description then giving their name, will play a prominent role in the later chapters of the novella. In effect, this technique will become a camera for the reader to view the actions of “May Day” through the perspective of many different characters.
Fitzgerald’s “memorable men” were those that were roughly the same age as Fitzgerald when he composed them (New Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Neglected Stories, Martine).Gordon Sterrett, perhaps the most tragic character of “May Day”, is characterized as being one of those men. The similarities do not end with age, both returned home from the war at roughly the same time: Fitzgerald on February 21st 1919 (Bruccoli, 110), Sterrett, “got back from France in February” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 65). The two men were struggling artists working unfulfilling jobs: Fitzgerald worked the advertisement angle while trying to moonlight as a writer and Sterrett, unable to fund his dream as an artist, worked in exporting. Both, too, were unable to provide for the women they loved. Fitzgerald struggled to keep his engagement with Zelda Sayre. Ultimately losing her to patience, Fitzgerald returned home to St. Paul and focused whatever energy he had left into writing This Side of Paradise. On the other hand, Sterrett juggles two romantic relationships that are doomed to fail. A loose caricature of Fitzgerald, Sterrett embodies Fitzgerald’s frustrations surrounding the time he spent in New York City. He is Fitzgerald’s meditation on being unable to adapt to the excess of a new generation.
“Gordon collapsed unexpectedly upon the bed; lay there inert and spiritless. His mouth, which habitually dropped a little open when his face was in repose, became suddenly helpless and pathetic.
“What’s the matter?” asked Dean quickly.
“Oh, God!”
“What’s the matter?”
“Every God damn thing in the world,” he said miserably. “I’ve absolutely gone to pieces, Phil. I’m all in.”
“Huh?”
“I’m all in.” His voice was shaking” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 64-65).
Something is wrong with Gordon Sterrett. The stench of emptiness and desperation surrounds him. The man that had “received a scattering vote in the senior elections at college for being the best-dressed man in his class” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 63) is a shell of his former self. Throughout the novella he is absent. His body is present, however the mind is elsewhere.
The trauma of war can have paralyzing and lasting effects on its combatants. World War I introduced a disease that had previously can unrecognized by most of the medical community. Soldiers were reporting a myriad of stress related symptoms. “The most severe might include hysteria, disorientation, delusion, limb paralysis and loss of speech” (Making the Modern World). Other, more common symptoms associated with the ailment were “slowing of the reaction time, difficulty prioritising, difficulty initiating routine tasks, preoccupation with minor issues and familiar tasks, indecision and lack of concentration, loss of initiative with fatigue and exhaustion” (Wikipedia, Combat Stress Reaction). Usually these indicators came after extreme stress suffered on the battlefield. For instance, Henry Farr, a member of the British Expeditionary Force, fought in the trenches of World War I. His position was under constant bombardment from shells eventually causing him to collapse in convulsions. Returning to the frontlines, Farr eventually broke down and said he could simply go on no longer (World Socialist Web Site). Labeled “Shell Shock”, it would eventually become recognized as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Despite the mystery that surrounds Sterrett’s service in World War I, something changed inside him while in France. Sterrett is the walking dead; preoccupied with his dream of becoming an artist, indecisiveness regarding his true feelings for Edith, and inability recognize his depression, instead focusing all his energy on money. Coupled with the excesses of the newer generation, Sterrett simply cannot go on.
Sterrett is severely depressed. From the very beginning of “May Day” Fitzgerald isn’t exactly subtle when it comes to Sterrett’s emotions. Gordon Sterrett’s “dream” is to become an illustrator for magazines. Feeling his glory days slipping from his grasp, Sterrett reaches out to Phillip Dean, a college friend for a loan to get back on his feet. Obviously envious of Dean’s lifestyle and money, Sterrett has convinced himself that by fulfilling his dream all his problems will magically disappear. But how will becoming an artist solve his problems? How will becoming an artist fix his situation with Jewel Hudson? From the context of Sterrett’s comments,
“She's got a letter all written to send to my family. Oh, she's got me, all right. I've got to have some money for her” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 67)
it is very possible that she is pregnant. Jobs don’t make children disappear. How will a job convince Edith Bradin to fall head over heels in love with him? Jobs don’t make decisions. How will a job cure his depression? That’s just it, a job won’t solve any of these problems. They run much deeper than Sterrett cares to admit. He is preoccupying himself with this impossible scenario. Sterrett’s obsession with returning to the fast, excessive life he was once accustomed has consumed him. Sterrett doesn’t realize that this impossible dream is causing him more harm than good. By allowing himself to believe it is possible he is quickly slipping further into depression. Eventually his unfulfilled dream of excess will lead him to suicide.
“With a little ready money I can take a few weeks off and get started” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 68).
As the newest generation falls to new levels of gluttony Sterrett seems desperate to catch up, ignoring any priority that he has. Sterrett’s first priority should be finding employment, not money. His “dream” of being an illustrator is highly suspect. Throughout “May Day” he negates those wishes by saying things that contradict his conversation with Dean. For instance, when Jewel first confronts Sterrett about missing an earlier dinner date Sterrett never mentions his conversation with Dean. In fact, Jewel specifically says,
“I don't care about the money that bad. I didn't start bothering you about it at all until you began neglecting me” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 102).
The money is a non-issue. Sterrett used Jewel and his “dream” as arguments for a handout, never attending to spend money on either of them. The entire conversation, too, negates any statement Sterrett made about Jewel earlier. She is painted as a money hungry whore by Sterrett, however in all actuality she turns about to be an extremely loving person that is obviously worried about her partner. This obsession with money has turned Sterrett into a liar. The money becomes more important than any relationship that he still has.
“I know all about you!” she said fiercely. “Nice friend, you are, I'll say. He told me about you” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 115).
Jewel’s comments about Dean suggest that Sterrett told her some fairly unflattering things. Despite Dean listening to Sterrett and offering some helpful advice, he chooses to berate Dean for not giving him a handout. Just as he had done earlier with Dean when talking about Jewel, Sterrett chooses to ignore his relationships and instead focus on money. In turn, he has made money his number one priority, anything else is simply inconsequential.
“Then he took a taxi to the room where he had been living on East Twenty-seventh Street, and, leaning across the table that held his drawing materials, fired a cartridge into his head just behind the temple” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 125).
Description is an integral part of “May Day”. Fitzgerald describes everything in painstaking detail. One would expect that if these drawing materials had any distinguishing characteristics Fitzgerald would say so, however they are simply drawing materials. Earlier in the novel Sterrett tells Dean, “I haven’t had the money to buy decent drawing materials” (Tales of the Jazz Age, 68), however the decent drawing materials that Sterrett claims he doesn’t own have been sitting in his apartment, unused for the entire duration of the novella. Sterrett is a liar. Throughout the novel his priorities are misplaced. If he had really wanted to become an artist he could have. However his true dream, were his priorities really lied, were in money not illustration.
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