Historicity in Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned

Abstract

This thesis on Scott Fitzerald’s The Beautiful and Damned tries to shed a light on the characteristics of jazz Age in America which was a time of drunkenness, parties, flappers, and other sordid and decadent facets explored, enjoyed, or reviled. Fitzgerald takes these things and his own experiences using them as fictional gems, thus bluring the line between history and fiction. In addition, Fitzgerald shows his concern over the fate of the younger generation of the Twenties in America through his criticism. He warns the younger generation against the danger of their hedonistic life through Patch Anthony’s damnation in the novel because he presents the characters who disregard the values of hard work, investment, and self-restraint. On the contrary, they actualize their new acquired freedom in parties, in drinking bootleg liquor, in their dancing mania, accompanied by the new rhythm of jazz music symbolizing their freedom. Thus, this study examines that these thing are historicized in this novel.