Friday, December 27, 2019

Biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald, born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American author whose works became synonymous with the Jazz Age. He moved in the major artistic circles of his day but failed to garner widespread critical acclaim until after his death at the age of 44. Fast Facts: F. Scott Fitzgerald Full Name: Francis Scott Key FitzgeraldKnown For:  American authorBorn:  September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, MinnesotaDied:  December 21, 1940 in Hollywood, CaliforniaSpouse:  Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald (m. 1920-1940)Children:  Frances Scottie Fitzgerald (b. 1921)Education: Princeton UniversityNotable Works: This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, Tender Is the Night, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Early Life F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, to a well-off upper-middle-class family. His parents were Edward Fitzgerald, a former Marylander who moved north after the Civil War, and Molly Fitzgerald, the daughter of an Irish immigrant who made a fortune in the grocery industry. Fitzgerald was named after his distant cousin, Francis Scott Key, who famously wrote â€Å"The Star-Spangled Banner.† Only a few months before his birth, two of his sisters died suddenly. The family did not spend his early life in Minnesota, however. Edward Fitzgerald worked mostly for Proctor and Gamble, so the Fitzgeralds spent most of their time living in upstate New York and in West Virginia, following Edward’s job demands. Nevertheless, the family lived quite comfortably, thanks to a wealthy aunt and Molly’s inheritance from her own rich family. Fitzgerald was sent to Catholic schools and proved to be a bright student with a particular interest in literature. In 1908, Edward Fitzgerald lost his job and the family returned to Minnesota. When F. Scott Fitzgerald was 15 he was sent away from home to attend a prestigious Catholic prep school, the Newman School, in New Jersey. College, Romances, and Military Life After graduating from Newman in 1913, Fitzgerald decided to stay in New Jersey to continue working on his writing, rather than returning to Minnesota. He attended Princeton and became heavily involved with the literary scene on campus, writing for several publications and even joining a theatre troupe, the Princeton Triangle Club. During a visit back to St. Paul in 1915, Fitzgerald met Ginevra King, a debutante from Chicago, and they began a two-year romance. They conducted their romance mostly through letters, and she was reportedly the inspiration for some of his most iconic characters, including The Great Gatsby’s Daisy Buchanan. In 1917, their relationship ended, but Fitzgerald kept the letters she’d written to him; after his death, his daughter sent them to King, who kept them and never showed them to anyone. F. Scott Fitzgerald in his military uniform in 1918; he never saw action in the war.   Time Life Pictures / Getty Images Fitzgerald’s writing-related activities took up the bulk of his time, which meant he neglected his actual studies to the point of being on academic probation. In 1917, he officially dropped out of Princeton and joined the Army instead, as the U.S. was just joining World War I. He was stationed under the command of Dwight D. Eisenhower, whom he despised, and feared that he would die in the war without ever having become a published author. The war ended in 1918, before Fitzgerald was ever actually deployed overseas. New York and Europe in the Jazz Age While stationed in Alabama, Fitzgerald met Zelda Sayre, the daughter of a state Supreme Court justice and a Montgomery socialite. They fell in love and became engaged, but she broke it off, worried that he would be unable to support them financially. Fitzgerald revised his first novel, which became This Side of Paradise; it sold in 1919 and was published in 1920, becoming a quick success. As a direct result, he and Zelda were able to resume their engagement and were married that same year in New York City at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Their only daughter, Frances Scott Fitzgerald (known as â€Å"Scottie†) was born in October 1921. The Fitzgeralds became staples of New York society, as well as the American expatriate community in Paris. Fitzgerald formed a close friendship with Ernest Hemingway, but they came into conflict over the subject of Zelda, who Hemingway openly hated and believed was holding Fitzgerald’s career back. During this time, Fitzgerald supplemented his income by writing short stories, since only his first novel was a financial success during his lifetime. He wrote The Great Gatsby in 1925, but although it’s regarded as his masterpiece now, it was not a success until after his death. Much of his writing was tied to the â€Å"Lost Generation,† a phrase coined to describe the disillusionment in post-WWI years and often associated with the group of expatriate artists with which Fitzgerald mingled. Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, circa 1921. Time Life Pictures / Getty Images   In 1926, Fitzgerald had his first movie offer: to write a flapper comedy for the United Artists studio. The Fitzgeralds moved to Hollywood, but after Fitzgerald’s affair with actress Lois Moran, their marital difficulties necessitated a move back to New York. There, Fitzgerald began working on a fourth novel, but his heavy drinking, financial difficulties, and Zelda’s declining physical and mental health got in the way. By 1930, Zelda was suffering from schizophrenia, and Fitzgerald had her hospitalized in 1932. When she published her own semi-autobiographical novel, Save Me the Waltz, in 1932, Fitzgerald was furious, insisting that their lives together were â€Å"material† that only he could write about; he even managed to get edits made to her manuscript before publication. Later Years and Death In 1937, after Zelda’s final hospitalization, Fitzgerald found himself financially unable to decline an offer from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to move to Hollywood and write exclusively for their studio. During that time, he had a high-profile live-in affair with gossip columnist Sheilah Graham, and he wrote a series of short stories mocking himself as a Hollywood hack. His hard living began to catch up with him, as he had been an alcoholic for decades. Fitzgerald claimed to suffer from tuberculosis–which he very well may have–and he suffered at least one heart attack by the end of the 1930s. On December 21, 1940, Fitzgerald suffered another heart attack at his home with Graham. He died almost instantly, aged 44. His body was taken back to Maryland for a private funeral. Since he was no longer a practicing Catholic, the Church refused to allow him a burial in the Catholic cemetery; he was instead interred at Rockville Union Cemetery. Zelda died eight years later, in a fire at the asylum where she was living, and she was buried next to him. They remained there until 1975, when their daughter Scottie successfully petitioned to have their remains moved to the family plot at the Catholic cemetery. Legacy Fitzgerald left behind an unfinished novel, The Last Tycoon, as well as a prolific output of short stories and four completed novels. In the years after his death, his work became more praised and more popular than it ever was during his life, especially The Great Gatsby. Today, he’s regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Sources Bruccoli, Matthew Joseph. Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2002.Curnutt, Kirk, ed. A Historical Guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Family Is A Universal Term - 1927 Words

Family is a universal term, but that doesn’t mean it has a universal definition. It’s impossible to attach one definition to the term because it holds different meaning for different people in different societies. The US Census Bureau defines family as consisting of â€Å"at least two people related by marriage, birth, or adoption and living in the same household. â€Å" (Spearin, 2015). Although it’s not directly stated in this definition, the American definition of family is based on underlying themes such as heterosexuality and a nuclear family structure with a mother, father, and their 2.5 kids. This definition greatly differs from the definition of family in Jamaica, which is where I was born. In Jamaica, the domestic unit usually consists of†¦show more content†¦The varying construction of family in US and Jamaica is the result of the varying historical events that occurred in these countries. In the US, the construction of family was influence d by the change in the mode of production and the rise of individualism. In Jamaica, the construction of family was influenced by slavery. During this period, slave owners enforced a ban on formal marriages between two slaves until 1826. If a slave wanted to or even attempted to marry another slave, slave owners sold them to someone else. The lack of family structure during this period is part of the reason why cohabitation is so prevalent in Jamaica. Slavery had far reaching effects not only on the construction of family, but also the construction of gender roles and sexuality within said family. It has had far reaching affects on the daily lives of my family members, and how they interact as a unit. My aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents all spent the majority of their lives living in Jamaica, and it’s very noticeable in the way they run their households. In my family, there is a clear division of labor, similar to the division of labor present in the US in 1950. The women are in charge of taking care of the kids and getting them ready for school before they head off to work. When they get back from work, 8 out of 10 times, they are the ones to cook dinner and make sure the

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

The Ethics of Consequences Utilitarianism

Questions: 1. Outline the reasons why utilitarian argue that under some circumstances lying can be justified ethically.2.Use this example to illustrate the difference between act and rule utilitarianism and discuss the objections to each position.3.Using examples discuss the possible strengths and weaknesses of consequentialism and when discussing lying in the context of youth work or human services work.4.Draw conclusions about whether consequentialism can ever justify lying to colleagues and clients in human services work. Answers: 1. There are a number of reasons that lying can be justified ethically under some of the circumstances. One of the examples for the same can be considered with the help of the police chief. It can be assumed that the police chief has been terrorized for a long time by a child rapist. If it is found that the rapist has did because of some circumstances. Now the fear of the rapist is the past, but they couldnt be convinced that he would be a rapist (Hinman, 2012). If the same policeman has arrested another person as a rapist who only has six months to live, will it be useful? The public will feel that the town is safer again. The man to be punished will die soon and he will also get the better care in the jail in comparison to the streets. The Utilitarian act may actually be useful in convicting the man though he was to die soon. Here the police has told lie to the people that there is no rapist in the town but it is justified as the people will live a better life. 2. The example of the policeman mentioned above is related to act utilitarian. Its objective is to ensure that the man is convicted. It is important to ensure that the Rule Utilitarian needs to ensure that the rules are applicable without qualification or if they have the specific qualification. The rule states that one should keep the promise made to the dead. Also, if the rule utilitarian believes that they can make the qualification in cases related to following the rule, it would lead to the bad consequences. For example: if someone breaks the promise which he made to the dead, they are someone who can think like an act utilitarian. The may also admit that they can disregard the rule when the utility demands the same. Thus, again act utilitarian seems to collapse. 3. Consequentialism is a completely normative ethical theory. This states that ethical action and the proposed method are considered important for deciding which act is the right and an ethical act. Strength of consequentialism is that it can be applied ubiquitously because each and every result have some of the consequences which can be measured. In addition to this, it can be applied systematically. In order to explain this, an example should be studied. Suppose, there is a group of people who are enslaved but are provided with some of the comforts such as house, nutritious food and good working hours (Hinman, 2012). Also, they have entertainment such as television, movies, music etc. for free for being a good slave. Because of this, the slaves dont feel discontent about their state in life. The masters on the other hand feel that they have slaves and are happy about them. But, the ultimate consequences of the act are that they are slaves. Also, slavery is something which cant be j ustified. 4. Consequentialism is something in which the results only lie on the final consequences of any incident. This is important to be considered as it can help the people to live their life in a proper manner. If the people are constantly under fears and tension, they will not be happy. But lying to the colleagues and clients in the human services work can be useful in many ways. References Hinman, L. (2012).Ethics: A pluralistic approach to moral theory. Nelson Education.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Summary Of The Letter From Birmingham Jail Essays -

Summary Of The Letter From Birmingham Jail On Good Friday in 1963, 53 blacks, led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., marched into downtown Birmingham to protest the existing segregation laws. All were arrested. This caused the clergymen of this Southern town to compose a letter appealing to the black population to stop their demonstrations. This letter appeared in the Birmingham Newspaper. In response, Martin Luther King drafted a document that would mark the turning point of the Civil Rights movement and provide enduring inspiration to the struggle for racial equality. Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail strives to justify the desperate need for nonviolent direct action, the absolute immorality of unjust laws together with what a just law is, as well as, the increasing probability of the Negro resorting to extreme disorder and bloodshed, in addition to his utter disappointment with the Church who, in his opinion, had not lived up to their responsibilities as people of God. King's justification to the eight clergymen for protesting segregation begins with a profound explanation of their actions, Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. The actions of the African American people are overdue and very well planned as King had explained in the letter. Their quest was to force the white politicians to negotiate and actually heed the requests for desegregation. As King explains, past promises have been broken by the politicians and merchants of Birmingham and now is the time to fulfill the natural right of all people to be treated equal. Violence is not what King wants, he simply wants unjust laws to change and the Supreme Courts 1954 ruling to be upheld. Secondly, Kings answer to the clergymen's assertion that breaking the law is not the way to achieve the results the African American is looking for. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that, an unjust law is no law at all. King does not feel that they have broken the law, his definitive answer to the clergymen is that a law that is not morally sound is not a law. Laws are made to protect the people not degrade and punish. As far as King is concerned, the African American will continue to do whatever is necessary, preferably non-violently, to obtain the legal and moral right that is theirs. If they are not allowed this peaceful expression of the needs they so desire, it could lead to a much uglier action. Dr. King expressed his concern that if something is not done with these feelings and absolute needs of the African American there will be violence and mayhem. The Negro has many pent-up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him March. History has shown that if a person or people are ignored they will become violent and fight for their God-given rights. King diligently explained that black nationalist groups are becoming prevalent in society and he has faith that the Negro Church has had direct influence in keeping the violence from erupting. However, how can they are expected to stay complacent? Finally, the sheer frustration King felt was with the Church in general. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. There can be no deep disappointment where there in not deep love. This is probably the most heartbreaking assertion King makes. He feels that the Church has skirted its responsibilities to the African American people, hiding behind anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows. King summarizes his letter by making the point that he hopes that the Church will see it's responsibilities it's means it is/you need its as people of God and understand the need for direct action, the justification of unjust laws and the impending danger of the African American rising up in violence if they are not heard. Martin Luther King does this all in a diplomatic, heartfelt and completely inoffensive voice.