Scott Fitzgerald the Crack-Up Outline

Scott Fitzgerald "The Crack-Up" Outline

F. Scott Fitzgerald's essay "The Crack-Up" illustrates the author's journey to his authentic self through a bout of mental illness.

General discussion of cracking-up -- creates a witty, objective tone about intimate matter

Fitzgerald uses scholarly comments such as "the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function" to create dispassionate tone

Fitzgerald's specific problems

Discussion of self-doubt in youth -- superficially resolved

Small stature at football

Lack of military service

Embarking on a literary career -- some sense of self-satisfaction

"Up to forty-nine it'll be all right"

Humor in specificity of expected date of the 'crack-up.'

Fitzgerald's distance and use of irony

A. Premature 'crack-up' -- occurred before the expected age of forty-nine (humor again)

B. Vagueness -- begins with example of another writer before discussing his own problem

C. "Not long before, I had sat in the office of a great doctor and listened to a grave sentence" -- again vague about person of whom he is speaking

IV. Humor even in experience of initial crack-up

A. Exact psychological problem never named

1. Describes writing lists

2. 'Loafing'

3. Sudden getting better, then sudden decline -- not even enjoying brushing his teeth (again use of humor)

V. More serious

A. Withdrawal from humanity

B. Bitterness about the world

VI. Coming to terms with revelation brought forth by crack-up

A. Parallels it with being sick as a student at Princeton and losing everything because of his bout with TB

B. Crack-up brings about a revised view of himself as a writer: "That my political conscience had scarcely existed for ten years save as an element of irony in my stuff. When I became again concerned with the system I should function under, it was a man much younger than myself who brought it to me, with a mixture of passion and fresh air."

C. Although it could be interpreted as a 'bad thing,' crack-up brings a new sense of revelation about his place in the world: "I have now at last become a writer only."

VII. Crack-up's final revelation

A. Fitzgerald decides to cease trying to be who he is not

1. Abandons putting on a false sense of social consciousness

2. Looks for truth in writing

B. True self -- warts and all "I do not any longer like the postman, nor the grocer, nor the editor, nor the cousin's husband, and he in turn will come to dislike me, so that life will never be very pleasant again, and the sign Cave Canem is hung permanently just above my door. I will try to be a correct animal though, and if you throw me a bone with enough meat on it I may even lick your hand.

Essay: F. Scott Fitzgerald's essay "The Crack-Up"

F. Scott Fitzgerald's essay "The Crack-Up" illustrates the author's journey to his authentic self as a writer. The idea that writers find artistic truth for madness is a common trope, even a cliche. However, Fitzgerald's essay uses a great deal of humor and irony to illustrate the importance of his mental breakdown in his journey as a writer, and ultimately the essay transcends this conventional image of madness in art because of its use of humor.

Fitzgerald sets the tone of the essay in his first paragraph. It begins with a general discussion of cracking-up, rather than immediate personal exposition. This creates a witty, dispassionate, and objective tone about an intimate matter like a mental breakdown. Fitzgerald even occasionally adopts a kind of faux scholarly tone, in his use of academic comments such as "the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function."

Gradually, the essay begins to address Fitzgerald's specific mental problems. Fitzgerald makes clear that his sense of self-doubts and personal anxieties are of a long-standing nature. He discusses how his small stature in football made it impossible to realize his dreams of athletic glory. He also notes how his poor health and his lack of military service galled him because he never attained heroic stature in the eyes of the world. This sense of inadequacy permeates his life, and even after coming to terms with the limits of his body, Fitzgerald instead decided to embark upon a 'serious' literary career to prove his worth to the world.

Fitzgerald clearly continued to have a sense of doubt and foreboding about his fragile mental state. However, he attempted to quiet such doubts by repeatedly telling himself that: "Up to forty-nine it'll be all right." Even in this sense of morbidity about his future, there is a great deal of humor in specificity of expected date of the 'crack-up,' once again showing Fitzgerald's use of distance and sense of irony, even when discussing a very personal topic.

However, Fitzgerald experienced a premature 'crack-up' that occurred before the expected 'due date' of forty-nine. In discussing the actual onset of the mental breakdown, Fitzgerald is very vague. There is no discussion of a specific diagnosis. He even begins by using an example of another writer before discussing his own problem, as if trying to keep the crack-up at arm's length throughout the essay for as long as possible. He speaks of another unpleasant tragedy that occurred in his life: "not long before, I had sat in the office of a great doctor and listened to a grave sentence" -- again vague about the nature of what the grave sentence was, or who it was about.

Quickly, once again Fitzgerald uses humor in talking about the initial symptoms of cracking up: the nameless metal problem leaves him writing lists, paralyzed by inertia, a sense of suddenly getting better, then a sudden decline into not even enjoying brushing his teeth or other mundane tasks that are carefully listed. Finally, Fitzgerald takes a more serious tone as he talks about his withdrawal from humanity, and his hatred of almost all classes of the human race and utter bitterness about the world.