zgerald did not come from the same privileged background that his wife had; his family had Southern roots, living in Rockville, Maryland, near Baltimore, and were related to Francis Scott Key, author of "the Star-Spangled Banner," whom Scott was named for (Bruccoli 11-12). Fitzgerald was keenly aware of both his Southern heritage and his Midwestern roots, as the two traditions would clearly influence his future works (Meyers 23).
Both of Fitzgerald's parents were Roman Catholic, and as a result, Scott attended church weekly, and was sent to a Catholic boarding school, Newman, in Lakewood, New Jersey when he was a young man (Bruccoli 7). Fitzgerald's education and forays in the St. Paul social scene were all funded by money from the McQuillan side of the family. Throughout his childhood, Fitzgerald's father struggled with various business endeavors. His wicker furniture business failed in 1898, when Fitzgerald was only two, and the family was forced to move to Buffalo, New York, where Edward was transferred by Proctor & Gamble, where he had taken a position as a wholesale grocery salesman (Meyers 25-27). In 1908, Edward lost his job with Proctor & Gamble, mainly because he was not a particularly good salesman. The family was forced to move back to St. Paul, where they took up residence with Mollie's mother (Bruccoli 24).
Fitzgerald's family was thus plagued by financial problems throughout his childhood. As a result, he became preoccupied with the distinctions between the social classes. Indeed, his mother's family's dwindling wealth allowed him to glimpse into the world of prep schools and country clubs, but his father's business failures prevented him from fully entering high society (Turnbull 14). Consequently, Fitzgerald often felt isolated from his classmates because of their different financial circumstances. When he began his college career at Princeton University in September 1913, Fitzgerald had difficu...