"The Baby Party" is a short story published by
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
in ''
Hearst's International Cosmopolitan
''Cosmopolitan'' is an American monthly fashion and entertainment magazine for women, first published based in New York City in March 1886 as a family magazine; it was later transformed into a literary magazine and, since 1965, has become a List ...
'' (February 1925).
Plot
The story centers on a young couple, John and Edith Andros. They are the parents of Ede, their two-and-half-year-old daughter. Although the prospect of having a child to continue his name and livelihood appeals to the father, the day-to-day realities soon irritate him. Early on it is apparent this creates discord among the couple.
The daughter is invited to a party, which John begrudgingly attends. After Ede injures one of the other children, he ends up in a fistfight with another father. At the close of the story, he insists his wife apologize for the mess, and he holds his daughter while she falls asleep in his arms.
In the story the children have characteristics of adults while the adults act like children.
[''The Portable F. Scott Fitzgerald'', D Parker, 1949, The Viking Press]
History
"The Baby Party" was written while Fitzgerald was in his infamous period of financial hardship. He was completing the final proof stage for ''
The Great Gatsby
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby ...
'' and needed to support himself financially. It was later collected in ''
All the Sad Young Men''.
References
External links
Full text of "The Baby Party"at Project Gutenberg Australia
1925 short stories
Short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Works originally published in Cosmopolitan (magazine)
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