The Vegetable, or From President to Postman
The Vegetable, or From President to Postman is a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that he developed into a play.[1]
Background
In the original publication of The Vegetable (1923), F. Scott Fitzgerald included the following quotation on the title page: “Any man who doesn’t want to get on in the world, to make a million dollars, and maybe even park his toothbrush in the White House, hasn’t got as much to him as a good dog has—he’s nothing more or less than a vegetable.” Fitzgerald used this quotation, which he claimed came “from a current magazine,” as a springboard for his only published play. This comic romp satirizes the ambitions of an ordinary man who wants to be President of the United States—that is, if he cannot make it as a postman.[2]
Plot
The play concerns the misadventures of the middle-class striver Jerry Frost. He is a 35-year-old "clerk for the railroad at $35,000 a year. He possesses no eyebrows, but nevertheless he constantly tries to knit them."[3] His marriage to Charlotte (30) is dull, and he is stereotypically hen-pecked by her (cf. Ralph Cramden, Fred Flintstone, Homer Simpson, et al. We learn in the first act that Jerry wanted to be a postman, but that he somehow blames his wife for missing out on this ambition. ...
History
Following The Beautiful and Damned, Fitzgerald hoped to secure financial wealth for him and his wife. He hoped this play would succeed. The author was proud of the work, and sank into a deep depression—followed by a drinking binge—when it failed.[4] Fitzgerald had written and acted in plays (evidenced by works like The Captured Shadow) previously and had a gift for dialogue but the play lacked, according to some critics, focus.[5] Nonetheless, the play is recognized as an achievement, because like many of his works it is an example of the risks he took as an artist.[citation needed]
References
- ^ The vegetable: or, From President to postman, F. S. Fitzgerald. 1976. Scribner Book Company
- ^ Beilke, Debra, "Satirizing the American Nightmare: F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Vegetable" http://www.lexhamarts.org/theater/200107/program.pdf (retrieved 8/24/2016).
- ^ Fitzgerald, F S. The Vegetable: Or, from President to Postman. Clifton, N.J.: A.M. Kelley, 1972. p. 6.
- ^ The critical reputation of F. Scott Fitzgerald. JR Bryer - The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald
- ^ F. Scott Fitzgerald in His Own Time: A Miscellany. FS Fitzgerald, MJ Bruccoli, JR Bryer - 1971 - Kent State University Press