The Cut-Glass Bowl by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald | Published: May 1920

The Cut-Glass Bowl Synopsis

"The Cut-Glass Bowl" is a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was initially published in the May 1920 issue of Scribner's Magazine and later that year was included in part of the collection of short stories, Flappers and Philosophers.

Evylyn Piper is a housewife. When Evylyn married, she received a cut-glass bowl as a wedding gift from her previous suitor. The bowl becomes a witness to Evylyn's marriage life. She and her husband, Harold, experience a series of challenging or heartbreaking events centered around this cut-glass bowl.

Excerpt from The Cut-Glass Bowl Online Book

There was a rough stone age and a smooth stone age and a bronze age, and many years afterward a cut–glass age. In the cut–glass age, when young ladies had persuaded young men with long, curly mustaches to marry them, they sat down several months afterward and wrote thank–you notes for all sorts of cut–glass presents—punch–bowls, finger–bowls, dinner–glasses, wine–glasses, ice–cream dishes, bonbon dishes, decanters, and vases—for, though cut glass was nothing new in the nineties, it was then especially busy reflecting the dazzling light of fashion from the Back Bay to the fastnesses of the Middle West. After the wedding the punch–bowls were arranged in the sideboard with the big bowl in the centre; the glasses were set up in the china–closet; the candlesticks were put at both ends of things—and then the struggle for existence began.

About F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St Paul, Minnesota, on September 24th, 1896. After studying at Princeton University for three years without graduating, Fitzgerald moved to New York and worked briefly in advertising before dedicating himself entirely to writing fiction. Fitzgerald is one of the most renowned authors of all time. He is best known for his novel The Great Gatsby, which paints a vivid portrait of the Roaring Twenties and has become a classic piece of American literature. Find out more about F. Scott Fitzgerald at sevenov.com.