The Jelly-Bean by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald | Published: October 1920

The Jelly-Bean Synopsis

"The Jelly-Bean" is a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was first published in The Metropolitan magazine in October 1920 and later in the Tales of the Jazz Age short story collection in 1922. Since "The Ice Palace" was created as a prequel to this tale, the character Clark Darrow appears in both.

Jim Powell is known as a Jelly-Bean, a person who is lazy and has no sense of purpose. Powell was raised in a middle-class household. His father was killed in a drunken fight when he was pretty young. After his father's death, Powell decided to work as a delivery boy for groceries. He evolved into something more than a "Jelly-Bean" when he met an old classmate by chance.

Excerpt from The Jelly-Bean Online Book

Jim Powell was a Jelly–bean. Much as I desire to make him an appealing character, I feel that it would be unscrupulous to deceive you on that point. He was a bred–in–the–bone, dyed–in–the–wool, ninety–nine three–quarters per cent Jelly–bean and he grew lazily all during Jelly–bean season, which is every season, down in the land of the Jelly–beans well below the Mason–Dixon line.

Now if you call a Memphis man a Jelly–bean he will quite possibly pull a long sinewy rope from his hip pocket and hang you to a convenient telegraph–pole.

About F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St Paul, Minnesota, in 1896. He is one of the most influential American authors of the early 20th century. He is well known for his writing style, which incorporated elements of modernism, romanticism, and realism to craft stories that resonate with readers today. Fitzgerald became a sensation with his first novel, This Side Of Paradise, published in 1920. This marked the beginning of a prolific career, during which he wrote three more novels and produced numerous short stories for magazines like Saturday Evening Post and Esquire. Find out more about F. Scott Fitzgerald at sevenov.com.