Once F. Scott Fitzgerald became a published and successful author, he and Zelda became the icons of their age; the example of care-free living that Fitzgerald wrote of in his novels.

This image included their wild partying. Fitzgerald's new wealth and fame placed them with the elite artists and writers of the Lost Generation; and together, they enjoyed themselves with scandalous dancing and uninterrupted drinking.

But pressure built onto Fitzgerald. He was losing money with extensive partying and drinking. He also took time between publishing new books, allowing time for debt to lure around them. This only drove him to drink more.

As Fitzgerald eased into his fame, his alcoholism only worsened. Zelda began to slip into a mental illness which we can now recognize as schizophrenia. Zelda and Scott fought constantly over money and all their problems. Their lives were falling apart.

And in the midst of it all, the Fitzgerald's had a child, Scottie Fitzgerald. Scottie had an alcoholic father and a skitzophrenica mother. In a study conducted by the Department of Psychology at University of North Carolina, scientists found that young girls are the most effected socially by alcoholic parent in youth, but is subsides slightly in adulthood (Hussong 747).

Once Zelda was admitted to a psychiatric institute, Scott took full responsibility over his daughter and her life. In reflection of Fitzgerald's life, Life magazine recorded in 1956 that Scott was "the severe father, the difficult alcoholic, and the man who loved his child intensely and wanted her confidence alternated all through Scottie's adolescence" (Mizener 97).

F. Scott Fitzgerald had his demons, but he took responsibility in raising his daughter. Scott wanted to pass all the knowledge and values that he could to his daughter, even if he himself did not always abide by the rules he set.

Frances Scott "Scottie" Fitzgerald grew up gracefully, had four children, and died at the age of sixty four, which is significantly longer than both her parents. Despite her difficult childhood, she endured and continue to grow into maturity.

Scottie, despite her disturbed parents, chose to rise above and move on from her past. Unlike his daughter, Fitzgerald embodied the last line of his most famous novel: "so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" (Fitzgerald 180). Fitzgerald was unable to escape his past. But in the end, this freedom is a choice. Alcoholic parents negatively affect their child in countless ways, but it is as simple as a choice to walk on a new path. Scottie chose to forget her pain and therefore became a successful young woman. The children have a choice to overcome; but it is they who must decide. Therefore, alcoholic parents negatively effect their children but it is the children themselves who can change their stars.