The Vegetable, or From President to Postman is a short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...

 that he developed into a play

Play (theatre)

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

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Plot

The main character, Jerry Frost is a low-level clerk. He is in an unhappy marriage and throughout the work he is striving for something more, yet he consistently falls short. The setting is both the Midwest and the East.

History

Following The Beautiful and the Damned

The Beautiful And The Damned

The Beautiful and the Damned may refer to:*The Beautiful and Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel.*The Beautiful and the Damned, album by Lash....

, Fitzgerald hoped to secure financial wealth for him and his wife

Wife

A wife is a female partner in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the wife regarding her spouse and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time.-Origin and etymology:...

. He hoped this play would succeed. The author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 was proud of the work, and sank into a deep depression—followed by a drinking binge—when it failed.
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. 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

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

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