"Head and Shoulders"

At the age of thirteen, Horace Tarbox takes a text to enter Princeton University, and he is admitted. He receives dozens of academic honors while studying at Princeton, and by the time he is seventeen he is considered the school's greatest scholar. One night, while Horace is studying, he hears a knock on his door. Assuming that it's his laundry, he tells the person to just leave the laundry by the door, but the person states that she's not there to give him his laundry. The girl is actually Marcia, a young actress whom has taken it upon herself to show Horace a different perspective on life. The two of them become close, and Marcia convinces Horace to come watch one of her theater performances. While watching the performance, Horace discovers different emotions and becomes interested in women. As the story goes on, Horace grows an appreciation for other things in life, especially gymnastics. Likewise, Marcia grows an appreciation for literature, and becomes a writer.

To me, this story has a lot to say about expanding one's horizons. It's easy for us to get caught up in doing what we assume we will be doing for the rest of our lives, and we become reluctant to try anything else.  At the same time, it also has a lot to say about sticking to your priorities. Horace becomes caught up in this strange romance with Marcia, and allows himself to wander off from his studies, starting a new hobby of gymnastics. Marcia writes a book, and uses most of her ideas for the book from Horace's life and Horace's views on certain things. If Horace hadn't gotten so caught up in this romance, he may have been able to become a very accomplished scholar. It's interesting to me that this story imply these two opposing themes, and it makes me wonder why Fitzgerald did this.