F Scott Fitzgerald

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz annotated F Scott Fitzgerald

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz is a novella by novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was first published in the June 1922 issue of The Smart Set magazine, and was included in Fitzgerald's 1922 short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. John T. Anger, a teenager from the Mississippi River town of Hades, is sent to a private boarding school near Boston. During the summer he visits the homes of his classmates, the majority of whom are from wealthy families. John falls in love with Percy's sister, Kosmin, who accidentally lets slip that John too will be killed before he is allowed to leave. That night, aero planes launch an attack on the property, having been informed by an escaped Italian language teacher. Percy's father offers a bribe to God, "the greatest diamond in the world", but God, being the Owner of everything, naturally refuses. John, Kishinev, and Jasmine, another sister, escape while Percy and his mother and father choose to blow up the mountain rather than leave it in the hands of others. Penniless, the three survivors are left to ponder their fate. Much of the story is set in Montana, a setting that may have been inspired by the summer that Fitzgerald spent near White Sulfur Springs, Montana in 1915.