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Head and Shoulders
I don't care for this, he said as if he were talking to himself-- "at all. Not that I mind your being here-- I don't. You're quite a pretty little thing, but I don't like Charlie Moon's sending you up here. Am I a laboratory experiment on which the janitors as well as the chemists can make experiments? Is my intellectual development humorous in any way? Do I look like the pictures of the little Boston boy in the comic magazines? Has that callow ass, Moon, with his eternal tales about his week in Paris, any right to.
48 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1920
47 people are currently reading
355 people want to read
About the author
F. Scott Fitzgerald
2,332 books25.5k followersFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald, widely known simply as Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age, a term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
Born into a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised primarily in New York state. He attended Princeton University where he befriended future literary critic Edmund Wilson. Owing to a failed romantic relationship with Chicago socialite Ginevra King, he dropped out in 1917 to join the United States Army during World War I. While stationed in Alabama, he met Zelda Sayre, a Southern debutante who belonged to Montgomery's exclusive country-club set. Although she initially rejected Fitzgerald's marriage proposal due to his lack of financial prospects, Zelda agreed to marry him after he published the commercially successful This Side of Paradise (1920). The novel became a cultural sensation and cemented his reputation as one of the eminent writers of the decade.
His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. To maintain his affluent lifestyle, he wrote numerous stories for popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. During this period, Fitzgerald frequented Europe, where he befriended modernist writers and artists of the "Lost Generation" expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway. His third novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), received generally favorable reviews but was a commercial failure, selling fewer than 23,000 copies in its first year. Despite its lackluster debut, The Great Gatsby is now hailed by some literary critics as the "Great American Novel". Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934).
Struggling financially because of the declining popularity of his works during the Great Depression, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood, where he embarked upon an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter. While living in Hollywood, he cohabited with columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. After a long struggle with alcoholism, he attained sobriety only to die of a heart attack in 1940, at 44. His friend Edmund Wilson edited and published an unfinished fifth novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), after Fitzgerald's death. In 1993, a new edition was published as The Love of the Last Tycoon, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli.
Born into a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised primarily in New York state. He attended Princeton University where he befriended future literary critic Edmund Wilson. Owing to a failed romantic relationship with Chicago socialite Ginevra King, he dropped out in 1917 to join the United States Army during World War I. While stationed in Alabama, he met Zelda Sayre, a Southern debutante who belonged to Montgomery's exclusive country-club set. Although she initially rejected Fitzgerald's marriage proposal due to his lack of financial prospects, Zelda agreed to marry him after he published the commercially successful This Side of Paradise (1920). The novel became a cultural sensation and cemented his reputation as one of the eminent writers of the decade.
His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. To maintain his affluent lifestyle, he wrote numerous stories for popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. During this period, Fitzgerald frequented Europe, where he befriended modernist writers and artists of the "Lost Generation" expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway. His third novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), received generally favorable reviews but was a commercial failure, selling fewer than 23,000 copies in its first year. Despite its lackluster debut, The Great Gatsby is now hailed by some literary critics as the "Great American Novel". Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934).
Struggling financially because of the declining popularity of his works during the Great Depression, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood, where he embarked upon an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter. While living in Hollywood, he cohabited with columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. After a long struggle with alcoholism, he attained sobriety only to die of a heart attack in 1940, at 44. His friend Edmund Wilson edited and published an unfinished fifth novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), after Fitzgerald's death. In 1993, a new edition was published as The Love of the Last Tycoon, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
January 31, 2022
Incel Learns To Be Normal And Finally Pulls
June 12, 2012
*** Spoiler Alert***
Amazing story. I like how they use the title "head and shoulders"!
Here is a pragmatic, passionate person turning his life from a scholar to a lover.
As an open ended story, it is leaves a lot of scope for imagination.
So herein follows mine!!
"About raps. Don't answer them! Let them alone—have a padded
door."
There is a hurt which is intense and pricky. The sentiment of failure clouds the moment the dialogue is delivered.
Would the prodigy question his beautiful life built out of scrap with the devotion of the couple? I hope it is just the sentiment of a moment. :P
Can he let the play of luck trick him into questioning his entire life's choices??
Will the unintentional development in their life destroy the basis of the intentional spirit of their relationship?
Would he be able to move on with his life with the same passion and still love his wife and to be child?
Would he gather that his dream lies unfulfilled and probably that is what this call is from! Can he pick up that maybe he wants to study realism not just for existence but for the love of it?
Can he go back to fulfill his dream out of his desire and joy in pursuing it or would it be out of vengeance towards himself, his wife and their choices??
The lady would sure be astounded by her success. She would be proud too. Can she see the uncalled response of her husband and gauge its implication? Would she be sensitive enough to shoulder his dreams from skepticism and to physical reality? Or would she arrogantly dismiss his upset!
In a relationship built out of mutual comfort of being able to keep ego clashes out of question for this long by the virtue of separate lines of work, will they be able to sustain the tsunami that may just be overboard?
I guess a relationship builds on communication. If they cannot understand at any point the implicit meanings of each-others responses, a discussion should ensue. Sensitivity towards each-other has driven them so far, and wonderfully well I may say! This is another moment which asks for it, one of the most crucial ones!!
May love win!! ...Peace...
Amazing story. I like how they use the title "head and shoulders"!
Here is a pragmatic, passionate person turning his life from a scholar to a lover.
As an open ended story, it is leaves a lot of scope for imagination.
So herein follows mine!!
"About raps. Don't answer them! Let them alone—have a padded
door."
There is a hurt which is intense and pricky. The sentiment of failure clouds the moment the dialogue is delivered.
Would the prodigy question his beautiful life built out of scrap with the devotion of the couple? I hope it is just the sentiment of a moment. :P
Can he let the play of luck trick him into questioning his entire life's choices??
Will the unintentional development in their life destroy the basis of the intentional spirit of their relationship?
Would he be able to move on with his life with the same passion and still love his wife and to be child?
Would he gather that his dream lies unfulfilled and probably that is what this call is from! Can he pick up that maybe he wants to study realism not just for existence but for the love of it?
Can he go back to fulfill his dream out of his desire and joy in pursuing it or would it be out of vengeance towards himself, his wife and their choices??
The lady would sure be astounded by her success. She would be proud too. Can she see the uncalled response of her husband and gauge its implication? Would she be sensitive enough to shoulder his dreams from skepticism and to physical reality? Or would she arrogantly dismiss his upset!
In a relationship built out of mutual comfort of being able to keep ego clashes out of question for this long by the virtue of separate lines of work, will they be able to sustain the tsunami that may just be overboard?
I guess a relationship builds on communication. If they cannot understand at any point the implicit meanings of each-others responses, a discussion should ensue. Sensitivity towards each-other has driven them so far, and wonderfully well I may say! This is another moment which asks for it, one of the most crucial ones!!
May love win!! ...Peace...
November 9, 2021
Love heals anything and everything. Love makes people do impossible things or I should say necessity makes them do things that were impossible once or unimagined once.
August 3, 2025
teenage philosophy prodigy Horace Tarbox is surprised in his rooms one day by a young actress named Marcia Meadows, sent as a joke by a friend. the socially inept Horace is almost instantly smitten, and gives up the intellectual life to care for Marcia, who loves him very much in turn. follows the ups and downs of their poor married life. a very sweet romance that ends in a Wilde-esque twist. 4.5 stars.
June 10, 2012
Having recently completed my formal education and waiting to be 25 in a couple of months this story came as a not so pleasant spooky and terrifying surprise.
Here I am waiting for the start of my next phase of life and bang! came Fitzgerald with the perfect example of irony in life.
This story about a young precocious man who marries his love is not the vanilla that you expect from a love story. The use and effect of the title leaves a remarkable impact on the reader.
So much that having read the book last month I was thinking about this story tossing and turning in bed last night. The events in the last few days of my life brought me thinking and you fucking Fitzgerald were ready to pounce on the chance of my vulnerability.
It's a short story but it sure has scarred me for life.
Here I am waiting for the start of my next phase of life and bang! came Fitzgerald with the perfect example of irony in life.
This story about a young precocious man who marries his love is not the vanilla that you expect from a love story. The use and effect of the title leaves a remarkable impact on the reader.
So much that having read the book last month I was thinking about this story tossing and turning in bed last night. The events in the last few days of my life brought me thinking and you fucking Fitzgerald were ready to pounce on the chance of my vulnerability.
It's a short story but it sure has scarred me for life.
May 17, 2023
ასეა, ბევრისგან მსმენია ჭკვიანი ადამიანი ამ ხელფასზე არ იმუშავებს და თავისი ბრალიაო, მარა ცხოვრება ასეა, ზოგჯერ ყველაფრის კეთება გიწევს. გარემოცვა, ვინც რაღაც მეთოდებით შენზე უკეთაა, თავისი ჭკუით, თვლის რომ შენ სადაც ხარ ამაზე მეტს არ იმსახურებ და ზუსტად მანდ, ჭაობში ხედავს შენ თავს. კარგი მოთხრობაა. ❤️
December 7, 2022
is this guy going to become one of my favorite authors 👎
April 20, 2017
This may just be my favorite of Fitzgerald's (can I call him Scott??) short stories. No surprise, as I am a sucker for a good love story. These two were adorable. They tackled anything that came their way. It was really nice (and a great change from the last couple stories). I loved it and I'm sure I'll read it again and again!!
(There's only slight moments through these where I think there's slang and such that I don't get, but you know just gotta brush it off because Scott [:D] is just that good).
(There's only slight moments through these where I think there's slang and such that I don't get, but you know just gotta brush it off because Scott [:D] is just that good).
January 26, 2018
This is another short story that I enjoyed besides Oscar Wilde's short stories.
I found it funny and realistic(?) since it talks about efforts you will do for your family.
The efforts might be different from your expectations or from your dreams.. but yeah.. that's actually what sometimes happen in reality.
I like Horace's character. He is so introvert, genius and serious, but later he finds another "part" of himself.
I also enjoyed the description that Fitzgerald puts to explain his irritation and his nerdiness.
An amazing piece from Fitzgerald.
I found it funny and realistic(?) since it talks about efforts you will do for your family.
The efforts might be different from your expectations or from your dreams.. but yeah.. that's actually what sometimes happen in reality.
I like Horace's character. He is so introvert, genius and serious, but later he finds another "part" of himself.
I also enjoyed the description that Fitzgerald puts to explain his irritation and his nerdiness.
An amazing piece from Fitzgerald.
September 21, 2015
You may read online at The Library of America • Story of the Week.
Opening lines:
n 1915 Horace Tarbox was thirteen years old. In that year he took the examinations for entrance to Princeton University and received the Grade A—excellent—in Cæsar, Cicero, Vergil, Xenophon, Homer, Algebra, Plane Geometry, Solid Geometry, and Chemistry.
Opening lines:
n 1915 Horace Tarbox was thirteen years old. In that year he took the examinations for entrance to Princeton University and received the Grade A—excellent—in Cæsar, Cicero, Vergil, Xenophon, Homer, Algebra, Plane Geometry, Solid Geometry, and Chemistry.
June 25, 2017
'About raps. Don’t answer them! Let them alone – have a padded door.'
June 8, 2017
Something about this story clicked with me, and I adored it from the first word to the last. I don't know if it's because I relate with Tarbox, or if I loved Marcia, or if it's both of those things or neither, but when I finished the story I felt simultaneously conflicted and satisfied.
There's a line in the story that reads: "But when you opened your door at the rap of life you let in many things". This short story is life, and when you open it to read you let many questions and thoughts in, and just like life, some of them you have to be okay with mulling over longer than others.
There's a line in the story that reads: "But when you opened your door at the rap of life you let in many things". This short story is life, and when you open it to read you let many questions and thoughts in, and just like life, some of them you have to be okay with mulling over longer than others.
March 29, 2024
A lovely short story packed with wit and irony. A cheerful and endearing depiction of love reminiscent of Rousseau and Levasseur. (Rousseau openly admitted that she was the opposite of bright, while he was a revered intellectual.)
Some thoughts, unexhaustive. Opening yourself up to life is quite equivalent to letting go of the specifics. Expressing yourself is difficult, but we all try to do it regardless of our own distinct limitations. There is often more to people than meets the eye.
More specifically, Fitzgerald reminds us, high IQ people have been socially reduced to odd bookworms, even though they have complex emotional lives and needs — just like everyone else. Correspondingly, pretty girls (and often women in general) are (de-)characterized by objectification and stereotyping. (Note: This is infinitely more deprived and unethical than ”just” thinking of someone as weird or boring.)
On a more positive note, I really liked the part where the protagonist’s chair is revealed to be Hume reincarnated. I also have a chair. Perhaps I’ll start calling him Fitzgerald.
Some thoughts, unexhaustive. Opening yourself up to life is quite equivalent to letting go of the specifics. Expressing yourself is difficult, but we all try to do it regardless of our own distinct limitations. There is often more to people than meets the eye.
More specifically, Fitzgerald reminds us, high IQ people have been socially reduced to odd bookworms, even though they have complex emotional lives and needs — just like everyone else. Correspondingly, pretty girls (and often women in general) are (de-)characterized by objectification and stereotyping. (Note: This is infinitely more deprived and unethical than ”just” thinking of someone as weird or boring.)
On a more positive note, I really liked the part where the protagonist’s chair is revealed to be Hume reincarnated. I also have a chair. Perhaps I’ll start calling him Fitzgerald.
November 12, 2020
Idk how to make a review with this one but I think these lines says a lot.
__________________________________
‘We’ll call ourselves Head and Shoulders, dear,’ she said softly, ‘and the shoulders’ll have to keep shaking a little longer until the old head gets started.’
__________________________________
‘It’s nothing,’ said Horace quietly. ‘But if you can think of any nicer way of a man killing himself than taking a risk for you, why that’s the way I want to die.’
Marcia reached up and wound both arms tightly round his neck.
‘Kiss me,’ she whispered, ‘and call me “dear heart.” I love to hear you say “dear heart.” And bring me a book to read to-morrow ... I’ve been wild for something to do all day. I felt like writing letters, but I didn’t have anybody to write to.’
‘Write to me,’ said Horace. ‘I’ll read them.’
‘I wish I could,’ breathed Marcia. ‘If I knew words enough I could write you the longest love-letter in the world – and never get tired.’
__________________________________
‘We’ll call ourselves Head and Shoulders, dear,’ she said softly, ‘and the shoulders’ll have to keep shaking a little longer until the old head gets started.’
__________________________________
‘It’s nothing,’ said Horace quietly. ‘But if you can think of any nicer way of a man killing himself than taking a risk for you, why that’s the way I want to die.’
Marcia reached up and wound both arms tightly round his neck.
‘Kiss me,’ she whispered, ‘and call me “dear heart.” I love to hear you say “dear heart.” And bring me a book to read to-morrow ... I’ve been wild for something to do all day. I felt like writing letters, but I didn’t have anybody to write to.’
‘Write to me,’ said Horace. ‘I’ll read them.’
‘I wish I could,’ breathed Marcia. ‘If I knew words enough I could write you the longest love-letter in the world – and never get tired.’
December 4, 2025
"....when you opened your door at the rap of life, you let in many things."
A story about not getting stuck in a life rut. It's about deciding not to let others tell you what your goals are to be in life, no matter their desire to typecast you.
And most importantly, to accept the surprises life throws your way and, well, to quote an old saying, make lemonade of them.
Many times one's preferred choice of how to live their life, is a protective shell, that is comforting because it keeps you isolated from the world outside and all its unpredictable elements.
Both Heads and Shoulders, in this story, eventually face the challenges in life, make the best of what it has thrown their way, and don't have any regrets about.
Another good story to take to heart.
A story about not getting stuck in a life rut. It's about deciding not to let others tell you what your goals are to be in life, no matter their desire to typecast you.
And most importantly, to accept the surprises life throws your way and, well, to quote an old saying, make lemonade of them.
Many times one's preferred choice of how to live their life, is a protective shell, that is comforting because it keeps you isolated from the world outside and all its unpredictable elements.
Both Heads and Shoulders, in this story, eventually face the challenges in life, make the best of what it has thrown their way, and don't have any regrets about.
Another good story to take to heart.
August 23, 2017
This is different from some of Fitzgerald's other works which is refreshing. It centers around a intellectual prodigy who gives up pursuing his education when he falls in love with an actress. It deals with self-identity and how the separation between one's personal and public persona can misguide society. Since the public regularly makes assumptions and snap-judgements in order to shape a reputation of someone, it shows how society may judge someone to be different than who they actually are. Humans are much more complex than society would like to believe.
May 1, 2021
What an interesting short story. It starts out rather slow, though there is a payoff in the end. It presages our modern times where the person who is the opposite of the prodigy is elevated as the talent worth celebrating. At the same time the prodigy is the bread winner who enabled the 'real talent' to flourish. The young couple, one is the head and one is the shoulders, literally switch roles. It seems like Fitzgerald is getting his digs in on popular best sellers versus literature or scholarly tomes. Audible edition.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 21, 2020
A whirl wind romance that takes a couple in an unexpected direction. Once again, Fitzgerald's writing gives warm and fuzzy feelings that transports me to the 1920s. He has a way with words that captures me. The contrasting personalities of the couple makes an interesting love story as we get opposing ways of thinking that shakily blend together. There's a question of will these two last at all.
October 4, 2025
I often say this about short stories. They are one of the hardest form of literature to write. I didn't mind this one very much. I also could see Fitzgerald in it from beginning to end.
A younger me would surly enjoy it more but I enjoyed a good amount (why don't I sound like myself?) The clash of two worlds.. a show girl and a prodigy only for ironically their worlds end up switched..
2 stars here is not a bad rating on my scale. I suppose it's only because I won't remember it
A younger me would surly enjoy it more but I enjoyed a good amount (why don't I sound like myself?) The clash of two worlds.. a show girl and a prodigy only for ironically their worlds end up switched..
2 stars here is not a bad rating on my scale. I suppose it's only because I won't remember it
February 6, 2020
I found this book to be interesting, and one of the better stories I’ve read of F. Scott Fitzgerald. I find it odd that the ending happened the way it did, but I suppose it is the disconnect to how life is now to how life was. I enjoyed Marcia much more then Horace, and that kept going until the end. Horace seems very arrogant, and I certainly would not be friends with him, at the start, anyway.
January 17, 2018
Were Fitzgerald alive today, I would have him brought before a literary tribunal for crimes against humanity for not having this be a 1,000 page novel as opposed to the short story it remains today. Highly recommended!
November 24, 2019
*for my AP lit research project* I like how easy Fitzgerald is to understand. I thought this quote was funny: "I hope I haven't given you the impression that I consider kissing intrinsically irrational".
November 2, 2021
“Poor gauzy souls trying to express ourselves in something tangible. Marcia with her written book; I with my unwritten ones. Trying to choose our mediums and then taking what we get—and being glad.”
(p. 22)
(p. 22)
May 18, 2024
Hit or miss story. On the one hand it is a charming story about partnership and what you’re willing to do for love and family, on the other hand it is missing a certain flare that Fitzgerald is usually able to capture in his stories.
October 27, 2024
I didn't read the point of the story... yes, there were characters and yes they had a life and interacted But what was the function for the story. I'll need to read reviews here of those who follow Fitzgerald.
December 29, 2024
Read this in Portuguese, in a small edition for The curious case of Benjamin Button and found it to be a lovely short story in a style I haven’t read in quite some time and which brings a nice degree of expected surprise.
May 25, 2019
Once she was unable to keep carrying the responsibility on her shoulders, he had to get out of his head and do it.
May 23, 2020
Again, abrupt ending.
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May 28, 2020This was one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's first published short stories. It reminded me a little of the writing of O. Henry with its ironic ending.
December 23, 2020
Very sweet short story!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews