# XI explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

## What happens

Gordon Sterrett awakens in a cheap hotel room, hungover and in despair, and realizes he has married Jewel Hudson. He buys a revolver, returns to his room, and commits suicide.

## Themes in this chapter

### Ambition and Disillusionment

Gordon Sterrett's despair and suicide reflect the collapse of his ambitions and the disillusionment of his life.

## Character check-ins

### Gordon Sterrett

Awakens in a hotel room, realizes he is married to Jewel Hudson, and commits suicide.

## Key lines

> In a bedroom of a small hotel just off Sixth Avenue Gordon Sterrett awoke with a pain in the back of his head and a sick throbbing in all his veins.

Gordon Sterrett woke up in a small hotel room near Sixth Avenue, suffering from a headache and a pounding pulse.

_Describes Gordon's physical state upon waking._

> He went out half an hour later and bought a revolver at a sporting goods store. Then he took a taxi to the room where he had been living on East Twenty-seventh Street, and, leaning across the table that held his drawing materials, fired a cartridge into his head just behind the temple.

Thirty minutes later, he purchased a revolver from a sporting goods store, took a taxi to his former residence on East 27th Street, and shot himself in the head over his drawing table.

_Details Gordon's suicide._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/xi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_16_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters