# Gordon Sterrett — Short Fiction character guide

> Gordon Sterrett in Short Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Gordy, Gordon

**First appearance:** 0012-i

## Snapshot

A talented but broke young artist, Gordon Sterrett is caught between his own ruin and the people who want to save him from it.

## Who they are

Gordon Sterrett is the kind of young man whose gifts are real but whose life is already sliding — money gone, work stalled, and the wrong kind of help always within reach. He is tangled with Jewel, with his old crowd, and with the pull of a world that would rather rescue him than let him rescue himself. His struggle between talent and dissolution gives the story its central ache, and his choices in the early and middle chapters set the terms for everything that follows.

## Relationships

### [Philip Dean](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/philip_dean)

_friendship_

Gordon and Philip are old college friends, but their relationship is strained by Gordon's decline and financial desperation.

### [Edith Bradin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/edith_bradin)

_romantic_

Edith is romantically involved with the troubled Gordon, but their relationship is marked by his self-destruction and her growing disillusionment.

### [Philip Dean](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/philip_dean)

_friendship_

Gordon and Philip are old college friends, but their relationship is strained by Gordon's decline and financial desperation.

### [Edith Bradin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/edith_bradin)

_romantic_

Edith is romantically involved with the troubled Gordon, but their relationship is marked by his self-destruction and her growing disillusionment.

### [Philip Dean](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/philip_dean)

_friendship_

Gordon and Philip are old college friends, but their relationship is strained by Gordon's decline and financial desperation.

### [Edith Bradin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/edith_bradin)

_romantic_

Edith is romantically involved with the troubled Gordon, but their relationship is marked by his self-destruction and her growing disillusionment.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/i)

Visits Philip Dean at the Biltmore Hotel, seeking a loan; appears ill, shabbily dressed, and morally and financially bankrupt.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/ii)

Desperate for money, humiliated by Dean's refusal, and anxious about meeting Jewel Hudson.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/iv)

Edith's former love interest, now appearing thin, wan, and despondent, confessing his failures and mental struggles to Edith.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/vii)

Gordon is drunk and heavy-lurching, almost incoherent, as he comes downstairs to meet Jewel. He claims to be sick and unable to get money, and reluctantly agrees to leave with her.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/ix)

Drunk and disheveled, he is confronted by Philip Dean and later led away by Jewel.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/chapters/xi)

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

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters/gordon_sterrett
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_16_se/characters