One part of this piece that really struck me was when he was talking about what the one other writer said about being a cracked plate. Plates can be decorative items but they are mainly used to hold food. When one cracks, they can sometimes continue being used only with more care than before. But other times, the plate cannot be used because it can no longer reliably hold food. It cannot fulfill what it was meant for. It becomes useless. You can keep it for sentimental value but more often than not, it is just thrown away and forgotten about.
Fitzgerald seems to think of himself as a cracked plate. He has become useless and has done really nothing but waste money for the past few years. Now he has to re-examine himself to see if he can still get some use out of himself or is he really pointless now for all kinds of work. Though he did manage to "fix" himself in such a way that he was once more useful, it was a difficult process.
But I think that this is process that almost everyone goes through as they get older. Either they retire and wonder what the point of them living is anymore if they are one of those retirees who just stop doing everything anymore once they retire or they look back on their entire life and believe that they have accomplished nothing. Sometimes their plate is well and truly cracked so that they may no longer be able to really do anything of value anymore. But more often than not, if they truly reflect on themselves and their lives, they can find something use of themselves still yet.
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