If you're going toe to toe with Moms and Pops, you might have to answer a few uncomfortable questions about teaching Tender is the Night. Fitzgerald doesn't shy away from some pretty tough stuff and you might find yourself trying to justify teaching a text with so much infidelity and sex and drinking. Yup, you got the trifecta of uncomfortable subjects for a high school class, but despite all this, the novel is undeniably important.

Time after time experts in American literature cite Fitzgerald as one of the greatest American writers. He's recognized for his talent in portraying American life in the early 1900s, often without the pervasive motifs of war or Depression.