About the Author

By: Florina Wang

Authors Biography
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald
Born: St. Paul, Minnesota
September 24, 1896 Decembe
r 21, 1940
An American author of novels
and short stories
Born in an upper-middle class
Irish Catholic Family
The only son of Edward Fitzge
rald (1853-1931) and Mary 'M
ollie' McQuillan (1860-1936),
but had one sister, Annabel
(1901)
 Met Zelda Sayre (1900-1948) in Mon
tgomery, Alabama.
A year later they were engaged, bu
t Zelda broke it off a few months
later.
Francis and Zelda married on April
3, 1920, at St Patricks Cathedra
l in New York City. He died of a m
assive heart attack in 1940, where
Zelda died in a fire on 1948.
Their daughter Frances Scott Sco
ttie was born on October 26, 192
1 and died on June 16, 1986.
Summary
Donald Plant landed in an airport in the western part o
f a city and he has three hours of free time before his
next flight.
He decided to visit his childhood friend by the name of
Nancy Holmes since his wife has passed away. Nancy H
olmes is now known as Mrs Walter Gifford.
After giving her a call, he went to her house and they s
pent some time chatting.
Since her husband wasnt in, she and Daniel began to g
o close to each other to the point that they almost kiss
ed.
 Summary

By: Chew Sook Rui

 This led to Mrs Gifford to switch to looking at their childh
ood photos. She showed Donald a photo who she thinks i
s him as a child.
Donald tells her that it is not him in the photo.
She realised that she has mistaken Donald Plant as Donal
d Bowers, her childhood lover.
She is distraught because she has been reminiscing her ch
ildhood romance with the wrong Donald.
Ashamed, she asked Donald to leave her house. Donald le
ft with a heavy heart.
Significance of the Title

By: Sharleena Jaelyn

 Those three hours between his planes were the
very hours that changed Donald Plant from:
a passionate ex-lover to an empty, worn ou
t man
a man who held on tight to the past to one
who looks ahead of the future
a man who was still a part of his 10-year-
old childhood to a grown man of thirty-two
a man whose mind was clouded by unresolved
dreams to a down-to-earth man of maturity
Reference quotes for evidence:
I told her you were the girl I loved almost as muc
h as I loved her. But I think I really loved you jus
t as much. When we moved out of town, I carried you
like a cannon ball in my insides.
For five binding minutes, he had lived like a madm
an in two worlds at once. He had been a boy of twelv
e and a man of thirty-two, indissolubly and helpless
ly comingled.
Donald had lost a good deal, too, in those hours b
etween the planes but since the second half of li
fe is a long process of getting rid of things, that
part of the experience probably didnt matter.
Literary Criticism Theories

Ahmad Muzakkir bin Mohamad

 From the short story that we have read and dis
cussed, Three Hours between Planes by F. Scott
Fitzgerald, we can identify two theories of li
terary criticism that are social and cultural.

From the social criticism perspectives, we can

identify bits of unfaithful relationship betwe
en Mr. and Mrs. Walter Gifford. Mrs. Gifford c
ould sense that her husband is straying away f
rom their marriage. It is proven from the text
when Mrs. Gifford told Donald Plant that she f
elt something amiss with her husband
 She hesitated, '--and I think he's intereste
d in someone in New York--and I don't know.

In general, the husband should not make a mock

ery out of his marriage. Mockery here is meant
by having affairs with other women and disrega
rding his own wife. From our point of view, we
feel that the writer should shed some light on
what the husband actually did in New York. Thi
s is to lift the burden of the reader in figur
ing out the doings of the husband.
 From the cultural criticism perspectives, ther
e are two events that reflect the westerners.
One of the events in the story that clearly di
stinguishes the easterners and the westerners
is the usage of alcohol as a company for lonel
iness. In our opinion, alcohol is not the appr
opriate solution to cure loneliness. It will o
nly bring more harm than good. Instead, we sho
uld resort to other positive alternatives such
as sports, arts or music. Mrs Gifford uses whi
sky to compensate her loneliness. This can be
found from the story,

'Have a highball?' she asked. 'No? Please do

n't think I've become a secret drinker, but th
 Another event that shows the complete distinction
between western and eastern culture is their open
ness in expressing their feelings. The way they s
how their feelings towards each other is too open
. Donald Plant asked Mrs. Gifford to kiss her and
never tell the story to her husband. In the short
story Donald tell something to Mrs. Gifford.

'Kiss me once more,' he said inconsistently, but

Nancy had turned a page and was pointing eagerly
at a picture.

From our eastern viewpoint, it is not proper for

a woman to simply kiss a man although he is her c
hildhood friend.