Take a photo of a barcode or cover
alanaellsworth 's review for:
This Side of Paradise
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Despite its seemingly slow plot, I believe Fitzgerald has a lot of truth to offer about life in This Side of Paradise. We follow a very arrogant dreamer, Amory Blaine, who attends Princeton and is confident his life will be extraordinary. The story follows him through his late preparatory school experience at St. Regi's, his years at Princeton, and portions of his life that follow. Though Amory's life isn't much more than that of his school journey plus his relationships with a few women throughout his life, it's the subtle truths and conversations unique to Fitzgerald's writing style which makes this novel worthwhile.
Fitzgerald uses Amory's transformation as a person to display the attitudes and dangers of early twentieth century America that are, quite frankly, still a danger today. He goes to Princeton because he thinks of it as being "lazy and aristocratic." Amory's character perfectly encapsulates the phony, arrogant, lazy people who strive for the rewards they never earn and who also don't know where they're going. Amory goes from being the "fundamental Amory," to "Amory plus St. Regi's," to "Amory plus Princeton" until he is no longer himself anymore. His idealistic dreaming eventually turns into cynicism and apathy. He goes to Princeton because he thinks of it as being "lazy and aristocratic," not because any part of him actually cared.
I think it's interesting to compare this novel with The Catcher in the Rye as well. While I think Fitzgerald does a far better job than J. D. Salinger, the similarities are striking. Both have pretentious and lazy main characters, read without truly understanding the books they read, and have a wandering aimlessness to life. Even though each of these main characters aren't likable themselves, I think they capture the naive and unsettled philosophy of life of young people so well.
Amory believes he has a bright, open future and he gradually watches it narrow, both by circumstance and by his own choices. "It was always the becoming he dreamed of, never the being. This, too, was quite characteristic of Amory." The ending of the novel is left a bit inconclusive, but it's appropriate to the novel. What I think Fitzgerald does best is bring to the light the utter emptiness of most human beings: their complete lack of motivation to work for the very things they want, their directionless attitude toward life, and the utter apathy that inevitably ensues later in life as a result. Amory is, in fact, a dislikable protagonist. However, he is a crucial warning against people we know, or possibly the people we could become ourselves.
Fitzgerald uses Amory's transformation as a person to display the attitudes and dangers of early twentieth century America that are, quite frankly, still a danger today. He goes to Princeton because he thinks of it as being "lazy and aristocratic." Amory's character perfectly encapsulates the phony, arrogant, lazy people who strive for the rewards they never earn and who also don't know where they're going. Amory goes from being the "fundamental Amory," to "Amory plus St. Regi's," to "Amory plus Princeton" until he is no longer himself anymore. His idealistic dreaming eventually turns into cynicism and apathy. He goes to Princeton because he thinks of it as being "lazy and aristocratic," not because any part of him actually cared.
I think it's interesting to compare this novel with The Catcher in the Rye as well. While I think Fitzgerald does a far better job than J. D. Salinger, the similarities are striking. Both have pretentious and lazy main characters, read without truly understanding the books they read, and have a wandering aimlessness to life. Even though each of these main characters aren't likable themselves, I think they capture the naive and unsettled philosophy of life of young people so well.
Amory believes he has a bright, open future and he gradually watches it narrow, both by circumstance and by his own choices. "It was always the becoming he dreamed of, never the being. This, too, was quite characteristic of Amory." The ending of the novel is left a bit inconclusive, but it's appropriate to the novel. What I think Fitzgerald does best is bring to the light the utter emptiness of most human beings: their complete lack of motivation to work for the very things they want, their directionless attitude toward life, and the utter apathy that inevitably ensues later in life as a result. Amory is, in fact, a dislikable protagonist. However, he is a crucial warning against people we know, or possibly the people we could become ourselves.