This Side of Paradise

I read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise. I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend this book to other people. There was one main character throughout this novel. The main characters name was Amory Blaine. Amory Blaine was a very attractive man who was truly in love with himself. Blaine fell in love with several women throughout the book. He truly falls in love with a woman named Rosalind who eventually ends up breaking his heart by marrying someone far richer than himself. With that happening Amory Blaine turns into more of a player. Amory attends a boarding school in the beginning of the novel and then he attends Princeton. Amory Blaine eventually gets a job in New York advertising but in the end he loses his friends and almost everything.

This story was basically about following the life of Amory Blaine. It starts out following him through his childhood and the book ends around the age of 24. Amory starts out attending St. Regis prep school and eventually ends up in World War 2 then quitting his advertising job in New York City. One of the only people Amory trusted all his life was a man named Monsignor Darcy, who Blaine considered a friend and father figure. Monsignor Darcy passes away in the summertime which leaves Blaine heartbroken. Also in the summertime, his family leaves him with no money and Blaine decides to walk back to Princeton where he eventually arrives and suddenly misses Rosalind even after she broke his heart.

I could not relate to Amory Blaine. His character was way too different then me. Blaine liked to write and eventually was a part of Princeton’s school paper. I do not like

to write if I don’t have too. Blaine also never knew what he had until it was gone, and he took almost everything for granted. Another difference between us is Amory never acted happy even if he was, I am always happy and I don’t normally let things get to me unlike Amory Blaine.

The reason I decided to read this book was because I read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. I thought that The Great Gatsby was interesting and the title of This Side of Paradise caught my eye. At first I thought This Side of Paradise was boring I didn’t think the plot was going to get better, but I was wrong. Eventually the book got very interesting and was one of the only books that I had to read for school that I got excited about. That is why I would recommend this book to other people.

This Side of Paradise was mainly factual. It followed one man’s journey through life, and when history came into the book for example when Amory Blaine enlists in the World War 1, it was historically accurate. I believe F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote this book well and accurate because many of the things that Amory Blaine dealt with Fitzgerald dealt with too. For example Fitzgerald just like Blaine both attended Princeton, were both involved with World War 1, were both too poor to marry their sweethearts, both moved to New York, where they both found an advertising job. I guess you could say Amory Blaine was a character Fitzgerald used to put himself into a book.

After the broken engagement Fitzgerald returned to St. Paul Minnesota to write his

novel “This Side of Paradise”. This novel written by Fitzgerald was somewhat an

autobiography. The man character was Armory Blaine, who Fitzgerald portrayed as

himself. In this novel Armory Blaine studies at Princeton and serves in WWI in France.

Kennedy 3

This novel portrays both the benefits and the problem with high society. At the ending of

the story the character finds that his own egoism has been the cause of his unhappiness

(F. Scott 3). Fitzgerald describes himself through this character.

“This Side of Paradise” made Fitzgerald famous he could publish in both prestigious

literary magazines like Scribner’s and also