The Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

In the book This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald, even though the main protagonist’s, Amory Blaine, character development is completely controlled by Fitzgerald's life, Amory goes through many changes through the story and they are born from the people Amory is around and Amory interactions with other characters are in relation to how Fitzgerald interacted and responded with others. Amory’s character seems to fluctuate throughout the novel, the more types of people he meets the more ideas he obtains and begins to view life differently or back to the same way multiple times. The novel itself seems to be a story about the developing of Amory Blaine, which is also the life of Fitzgerald up until the point he wrote the book; so it makes sense that Fitzgerald may have mirrored his life in that of Amory. However, the overall development of Amory as a character is through the interaction with other characters just the same as Fitzgerald grew up with the influence of other people. Fitzgerald’s love life is very similar to Amory’s love life and it is through these relationships that Amory finds most of his conflicts. There are significant people in Amory’s life that effect his actions, and there are influential people in Fitzgerald’s life that have impacted his life. Fitzgerald’s desire to be with Zelda Sayer is significant in his writing so it makes sense that the character that represents Zelda, Rosalind, has control on Amory’s character. Fitzgerald’s desire to live the American dream is illustrated through Amory, and it is this social pursuit that molds Amory’s character at the beginning of the novel. Amory and Fitzgerald are products of their social environment and they change with the different social environments at times in ...

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...ald 194); that is Amory's and Fitzgerald's ambition for love is hindered by their lack of ambition for a successful and easy life to which they would need for the one's they love to be with them. Fitzgerald shows his current status of the lack of a love life by Amory's romantic relationship with Eleanor, which seemed perfect due to their common interest such as literature, failing with the end of summer and the beginning of fall capitalizing Amory's end for romantic desire. Fitzgerald shows Amory's reluctance to get over Rosalind in this last attempt at love with Eleanor. All of the failed relationships characterize Amory as an innocent young romantic man too self-centered, too false with himself, and too narrow minded on a certain person to achieve the love he needs.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald , Francis. This Side of Paradise . New York City: Scribner , 1920. Print.