This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

            Because I teach and absolutely love The Great Gatsby, I thought it would be appropriate to read some other F. Scott Fitzgerald literature.  I chose to read Fitzgerald’s first novel, This Side of Paradise, thinking it would have a similar complicated plot twist that chapter seven provides in The Great Gatsby; I may have been dozing through this novel, because I never came across that fantastic chapter where all the pieces of the puzzle come together.  Instead of an amazingly quick moving plot (with many twists), this novel was slow moving, and I’m ashamed to say it, quite boring. 

            The main character, Amory Blaine, is a spoiled rich boy, who never had to work very hard for anything (perhaps my dislike for the main character tainted my opinion of the novel).  He was born rich, considered himself superior to even his childhood friends, embarrassed girls who were saving themselves for marriage, and went off to Princeton to study literature (ok, so there is one thing I approve of in the narcissistic Amory).  He serves in the war (WWI) briefly, and tries time after time to actually go to class instead of slumming around with a hangover all day, and he desperately seeks a romantic relationship with the lovely Rosalind.  But she marries a wealthier man and Amory is left to his alcohol (perhaps a similarity to Gatsby here). 

            I have read many, many bildungsroman novels that detail the “coming-of-age” of a young person into a functioning adult.  I understand and appreciate the genre: mature and grow, mature and grow.  But I don’t understand why I can’t appreciate this piece of literature.  Maybe I am more accustomed to Holden Caulfield or Huckleberry Finn, kids who have a little sense of humor, or Celie Harris or Janie Crawford or Esther Greenwood, who have their romantic/morality struggles with the men in their lives, but Amory, oh boy, I cannot relate to Amory.  He doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes, he treats people horribly, and he throws his money away without even flinching. 

            I do happen to know that Fitzgerald wrote a bit autobiographically, and I wonder how much of this story is his confession of his wasted childhood.  Similarly to Gatsby’s story, Amory loses his woman because he isn’t wealthy enough, he drinks way too much, and he partied very hard.  Although I have little appreciation for this text, I can now draw conclusions between these two Fitzgerald works and his wonderful ability to chronicle the time period.