this side of paradise

A detailed Summary of this side of paradise


Many critics have complained, with justice, that a great flaw in This Side of Paradise (aside from its loose, rambling structure) is the fact that the author seems uncertain as to his own attitude. He mocks the romantic delusions or emotional melodrama of his "little rich boy," Amory Blaine, while too often he shares, or seems to share, in the delusions themselves.

There is, in short, a kind of "smart" pseudo-sophistication imbedded within the narrative itself-a series of "clever comments" inserted for the sake of the cleverness rather than for any aesthetic purpose. And one result of this aesthetic self-indulgence is that the reader may find it difficult to take either Amory or his adventures with any degree of seriousness at all. Indeed, one feels as though the author himself were doing what Amory does during the course of the narrative: he merely holds the posture of writing about what actually is a very slight matter.

The need for some sort of imposing or melodramatic gesture is, of course, one of the chief qualities of Amory Blaine as an adolescent. That neither Amory nor his creator-F. Sc


For Amory Blaine, in short, any sort of actual consummation is necessarily sordid, somehow unsatisfying, always incomplete, and for this reason his career becomes a series of gestures which are aimed at appearance rather than at achievement. The achievement, indeed, is itself the deadliest "failure" of all: so long as Amory can suffer the pangs of "Great Love" without actually getting the girl, so long as he is prevented from actually achieving reality (prevented, preferably, by some sort of conditions which are themselves melodramatic-lack of money, perhaps, or Noble Sacrifice of some sort, or a "fine" reservation of conscience, or the invasion of previously Sacred Traditions by barbarian hordes with alien names), he can take a certain amount of pleasure from failure itself.



Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2221
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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