May, 1917—February, 1919
- This section of This Side of Paradise passes through the two years that Amory Blaine is off fighting for the U.S. in World War I.
- The first thing we read is a letter from Monsignor Darcy asking Amory to be safe and to make it through the war alive. He finishes with a poem he wrote for Amory, which tries to talk about Amory's experience as if it were something from an Irish ballad.
- Next, we read a letter from Amory to his buddy Tom. It looks like they've both made it through the war alive, and Amory wants to meet up with Tom and find a place to live in New York City with their buddy, Alec. It looks like Amory's mom Beatrice has died, which means Amory will have a bit of money, but not much.
- Sadly, Amory's old friend Kerry Holiday has died in the war. Burne is also nowhere to be found, although people don't know what happened to him.