This Side of Paradise Analysis

No matter where you are in this book, Fitzgerald tends to describe his settings in the same poetic language. The reason he does this is straightforward: his main character Amory only notices the wo...

We know from the get-go that the narrator of this story is third-person because s/he doesn't have any direct involvement in the plot of the book itself. Instead, this narrator remains at a distance...

It's pretty hilarious that Amory Blaine is "puzzled and depressed" (3.2.167) by A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, because his own story is extremely similar to Joyce's. Y...

Holy snark, Batman. The tone of This Side of Paradise often sounds like a parody of a young man who thinks he is super deep and has a lot to say. It's often dark and brooding, and super-sarcastic i...

F. Scott Fitzgerald published This Side of Paradise at the age of twenty-three for two reasons: to become famous, and to win back his ex-girlfriend Zelda. But you don't even need to know that to se...

Fitzgerald takes the title of This Side of Paradise from a poem by Rupert Brooke. Brooke was a famous poet in the early 20th century whose poems about war (especially World War I) gained him a lot...

Well this side of Paradise!... There's little comfort in the wise —Rupert BrookeExperience is the name so many people give to their mistakes.—Oscar WildeAs we explained in the "What's Up With t...

And he could not tell why the struggle was worthwhile, why he had determined to use to the utmost himself and his heritage from the personalities he had passed. He stretched out his arms to the cry...

The writing in This Side of Paradise isn't all that hard to read, but it can be tough to pay attention when the book goes into long descriptions of Amory Blaine's thoughts and feelings. F. Scott Fi...

Meet Amory Blaine, a spoiled rich kid from Minnesota whose mom thinks he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. The problem is that as Amory grows up, he must learn how to hide his sense of super...

Amory Blaine is a cocky young man from a wealthy family. But beneath that arrogant exterior lies a heart of gold (maybe not 24-carat, but still), and it doesn't take him long to realize that he can...

Amory Blaine grows up in Minnesota, where his snobby mother raises him to think that he's better than every other person in the world. But Amory isn't in school long before he realizes he'll have t...

Did you know that This Side of Paradise is the first recorded time someone used the word "wicked" to refer to something cool or awesome? Our boy Fitzgerald was wicked smart. (Source)F. Scott Fitzge...

A teakettle produces way more steam than this book. There's a scene in the second half of the novel when Amory's close friend Alec hires a prostitute. But the book doesn't give any gossip about the...

Lord Byron (1.1.1)Sappho (1.1.129)Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1.1.129)Goethe, Faust (2.5.70)Joseph Conrad, Almayer's Folly (2.5.70)James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (2.2.167...