Amory Blaine In F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side Of Paradise

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Character Analysis of Amory Blaine in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise In This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald follows a young Amory Blaine through his twenties and his attempts to find himself and what he values. After attending the boarding school, he was accepted and attended Princeton, but from lack of desire and the entrance of World World I he dropped out of Princeton and enlisted. Despite growing up in the upper class, through the death of his mother and poor financial investments he is left penniless and due to his poor financial status Amory’s engagement with Rosalind is broken off leaving his life in shambles. While trying to find himself through wealth, women, and normality, Amory feels as if something is missing …show more content…
Amory despised the notion of poverty as shown by his fear of the “numerous aspects of city life without money” and was even further demonstrated by the description given by Fitzgerald of the subway and the people who patronize it (This Side of…). Psychologically, poverty, or in Amory Blaine’s case, the induction into poverty comes with many side effects. In Bryce Coverts article, he discusses of how a study done of veterans discovered that “poverty is a bigger risk factor for mental illness than being exposed to warfare” while also stating how a scarcity of money “sap mental capacity and lead to short-term decision-making over long-term considerations” (Poverty Has The…). Amory’s inclusion into poverty destroyed his previous life and the life he longed to have and share with Rosalind. A recent study has shown that a tightening of finances can lower ones IQ thirteen points, and even explaining how it, “leaves low-income people more susceptible to bad decisions” (Poverty Has The…). Through Amory’s stray in his quest for self-discovery, plummet in financial status, and the departure of Rosalind one could see how Amory’s choices and well-being would be greatly deteriorated merely from his loss of

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