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

Since 1924, many critics found it inevitable to decline Wilson’s label of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first novel as “a phantasmagoria of incident that had no dominating intention to endow it with unity and force. In short, one of the chief weaknesses of This Side of Paradise is that it is really not about anything: its intellectual and moral content amounts to little more than a gesture—a gesture of indefinite revolt.” (The Shores of Light) But This Side Paradise does consist of a unity and force; and in it comes in the form of an Impressionistic musical piece in a Sonata structure, which consists of an Exposition, Development, and Recapitulation. The story of Amory Blaine reflect a classical structure within the two subtitle books, connected by a short interlude, is organized in generally analogous and parallel …show more content…
The upbringings of Amory’s childhood are played in the Exposition of the Sonata, where these themes recur throughout the novel and alternate corresponding to the direction of the melody. Evidently, the tradition Beatrice educated Amory provide an exclusive bass, the fundamental base in which he builds on and acts accordingly to. He bears the melody triumphantly as he tries out for the football team, in attempt to enter into a fantastic chorus as the Big Man; consequently, he opens his eyes to find the spoiled illusion of the Big Man he pursued at the first failure of joining the football team. At this point, he realizes that the deception of harmony in life is not easily obtained. Fitzgerald composes an over sumptuous tone in the Exposition; thus the chords Beatrice sets serve as the fundamental base for Amory’s future life. With the absence of a father, the Exposition lacks the deep-rooted chords of the bass; instead, the first part of the piece consists of only Amory plus Beatrice plus St.