This Side Of Paradise Fitzgerald Analysis

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One of the most famous authors of American history, F. Scott Fitzgerald started out as a nothing, and he was a nothing. After he wrote his first novel to win over his one love, Zelda, Fitzgerald was a star. This first novel, This Side of Paradise, was his big break. The irony, though, is that Fitzgerald has a rags to riches story while his main character, Amory Blaine, has a riches to rags story. Fitzgerald used the society around him to assist in the historical context of the novel. He used the youth culture that he both experienced and observed; he shows the youth drinking excessively, doing drugs to get attention, and shows the creation and destruction of potential relationships. The first World War also greatly affected the plot of Fitzgerald’s …show more content…
Stephen Blaine wasn’t really around for Amory and his mother. He “hovered in the background” meaning that he just hangs around Amory and Beatrice being “unassertive” and staying away from being a father and a husband. Beatrice, on the other hand, is almost the man of the family: she controls where they go and what to spend money on; she is also the strong female character influencing Amory’s life. “Beatrice influences Amory so greatly in his childhood that he deems this time in his life ‘Amory plus Beatrice.’ She partly shapes his character, but he also perceives her shortcomings as a child and is not entirely molded by her influence” (Wood). Beatrice teaches Amory so well that he can pick out her flaws and does not take after these imperfections. Through her teachings, Amory picks out which philosophies to actually follow, for example, “she suggests Amory never rise early, and she tells him that his breakfast needs to always be brought up to him so that he may eat in bed and be idle...As a result, Amory tends to be lazy...expects that he will not have to work hard to win favor with people or to do well academically” (Wood). Her impact on Amory’s life leads him to be an “attention hog,” but her money allows for him to get an education at elite

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