Amory Blaine in This Side of Paradise by Fitzgerald

Table of Contents

Introduction
Body of the paper
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

One of the reasons why Fitzgeralds novel This Side of Paradise is being commonly referred to as such that represents a high literary value is that despite having been written in 1920, it contains a number of themes and motifs that relate to the discursive realities of a contemporary living in America.

This paper will explore the validity of the above-suggestion at length, in regards to the novels main character Amory Blaine, which can be well deemed as the epitome of the process of American males becoming increasingly feminine (decadent) in their existential attitudes something that is being hardly beneficial to Americas well-being, as a nation. It will also be argued is that the very manner, in which American society operates, creates the objective preconditions for the mentioned trend to continue gaining momentum.

Body of the paper

What immediately strikes those who begin to read This Side of Paradise, is that while describing Amory, the author made a deliberate point in specifying the particulars of this characters physical appearance: He (Amory) was an auburn-haired boy, with great, handsome eyes which he would grow up to in time, a facile imaginative mind and a taste for fancy dress (Fitzgerald 5). This, of course, is being rather inconsistent with the evolutionary predetermined assumption that a mans worth has very little to do with his looks, and that it is namely the manner in which he acts, which is being reflective of this value more than anything else.

Moreover, the above-quoted description also implies that ever since his early years, Amory (the name that resonates with the French word amour) continued to exhibit the psychological traits of a woman hence, his imaginative mindedness (as opposed to analytical mindedness) and his obsession with wearing fancy dresses.

One may wonder how this can be seen as the indication of Amory having been affiliated with the uniquely American way of life? Coming up with the answer to this question will not prove as difficult, as it may initially appear, once it is being mentioned that the very process of industrialization (associated with the realities of American living through the 20^th centurys twenties and thirties) creates the objective preconditions for the generation of the so-called surplus product to attain an exponential momentum.

However, given the Capitalist essence of the American economys functioning, this contributes to the proliferation of the specifically exploitative social classes in America, to which Amory clearly belonged. While being preoccupied with the bellyful idling, the representatives of these social classes cannot help growing ever more decadently effeminate. The lifestyles of the countrys countless male white collar office-workers in todays America, prove the validity of this suggestion perfectly well.

The validity of the idea that the character of Amory is indeed uniquely American can also be explored, in relation to the fact that as the novels plot unravels; his sense of self-identity never ceases to undergo a qualitative transformation. For example, at the novels beginning, Amory prefers to define himself as an aristocratic egotist: He (Amory) had formulated his first philosophy, a code to live by, which, as near as it can be named, was a sort of aristocratic egotism (Fitzgerald 18).

Closer to the novels end, however, Amory ended up positioning himself as being nothing short of a Socialist: Im a product of a versatile mind in a restless generation with every reason to throw my mind and pen in with the radicals (Fitzgerald 262). Nevertheless, as the novel implies, this did not come as a result of Amorys strive to subject the emanations of the surrounding social reality to an analytical inquiry. Rather, the mentioned transformation was caused by the characters unfortunate liaisons with women. What it means is that, while interacting with women, Amory could not help having the workings of his psyche being deeply affected by the process in question something that would never be the case, had Amory been a real man, in the conventional sense of this word.

The discursive implication of this is quite clear psychologically speaking, Amory did not differ that much from the representatives of the weaker sex. In its turn, this directly relates to the fact that the divorce rate in the U.S. has traditionally been one of the world-highest. The reason for this is that, as time goes on, men and women in America become increasingly unisexual, within the context of how they go about facing the challenges of life this tendency that became especially apparent in the aftermath of the countrys adoption of the ideology of political correctness (Fagan and Rector 59). Yet, as psychologists are being well aware of, the less acute is the factor of gender differentiation between a husband and wife, the more likely it is for them to end up filing for a divorce.

In this respect, one can well mention Amorys lack of romantic commitment, as such that illustrates the legitimacy of this suggestion. After all, as the novels context implies, there was nothing incidental about the sheer short-lastingness of many of Amorys romantic affairs this was nothing but the consequence of the main characters emotional discomfort with the idea of marrying a mind-like.

As Vincent pointed out: He (Amory) feels the intense lack of desire for consummation& Amory feels threatened by commitment, since commitment equates to accepting the effeminacy that he already embodies (par. 27). Therefore, it is indeed thoroughly appropriate to refer to the character of Amory, as someone who exemplifies a number of in-depth reasons for the qualitative dynamics within American society to be distinctly different, as compared to what is being the case with them elsewhere in the world.

There is another indication that the character of Amory is uniquely American the fact that there is a lack of wholesomeness to his sense of self-identity, which in turn can be explained by the qualitative aspects of how the nation of immigrants came into being. For example, throughout the novels entirety, Amory never ceases to remain preoccupied with the thought of what differentiates the notion of personality from the notion of personage.

According to Amory, ones endowment with real personality means that the individual in question is able to subjectify itself within the surrounding social environment, which in turn enables him to leave a mark in history and to ensure that his life does count. Those, merely endowed with personage, on the other hand, do not have what it takes to be considered masters of their own, in the full sense of this word. Instead of living their lives, they preoccupy themselves with adopting the culturally/discursively stereotyped life-stances of others: Now a personage& He (Amory) is never thought of apart from what hes done. Hes a bar on which a thousand things have been hung glittering things sometimes (Fitzgerald 96).

In the novel, there are indeed many instances of Amory deciding in favor of a particular course of action, despite remaining emotionally alienated from the would-be-adopted behavioral stance, on his part. The scene, in which Amory takes Alecs blame for having seduced an unmarried woman, is being perfectly illustrative, in this respect. The reason for this is that, contrary to the assumption that sacrificial acts must be emotionally-charged, Amorys motivation to adopt a sacrificial posture appears to have been thoroughly rational: Sacrifice by its very nature was arrogant and impersonal; sacrifice should be eternally supercilious. Weep not for me but for thy children (Fitzgerald 233).

Thus, Amorys life can be thought of in terms of a never-ending quest to attain the substantiality of an individual with a strongly defined sense of personality. The reason why, up until the novels end, he kept on failing, in this respect, can be explained by the fact that in American society, composed of immigrants and of their descendants, ones existential rootlessness is considered an asset. Had it been otherwise, the famous notion of the American dream would not be affiliated with the assumption that in America, it does not really matter what happened to be ones identity all that matters is whether the concerned person happened to be rich or not.

Thus, there is indeed a rather prominent American overtone to the significance of Amory, as a tragic hero his strive to attain the state of self-actualization, as a somewhat unconventional young man, was deeply inconsistent with the fundamental values of the American way of life. This, of course, illustrates the validity of the papers initial thesis even further, because ones lack of a strongly defined personality has been traditionally deemed the proof of this persons weakness. In its turn, the notion of weakness is being commonly considered synonymous with the notion of effeminacy.

Partially, this explains why, even though throughout the novels entirety Amory continues to position himself as an individual who is being naturally inclined to pay disproportionate attention to money-related issues, he does not do it out of his love of money, but rather out of his irrational fear of poverty: I detest poor people, thought Amory suddenly. I hate them for being poor. Poverty may have been beautiful once, but its rotten now. Its the ugliest thing in the world. (Fitzgerald 241).

Having been endowed with the imaginative mind, Amory could not help projecting his deep-seated fear of poverty onto the poor themselves, which in turn made it quite impossible for the concerned character to be able to act as the societys productive member. There, of course, can be only a few doubts that the mentioned mental trait, on the part of Amory, directly relates to what is being traditionally considered one of the main indications that one indeed happened to be an American the persons inability to understand what accounts for the actual interrelationship between causes and effects.

Conclusion

The earlier provided line of argumentation, as to what makes the character of Amory uniquely American, appears to be fully consistent with the papers initial thesis. Therefore, it will be appropriate to reinstate once again that Amorys affiliation with Americana can be best discussed, in relation to the concerned characters decadent attitudes.