51 pages • 1 hour read
F. Scott FitzgeraldThis Side of Paradise
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1920A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 1, Chapter 3-InterludeChapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 1: “The Romantic Egotist”
Book 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “The Egotist Considers”
When Amory embraces Isabelle, his shirt stud marks her neck. He makes light of the situation, which upsets her. She goes to her room and returns to Amory with a wrap around her shoulders to cover the mark. The couple goes to a country club. On the way, Amory apologizes, but Isabelle is still upset, disliking when others laugh at her. Her persistence angers him, and he realizes he lacks affection for her. Later that evening, Amory says he’s leaving the next day, feeling as if their relationship has run its course. He catches the train the next morning and feels that Isabelle has spoiled the past year for him.
“The Superman Grows Careless”: Amory returns to Princeton in September to attend a tutoring program to compensate for his previous academic failures. He is also required to take an exam, and if he fails it, he can no longer participate in his clubs or keep his position at the Princetonian. He’ll also lose the social status he worked so hard to attain. Despite the consequences, Amory refuses to study and fails the exam.
“Aftermath”: Amory goes through the beginning of his junior year without purpose, immediately regretting that he didn’t take the exam more seriously. Alec tries to convince him to make a comeback, but Amory refuses. He feels his education has forced him to conform but wants to return to his true character.
“Financial”: Amory’s father dies near Thanksgiving. Other than questioning his family’s financial situation, he is unaffected by the event. Amory reviews several of his father’s ledgers and sees a significant drop in income due to bad investments. A few months later, Beatrice writes her son a letter and reassures him they will be okay if they are not extravagant.
“First Appearance of the Term ‘Personage’”: Monsignor Darcy invites Amory to spend a week with him during Christmas break. The two men talk a lot in front of the fire, and Amory tells him about his social fall and desire to leave Princeton. Darcy believes what Amory is going through is natural, feeling the experience can benefit him. He encourages Amory to keep going and move to the next stage of his life. Darcy describes his theory on personalities and personages. He believes personality relates to what people think they are and is a physical matter. Personages, on the other hand, gather experiences without relying on other people for support. Amory feels renewed with this idea and resolves to collect new and better experiences to replace those he’s lost.
When Amory returns to school after the break, Darcy continues to help and support him through letters. With a more optimistic outlook, Amory believes Princeton is livelier than the previous two years. However, he still dislikes his teachers and writes a satirical poem about them, which Tom publishes in the Nassau Lit. Kerry leaves college for France in April to join the Lafayette Escadrille, earning Amory’s envy and admiration.
“The Devil”: Amory and Fred Sloane take a trip to New York and go on a double date with two girls named Phoebe and Axia. They move from place to place throughout the night and early morning, ending at a café on Broadway. While sitting in the café, Amory notices a man watching him and points him out to his friends. They immediately leave and take a cab to Phoebe’s apartment. Amory says he’ll only stay for half an hour because he doesn’t like the place. He takes a glass of brandy from Phoebe and sees the man from the café sitting on the divan ten yards from him. Startled, Amory drops the glass and studies the man’s appearance. When he sees the man wearing medieval shoes, Amory becomes afraid. No one else sees the man, and when they begin to tease Amory, he leaves the apartment building.
“In the Alley”: On the street, Amory hears footsteps and tries to get away from them. He runs down an alley and falls into a corner, exhausted. When he realizes he’s alone, Amory runs out of the alley.
“At the Window”: Amory wakes the next morning in his hotel room. He and Sloane dress and have breakfast before leaving the hotel as Amory tries to make sense of his experience with the man. He immediately wants to leave when they return to Broadway, remembering his terror of last night. Sloane teases him, but he returns to Fifth Avenue and enters his hotel room. Paralyzed with fear, Amory thinks he’s going mad.
That evening, he takes the train to Princeton, feeling relieved when he sees the campus buildings. When he returns, Tom is in Amory’s room and tells Amory he had a dream about him and is worried about him. Amory then tells Tom about his experience with the mysterious man, whom Amory thinks is a devil, and the two stay up all night talking.
Book 1, Chapter 4 Summary: “Narcissus Off Duty”
Amory and Burne Holiday develop a close friendship in January of their senior year. Unlike Amory, who drifts through life like Kerry, Burne fights against Princeton’s social structure. He leads a charge against the university’s clubs, feeling they harm the students and create social division. Tom tells Amory about the situation one evening, and Burne enters the room. Burne and Tom argue about this movement against the clubs, and Amory watches with admiration. Tom leaves, and Amory and Burne talk through the night about numerous subjects.
By March, one hundred juniors and seniors have left their clubs. Burne continues to pull away by resigning as class vice-president. He reads, attends graduate lectures, and takes solitary walks. The student body, which once admired Burnes as Amory does, begins to think less of him, feeling his ideas are strange and his behavior erratic.
“Amory Writes a Poem”: Amory goes to New York occasionally as a break from Princeton. On one such trip, he attends a play and thinks he hears a soft voice reminding him of Isabelle. The memory causes Amory to write a poem about her on his program.
“Still Calm”: Amory is enjoying his college experience again; however, like Burne, Amory’s reputation around campus is slipping. The other students find his behavior irregular, according to Alex. Amory doesn’t care and hangs out with other eccentrics to prove it. He also spends several weekends visiting Darcy. One day, Amory receives a letter from the priest. In it, Darcy asks Amory to visit Clara Page, Amory’s third cousin and a poor widow. Amory agrees to go as a favor to his mentor.
“Clara”: When Amory meets Clara, he falls instantly in love, feeling no man is worthy of her. However, when he arrives at her house in Philadelphia, he’s disappointed that she’s not as poor and miserable as he’d imagined. Amory and Clara begin seeing each other frequently. One evening, Amory tells Clara that she’s remarkable, but she disagrees. Amory spends his weekends in Philadelphia throughout March, but Clara never sees him alone. Regardless, Amory considers marrying her.
“St. Cecilia”: One day, Amory asks Clara if she likes him, and she says she does. She thinks he’s vain but not conceited, but he lacks self-respect and is a “slave to his imagination” (135). This comment makes Amory realize he values her advice and opinion as much as Darcy’s. On a different occasion, Amory mentions marriage, but Clara says she’ll never marry again.
“Amory is Resentful”: World War I continues to rage during Amory’s remaining time at Princeton. Burne decides he’s a pacifist, which annoys Amory and causes him to question Burne’s patriotism. Burne sells all his possessions the next week and rides home to Pennsylvania on a battered bicycle. After he leaves, Alex, Tom, and Amory discuss what branch of the military they intend to join.
“The End of Many Things”: The academic year ends, and Tom and Amory wander around the campus, each bound for their training camps the following day. They say goodbye to the university, overcome with memories.
Book 1, Interlude Summary: “May 1917-February 1919”
The Interlude consists of two letters and one of Amory’s poems, which he writes as he leaves the harbor for Europe and the war. In the first letter, Darcy writes to Amory, who is stationed on Long Island. He tells Amory that the war will change him and that his generation is growing harder than Darcy’s. Darcy then describes a dream where Amory was his son, demonstrating the bond between the two men. He includes a poem titled “A Lament for a Foster Son, and He going to the War Against the King of Foreign” and ends his letter saying he feels one of them won’t survive the war.
In the second letter, Amory writes to Tom from Brest, Germany. He tells Tom of his plans for after the war, suggesting he, Tom, and Alec share a New York apartment and that he wants to go into politics. He also mentions Beatrice’s and Kerry’s deaths.
Book 1, Chapter 3-Interlude Analysis
This Side of Paradise contains a structure unique to Fitzgerald’s style and message. The beginning of Book 1 provides the background information for Amory and his motives. As Book 1 progresses, two goals drive Amory. The first relates to his social ambitions, as mentioned in the previous section’s analysis. Within this section, however, Amory’s goals shift away from the social and focus more on his intellectual and spiritual development.
One way that Amory meets these goals is by emulating those he admires and looks up to. He continues to respect Darcy and looks to him for advice and guidance, but Burne Holiday is one of the greatest influences on Amory’s changing character. Burne, a once popular and well-respected pupil, casts himself outside of Princeton’s social norms, and Amory is intrigued by his doing so. This admiration is ironic, given Amory’s obsession with social status at St. Regis’ and Princeton, yet it also shows the significant change occurring in Amory’s character. Burne’s open disdain of the social system and its divisions raises the issue of The Impact of Money and Class on Relationships, with Amory feeling drawn to Burne’s iconoclastic attitude and behavior toward status and wealth. Burne embraces a more austere lifestyle, which Amory begins to imitate. Amory’s experimentation with new ideals reflects that his sense of self and outlook are still in flux.
The Interlude, which occurs between Book 1 and Book 2, is a short yet significant commentary that follows Amory’s graduation from Princeton to his deployment in Europe to fight in WWI. Thus, the Interlude marks Amory’s transition from formal education to the post-graduation world he must navigate. As Darcy foreshadows when Book 2 begins, Amory will be a very different character than before he went to war. Thus, Book 1 represents Amory’s development into a student and man, whereas Book 2 represents his return to civilian life after the war.
Amory’s character continues to develop in this section through The Experience of Disillusionment. He achieves his ideal of social popularity at the end of his sophomore year, yet he quickly experiences a fall from that ideal. Amory blames much of his fall from social importance on Isabelle, whom he thinks wasted his first two years at Princeton. However, Amory’s relationship with Isabelle is superficial: It lacks genuine affection, so Amory’s willingness to blame Isabelle for his laziness and lack of academic success shows how immature he is. Once he has a frank discussion with Darcy and realizes that he’s simply moving from experience to experience to continue his development, Amory forgives the past and seeks new experiences. After his failed relationship with Isabelle, Amory continues his preoccupation with love but never succeeds, as exemplified in his relationship with Clara. Amory is thus still struggling with experiencing authentic emotions and connections with others, particularly women.
Amory also demonstrates a lack of authentic connection through his low regard for family when his parents die. With Stephen’s passing, Amory is only concerned with the state of the family fortune. He looks through some of his father’s ledgers and learns that the Blaine fortune is dwindling due to bad investments. With Beatrice’s death, Amory is likewise preoccupied with money, becoming irritated when he learns half his mother’s fortune has been willed to the Catholic church. Amory has little regard for religion besides when it fits his ideals and imagination, so he doesn’t understand his mother’s love for religion and her gifting so much money to “stained-glass windows and seminary endowments” (153). Amory’s main concern with his parents’ deaths is money, which illustrates that family is not an important element of his life and that he remains drawn to wealth and social status above all else. Despite Amory’s attachment to his mother in the first half of Book 1, his relationships are still often superficial, including his relationship with his parents.
This section also develops Fitzgerald’s theme regarding The Dark Reality Behind the Jazz Age. One of the best examples of this theme is the symbolism of the devil Amory sees in Chapter 3. New York was an integral part of the Jazz Age and its musical and moral shift, and Broadway was one of the most influential areas within the city during this movement. Thus, the location of the devil’s appearance directly correlates to Broadway’s notorious reputation during this period. The devil represents the depravity and immorality that develop behind the gilded façade of flappers and seemingly carefree youth. Amory also sees the devil when his priorities shift from social concerns to the intellectual and spiritual. Amory is growing older and must face life after Princeton while World War I continues in Europe. Thus, the figure symbolizes the uncertainty life brings to Amory and his struggle to understand his internal and external conflicts.
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