F. Scott Fitzgerald #4

  

                                    This Side of Paradise

            F. Scott Fitzgerald tends to have a common message in all of his books. While reading This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald I saw numerous symbolic similarities between this book and The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses a variety of symbols within his works to express an important value or issue. Often, Fitzgerald will use symbols to make a commentary on society.

The main symbol that Fitzgerald carries throughout all of his writing is the car as a symbol of status and wealth. In This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Isabelle only dates men that are “terrible speeds” (76). Also, Dick Humbird, the ideal man that Amory idolizes and wants to be like, is killed in a car crash when he “was driving and he wouldn’t give up the wheel, though they told him he’d been drink too much” (96). The car as a status symbol is also clearly revealed in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby's car exudes his wealth and provides an excellent example of the car as a status symbol. The car accidents in both This Side of Paradise and The Great Gatsby are ironic because they show the recklessness and irresponsibility of the society at the time. Fitzgerald often uses this car symbol in many ways of his novels to depict the status and comment on society's status system and materialism.

Finally, Fitzgerald uses the symbol of alcohol in This Side of Paradise to portray escape. Amory would drink uncontrollably to “shield himself from the stabs of memory” (226). However, “the advent of prohibitions… put a sudden stop to the submerging of Amory’s sorrows” (226). As a result, Amory has to face his issues with love and relationships. Fitzgerald uses many symbols in his novels to make a commentary of the faults of society.

At first I did not give the detail of Amory’s repetitive drinking much thought. I just thought of it as a typical college kid activity. But after tracing the symbol of alcoholism in various scenes throughout the story I noticed that whenever Amory drank alcohol it related to an issue he was having with love and relationships. That’s how I came up with the symbol of alcohol as a sign of Amory’s escape from reality.

This book required a lot of close reading. I initially chose this book because I wanted to read more books by F. Scott Fitzgerald. As I continued reading through the book I realized that I had also discretely chosen the book to enhance my reading skills. This book required me to read very closely. It was critical to pick up on all of the little details throughout the text. All of the little details in the text eventually led to something much bigger. For example, I l followed all of the details of alcohol and formed it into a symbol. I am currently working on becoming better at finding symbols. In doing so, I had to use tips from O’Connor and Perrine. This book required me to do a lot of re-reading. I realized immediately that re-reading would be essential if I planned on making any sense out of what I was reading. Re-reading was also very essential if I planned on finding any symbols throughout the text. I feel as though this book was very vague with the symbols that were in this book so the symbols that I have chosen were either a hit or miss. Even if I had read a chapter twice I would have to go over it again just to make sure that I captured all of the necessary details. And even then I may have missed a thing or two. Overall, re-reading helped me get a better understanding of what I was reading.

If someone were to ask me to recommend a book, I would definitely recommend them to read This Side of Paradise. I would recommend this book because it was a pleasure to read. I feel as though the story could be relevant to today’s teenager society. The complications that Amory faced along his way to adulthood could be essential to the growing experience of any teenager in this present day generation. It was interesting to read the story and see Amory becoming a young man. It was even more interesting to see how Amory got through the complications in his life. Although it may have been challenging at times because I had to read chapters over again, I feel like it made me an overall better reader.