This side of paradise, by F.S.Fitzgerald

This other novel by Fitzgerald has the peculiarity that it was written for a specific aim: getting to marry his lover, Zelda. It was published in 1920 and it tells the story of Amory Blaine, a student in Princeton who doesn’t succeed neither in his love nor in his studies. Here the most destructing problem that the main character will have to face is his like for drinking. Also, an important topic in this book is the comparison the author makes between his own mother (he always complained about her) and Amory’s. And this is also an important apect to take into account: he was constantyly complaining about his mother and he disliked her so much. Maybe this is the most powerful reason why  Amory’s mother is so nice, delicate, intelligent and in general all has all the characteristics that a woman must have, according to his ideals.

Also, as it has been said before, this novel’s aim was for Fitzgerald to get the fame and mainly money that Zelda asked him to have as a condition for the marriage. And fortunately for the author This side of paradise did become in little time a very read nove. This gave Fitzgerald the posibility to get his lover Zelda’s favour and of course, after the great success that it brought to the author she accepted to marry him.

In my opinion, this can be Fitzgerald’s most biographical work not only because he openly shows how he felt towards love, but also because he understood this novel as a kind of guide about how to succeed in Princeton. This analysis that Fitzgerald does about the specific groups that were formed inside Princeton and the tone he uses to describe them gives us an idea about how he really felt towards them: he didn’t like them. The reason is that he was never accepted in any of those groups because they considered him as coming from a lower class.

As a conclusion, we can get lots of interesting information from This side of paradise since the stories it tells are all from actual events or places.

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