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Plot
This Side of Paradise shows coming of age in the life of Amory Blaine. He was born the son of a sophisticated and wealthy woman, Beatrice. He travels the world with his mother until he attends St. Regis prep school in New England. He is quite intelligent but has a lazy work ethic. He earns admission to Princeton. At first he wanted to gain status on campus but after failing a class he decides to be idle. He prefers to learn through reading and discussions with his friends rather than in a class. Toward the end of his Princeton years the US enters World War I and he decides to enlist and forego his degree to go overseas. While he is overseas Beatrice passes away and when he returns he falls in love with a young girl named Rosalind Connage, sister of his college friend Alec. They fall in love deeply but due to Amory’s little money, she does not want to marry into poverty. He tries to earn money but is too late and Rosalind breaks of their engagement to marry a wealthier man. For three weeks Amory binge drinks even though alcohol was terminated by the Prohibition. Amory seeks a quest for self- knowledge. He spent a summer with a wild girl named Eleanor. Amory takes the blame when his friend Alec is caught with a girl in the hotel room. He later discovers that a dear family friend, Monsignor Darcy, has passed away. He decides to walk to Princeton but he is picked up by his late friend’s wealthy father. Amory presents and explains his new socialist principles and continues to walk to Princeton. He finally arrives to Princeton late at night grieving due to Rosalind. Amory put his hands up, reaches for the sky, and say “I know myself, but that is all—.”

Background
Fitzgerald's writing process for This Side Of Paradise had some controversy, Garrison Keillor said that Fitzgerald "pinned the chapters of his novel to the curtains" in his parent's guest room. Arthur Mizener disagreed with Keillor however and said that Fitzgerald simply rewrote his novel "according to a schedule which he had pinned to the curtain before his desk." His novel had a push and motivation to it. His motive to finish the novel he had begun at Princeton was to prove himself to Zelda and win her.

Reception
Fitzgerald uses his own experience of current American style of young life in his awareness to portray it in the novel. He portrayed this style through the protagonist of the novel Amory Blaine.This style is referred to as the "American Preppy Look." It was born between the great world wars.

Publication History
This Side of Paradise was Fitzgerald's first novel. According to Marcia Amidon Lusted it "catapulted him to almost instant fame." She also said that his novel "appealed to many other people of his generation." During World War I people felt very lost in the world and his novel appealed to them greatly.

Major Themes
When Fitzgerald was 23 he announced the major themes of his total work in his novel. Sy Kahn says that "we can see the child who is father to the later men." His protagonists from Amory Blaine to Dick Diver were men "concerned with fashioning a code or sustaining a belief." Many critics have said that This Side of Paradise "seems odd to us now as a novel of flaming youth."

Adaptations
The novel has been made into many plays. "Paradise" is one play written by Will Pomerantz and Nancy Harrow. Dominic Papatola says "Over the years and along the way, there's jealousy and infidelity, literary one-upsmanship, cruelties small and large and -- almost coincidentally, from the perspective of this play -- a daughter." Pomerantz and Harrow want to "skew their tale in favor of Zelda".