This Side of Paradise is a portrait of modern youth. Youth is not subject to time. Times change, mores, fashion and interests change, but the maturation of the human personality at all times has been and remains difficult if you are a direct participant, and fascinating if you are just an observer. This is an eternal game – the relationship between man and woman.
At the beginning of the novel we see transformation of the protagonist Amory Blaine from a 15-year-old teenager into a young man. He builds relationships in society, leaving the care of his mother, but still being under her influence. His mother Beatrice Blaine is on his pedestal, she is an unattainable ideal for him while he is young, and he is desperately looking for at least a pale similarity to such an exquisite worthy woman as his mother is. At this time, girls of his age are also in a state of becoming personality. In addition, no matter how much morality we are taught, the author claims that youth is the time, when everyone is trying to experiment. Therefore, young girls are willing to communicate with young people. They willingly give them kisses, win hearts, have fun, and try to be the object of universal admiration.
Fitzgerald gives the same current theme of the “lost generation”, despite the difference in time. The reader lives almost a lifetime with the main character. The reader observes how a very small boy turns into an adult man, rushing from sympathy to hatred, from admiration to pity for the whole society. In this book, there is everything – the first victories and disappointments, love and betrayals, gains and losses. The book deals with the problems of wealth and poverty. Here, the author also describes the moment, how money affects the fate of a person. From the first pages, the image of the egoist is imposed on the reader from chapter to chapter. This is not only a literary work; it is a philosophical treatise – the characters talk a lot about philosophy, the meaning of life, social and political trends and dogmas.
The novel raises the problematic that concerns Fitzgerald’s creative work – a chase of absolute perfection and dream, a thirst for success, spiritual quests, disillusionment with people and life, moral ruin – all that the author had to face. In general, this book has everything for all generations to consider it worthy. However, the American mentality is so visible with its philosophy of that time and many entirely unambiguous metaphors that the reader will need a lot of strength to understand each line.
The final of the novel is only the first step towards the formation of the personality of Amory Blaine. This is only a release from all these superficial things that prevent to live happily and harmoniously. It is a pity that for this small step, which could have happened much earlier, the main character Amory Blaine had to destroy his whole world, go through a lot of disappointments and lose almost everything.
