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Interlude: May, 1917 – February, 1919
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in This Side of Paradise, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Youth, Innocence, and Coming of Age
Friendship and Masculinity
War, Modern Life, and Generations
Money and Class
Love and Sexuality
Summary
Analysis
In February of the next year, Rosalind Connage and Cecelia Connage, Alec’s young sisters, are preparing for Rosalind’s debutante ball at the Connage house. Amory arrives and Alec wants his mother, Mrs. Connage, and sisters to meet him. Rosalind is described as a flirt who leads men on and breaks their hearts. Rosalind is beautiful, sophisticated, and self-absorbed, somewhat like Isabelle. Amory comes into Rosalind’s room to greet her, and they connect instantly. They kiss after a few minutes. Rosalind reveals that she has kissed many men and thinks she will kiss many more. Rosalind sends him away and refuses to kiss him again, claiming that she has won their interaction.
Amory and Rosalind’s instant mutual attraction echoes the start of Amory’s relationship with Isabelle. It seems that Amory is falling into a pattern of pursuing the same type of women: beautiful, wealthy, cunning, flirtatious, and intelligent, and Rosalind is no exception. The character of Rosalind is based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda Sayre. Rosalind is much like Amory, but perhaps even more charming, and it is clear that she is able to beat him at his own social game.
Themes
Mrs. Connage reveals that their father has lost money, and she urges Rosalind to meet the wealthy bachelor friends of her father’s, especially Dawson Ryder, rather than wasting time with young college boys. Mrs. Connage warns Rosalind about Amory, saying he does not “sound like a money-maker.” At the dance, Howard Gillespie tells Rosalind that he loves her, and he thinks that since they’ve kissed, he has “won” her. Rosalind spurns him and tells him that those days are over, saying that now women have the advantage after they have been kissed. Rosalind dances with Dawson and makes him admit that he loves her. Alec tells Cecelia that he does not want Amory to fall in love with Rosalind because he is sensitive, and Alec thinks she will break his heart.
Despite Amory and Rosalind’s instant connection, there is immediately a sense of foreboding from both Alec and Mrs. Connage, who worry that the relationship cannot last because of their differing class status. Rosalind seems to believe herself to be empowered and liberated by new social norms of sexuality, and it does seem that Rosalind has a lot of choice and power in her relationships with men. However, the persistent anxiety about money suggests that Rosalind’s relationships are not fully empowering for her.
Themes
Amory and Rosalind dance and kiss again. They admit that they are both selfish people, but Amory says that selfish people are “terribly capable of great loves.” They reveal that they are in love with each other, yet Rosalind calls him “poor Amory.” They fall deeply in love within weeks and start spending all their time with each other. Amory takes a job at an advertising agency to make enough money to please Rosalind. They plan to get married within months, even though he cannot give her much money.
The immediate intensity of Amory and Rosalind’s relationship does not fully override the underlying tensions about money and Amory’s ability to provide for Rosalind. Amory’s job at the advertising agency seems disheartening and dull, and it seems like it is destroying his dream of being a writer. Therefore, his romantic prospects and his artistic fulfillment seem to be inherently in conflict.
Themes
Mrs. Connage tells Rosalind that she is wasting her time with Amory because he is poor. Rosalind ends her engagement with Amory, explaining that she will not be the girl he loves if they have no money and that their marriage would ruin their lives. She implies that she is considering marrying Dawson Ryder. Rosalind sends Amory away, ending their relationship. They are both devastated.
When Rosalind ends their relationship because Amory is poor, it seems to confirm to Amory that love is corrupted by societal pressures and that class hierarchy is unjust. Interestingly enough, Zelda Fitzgerald did initially end her relationship with Fitzgerald because he had little money and could not support her lifestyle. However, after his novels became commercially successful, she agreed to marry him because he finally had enough money.
Themes
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