This Side of Paradise

In Atlantic City, Amory sits at the end of the boardwalk at sunset. He hears someone call to him, so he looks to the road below and sees Alec driving a car with several other people in it. Amory descends the boardwalk, gets into the backseat, and sits next to a woman named Jill. They drive to an empty side street and park. Over a bottle of bourbon, Alec talks about their friends who are now dead, but Amory doesn’t want to talk about them. Alec then invites Amory to stay in one of the hotel rooms he has reserved at a local hotel, and Amory agrees. He leaves the group and walks to the hotel, feeling lethargic and disappointed with how much his life has changed. Amory thinks about Rosalind in his hotel room and falls asleep on a chair.

Amory wakes hours later and hears Alec and Jill whispering. He then hears men talking in the hall and knocking on doors. When someone knocks on Amory’s door, Alec tells him it’s the house detectives looking for an unmarried man who brought a woman into his hotel room. Amory processes the situation and remembers a young man he had heard about once who took the blame for cheating on a test to protect his roommate. The young man eventually died by suicide himself, unable to shoulder the shame and ingratitude. Amory also fears Alec will hate him if he saves him from the situation.

Regardless, Amory tells Alec to lie on the bed and act drunk. He tells Jill to act like they’ve been together all night, and Jill agrees. Three men enter the room and accuse Amory of immoral behavior. Amory and Jill give one of the detectives their name and address, and he tells the couple the hotel won’t send them to jail for their crime, but their local newspapers will publish the incident. The men escort Jill and Amory from the hotel as the sun rises. The couple takes a taxi to a restaurant and talks.

“The Collapse of Several Pillars”: Two days after the hotel incident, Amory is back in New York. He reads the newspaper and finds the announcement describing his indiscretion in Atlantic City. Amory also sees Rosalind’s engagement announcement to Dawson Ryder. Amory drops the paper and realizes Rosalind is truly out of his reach. The next day, he receives a letter informing him that he’ll no longer receive money from his father’s streetcar investments. Amory then learns of Darcy’s sudden death in Philadelphia, which occurred while he was in Atlantic City.

On a rainy November night, Amory stands outside a New York theatre and watches the matinée’s audience leave the building. As he watches the people stream by, he realizes that he detests the lower class, feeling it’s better to be corrupt and wealthy than innocent and poor. Amory walks to Fifth Avenue and boards a bus. As he rides, he has an internal question-and-answer dialogue with himself. Amory reveals his plan to leave New York and his fear of being poor. He also states that he doesn’t want to relive his youth but wants the joy of losing it. Amory then experiences a stream-of-consciousness moment in which he thinks about each of his love interests, Beatrice, wisdom from his friends’ mothers, what might have happened to Alec and Jill, and the cost of rent. He gets off the bus at 127^th Street and walks without a destination. Amory ends up outside the Hudson River Sporting and Yacht Club, where a man denies him entrance.

“In the Drooping Hours”: As Amory sits outside the club, he reflects on his life, regretting that honest people distrust him and that he is cruel toward others. Amory then considers moving to Mexico or another exotic destination.

“Still Weeding”: Amory’s thoughts turn to Burne Holiday and Monsignor Darcy, the many books he used to read, and his lost loves. He continues to think as the sun rises.

“Monsignor”: Amory attends Darcy’s funeral along with numerous others. Seeing so many people who depended on Darcy, Amory realizes that he also wants to help others and give people a sense of security like Darcy did.

“The Big Man with Goggles”: One day, Amory begins walking to Princeton in a contemplative mood. Near Manhattan, a car pulls up beside him. Two men are in the car, and the larger one offers Amory a ride. Amory accepts and enters the vehicle. The large man is confident and well-dressed, whereas the small man is unremarkable and overshadowed by the large man’s personality. The two men ask Amory where he’s going and if he has a job. Amory begins sharing his philosophy on money and wealth, ideas that he hasn’t considered until now.

“Amory Coins a Phrase”: Amory continues his lecture, turning to the topic of “spiritually married” and unmarried men. He believes the spiritually unmarried have less power than the others, but the spiritually married do everything to better their wives’ social status. Amory concludes that the spiritually unmarried man is part of progress, but the married is not.

“Going Faster”: The large man encourages Amory to continue his discussion, so Amory says modern life should be changing and developing much faster. He also says every child should have an equal start in life.

“The Little Man Gets His”: The small man tries to interject, but Amory tells him to shut up. The large man tells Amory that he disagrees with half of his words. Regardless, Amory pushes forward and continues defending his positive views on Socialism. He hadn’t thought much of Socialism until this conversation, but now he feels it could benefit the American system.

The large man then asks what university Amory attended. When Amory says he went to Princeton, the large man says his son, Jesse Farrenby, also attended Princeton but died fighting in France last year. Amory explains that Jesse was one of his friends and now sees the resemblance between father and son. The car stops at the gate to a large estate. The large man invites Amory to lunch, but the younger man refuses, grateful but needing to move on. Amory shakes both men’s hands and continues walking.

“Out of the Fire, Out of the Little Room—”: Eight hours from Princeton, Amory sits on the side of the road. The frosty landscape reminds him of a football game he played at St. Regis’ and an autumn day he experienced last year in France. These memories link both halves of his life. He then thinks about the Catholic Church, feeling people who need religion must have some fault in their personality. Amory continues walking and passes a graveyard at twilight.

Amory arrives at Princeton after midnight. He feels sorry for the students stuck in the same old traditions he is now free from. He reflects on his past struggles and knows they’re for his benefit. Amory then lifts his arms to the sky and says that the only thing he knows is himself.