Amory’s Disillusionment in This Side of Paradise.docVIP

Amory’s Disillusionment in This Side of Paradise 　　Abstract 　　As many critics observe， nobody has described the despair of the twentieth century better than F. Scott Fitzgerald. He came to prominence as a great American novelist in the 1920s， a period dominated by the postwar novel. In This Side of Paradise， Fitzgerald successfully depicts the disillusionment of the protagonist， Amory Blaine， a young romantic egotist in a quest of forming a “personage” in which he has to face various dilemmas and losses. Critics have adopted different approaches， such as feminist theory， gender studies and realism to analyze Amory’s psychic dilemmas. This paper adopts a different approach using early theories of Freud in dealing with the protagonist’s disillusionments concerning his personal life. 　　Key words： This side of paradise； Disillusionment； Fantasy； Loss； Mother-figure； Substitute father-figure 　　INTRODUCTION 　　This Side of Paradise’s omniscient narrator points out the huge change in Amory’s psychology from na？ve self to aware self， with a moment of awakening in between. Written with a well-organized structure in two books and an interlude， This Side of Paradise becomes a premise for Fitzgerald’s later， more successful novels. In quest of success， money and happiness， Amory has endured many experiences to form a conception of self but it is hard for Amory to control himself and so he inevitably falls into a disillusioned world view. As Pearl （2005） suggests， Amory “can never achieve a coherent character” （Pearl， 2005， p.3）. One of the main points that leads to Amory’s misconception of sexual identity as well as gender identity is he is much influenced by his mother， Beatrice O’Hara， in his childhood， without the influence of his father， Stephen Blaine， or an adequate substitute figure. Pearl also points out that “Amory’s story traces the development， not of manly character， but of personality—a new， inferior， and effeminate kind of identity” （Pearl， 2005， p.3）. In the l