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Contrasting Places In This Side Of Paradise

Decent Essays

Amanda Stevenson
IB Literature 2
Independent Reading
16 October 2014
9. Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or a play that contrasts two such places.
Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.
This Side of Paradise
In This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes structure to demonstrate how the boundaries set by society can negatively affect a person’s internal conflict. The protagonist of the novel, Amory Blaine transitions emotionally through the two books of the novel.
The title, This Side of Paradise, initially presents the idea of contrast of setting and of emotional convictions within the novel. The diction “this side” infers that there are opposing viewpoints to …show more content…

This separation represents Amory’s internal struggle as he tries to manifest and reach the standards set by society. This is also Amory’s attempt at trying to comprehend his own personality. The heading of this section is “Code of the Young Egotist”. Amory defines himself as an egotist, so this section header proves that he is trying to conform to society. For each of the three sections, Amory compliments himself (adding to his reputation as an egotist), however in the sociality section, Amory uses the diction “most dangerous”. At this point in the novel, in it unclear whether “dangerous” is referring to its effect on Amory’s internal person or society’s opinion of him. This diction serves as foreshadowing of Amory’s later transition from upper middle class into practical poverty. Not only did Amory transition within economic classes, but also in his attitude towards the social classes of

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