Amory's Ignorance

Fitzgerald, through four of his major novels, argues that excessive wealth makes members of the upper echelons of American society ignorant to the real world, thus resulting in the absence of true romance, which Fitzgerald results in more happiness than the wealth and status associated with the upper class.

In the novel This Side of Paradise, Amory’s ignorance causes his relationship with Rosalind to fall apart because of how quick it started. When Amory first met Rosalind they instantly fell in love, “Within two weeks Amory and Rosalind were deeply and passionately in love” (Fitzgerald, 161). As Amory falls for Rosalind almost immediately after he met her, his ignorance is personified. Rushing a relationship is a very ignorant thing to

Within a few days, despite her love for Amory, Rosalind decides not to marry him because he does not have enough money or status to be her husband. Armory reacts negatively to her decision, and it causes him to fall into a deep depression that he remedies with alcohol. Directly after Rosalind dumps him, Amory goes to the Knickerbocker Bar where he sees Jim Wilson. Despite attending college with Wilson, Amory does not remember him as a result of his alcohol addiction/depression due to Roseland dumping him. As the night goes on, Amory imbibes many more beers than Wilson. “Wilson had another; Amory had several more.” (This Side of Paradise 184). The next morning Amory forgets everything that happens until he begins to drink even more, with the narrator claiming, “As the new alcohol tumbled into his stomach and warmed him, the isolated pictures began slowly to form a cinema reel of the day before” (This Side of Paradise 185). Given that Amory only remembers the actions of the previous night when he starts drinking yet again, Fitzgerald warns of the dangers alcohol addiction causes, as Amory can not remember the events of the prior night without alcohol. After many years, Amory reads in a newspaper that Rosalind got engaged to another

At the start, Rosemary is traveling with her mother, Elise and one day and at the beach, she fell in love with a man named Dick, "I fell in love on the beach," said Rosemary. "Who with?" (Elise, Rosemary's mother) "First with a whole lot of people who looked nice. Then with one man” (Tender is the Night 11) Rosemary’s ignorance on love is exemplified in this scene due to the fact that she fell in love with many men in one day at the beach. Rosemary is unable to realize love is much more deep than seeing someone on a beach, rather, it is triggered when you get to know their personality. Therefore, Rosemary reveals how she doesn't tend to think things over, rather just get it done without thinking at