This Side Of Paradise Analysis

The debut novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald ‘This Side of Paradise’ was published post First World War in 1920. At a tender age, Fitzgerald’s commenced writing his semi-autobiographical novel which soon gained popularity. One can draw parallels between the lives of the protagonist, Amory Blaine and Fitzgerald as well as some other characters that influence the life of Blaine. The turning point of Blaine’s life, as written by Fitzgerald, was his love affair with debutante Rosalind Connage. Rosalind was the younger sibling of Alec Connage, a University acquaintance of Blaine. It is often said that the character of Rosalind was inspired by Fitzgerald’s wife Zelda Sayre. Due to the paltry wage earned by Fitzgerald as well as the constant rejection he faced by publishers, Zelda broke off their engagement. Thus, the character of Rosalind portrays that of a young conventional American woman in the early 1900s (Prigozy). Rosalind is often considered as “the original American flapper” (Solomon). During the 20th century, the American society witnessed many transformations in the social dogmas, opinions and gender roles which were illustrated in the character of Rosalind. They were wilful women who wanted to break out of the constrictive chains of the American society which bound

In actuality, Zelda bore a resemblance to Rosalind because Zelda too was independent, did what she yearned to do and expressed her viewpoints without inhibitions or restrictions (Solomon). For her, women such as Rosalind must be admired because of their courage, their recklessness and spend-thriftiness. The first quarter of the 20th century saw several young women in America as “flappers” because it was a craze adapted by all. F. Scott Fitzgerald said that the character of Rosalind Connage resembled his own wife and thus “the original American flapper” was in reality base on Zelda herself