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Book 1, Chapter 4: Narcissus Off Duty
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in This Side of Paradise, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Youth, Innocence, and Coming of Age
Friendship and Masculinity
War, Modern Life, and Generations
Money and Class
Love and Sexuality
Summary
Analysis
In January 1918, Monsignor Darcy writes a letter to Amory, who is now a second lieutenant stationed in Long Island. Darcy tells Amory that Amory’s generation is going through hardships that Darcy’s could not have imagined, and that Amory will never be the same again after the war. Darcy also says he has a feeling that one or both of them will not survive the war, and that he sees Amory as a younger version of himself.
Monsignor Darcy’s letter emphasizes how particular this experience of war is to Amory’s generation; it implies that everything will be different for them after the war. Though Monsignor Darcy’s prediction that one or both of them will not survive the war does not come true, there is a very ominous sense that the second part of the novel will be much less lighthearted than the first.
Themes
In March 1919, Amory writes a letter to Tom from Brest, Germany, where he’s stationed. Tom, for his part, is still in the United States, where he’s stationed at Camp Gordon, Georgia. Amory tells Tom that they will meet in Manhattan later that month. He says that sometimes he wishes he was English and disdains American life. He also reveals that Beatrice has died. She has not left him much money because she gave a lot to the church at the end of her life, and her investments in railroads are losing money. Amory also reveals that Kerry and Jesse have died in the war, and that Burne has gone missing.
Amory mentions his mother’s and his friends’ deaths rather emotionlessly, implying that such losses have become commonplace in the war and that he and his fellow soldiers have become desensitized. It increasingly becomes clear that Amory is no longer stably middle class, and Amory will have to struggle to make a living for the rest of his life.
Themes
