Flow in Chapters 1 and 2 of F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise

In the novel This Side of Paradise, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates an outstanding use of the literary device of flow. Flow is the way a novel moves from scene to scene, using smooth transitions and language to keep the writing exciting, interesting, and stimulating for the reader. Flow is important because it is one of the main characteristics of a great writer; it distinguishes those who can come up with interesting ideas for plot and simply transcribe them from those who take these great ideas and turn them into a smooth, consistent work of art, one which does not allow readers to stop turning pages because they are so drawn in.

Is this not the ultimate goal of an aspiring author; to write a story and use the words in such a way as to turn it into something more than a simple one dimensional piece, but instead a masterpiece, an aesthetic experience for those who read it? And this is exactly what Fitzgerald has done in his novel, thanks in part to his use of flow.

The novel starts by introducing the main character, Amory, a young child at the time who lives a wealthy lifestyle along with his mother, Beatrice. The two make an odd pair, as Amory picks up knowledge from his mother at this young age that will set him apart from his peers as he gets older. Speaking in terms of flow, it should be pointed out that the name given to the protagonist by Fitzgerald is not an accident.

Amory is a romantic name, one which might remind the reader of the song, "That's Amore" by Dean Martin, which describes love, as amore means love in Italian, and is similar to the Spanish word for love which is amor. Fitzgerald uses this name to connect Amory to his personality of being a young man of romantic, loving intentions. Along with this use of a flowing, consistent idea, Fitzgerald also makes use of it in dialogue scenes.

The language throughout the dialogue has the feeling of being real. One can hear it in their head and at first the sound of a child comes out, a child with some type of accent in which he doesn't finish words, but this accent and childish speech gradually fades as Amory ages into adulthood. The use of an accurate word choice and the slight changes to it over the course of these first two chapters allows the character to change in a smooth way, and in doing so points out Fitzgerald's good use of flow in this way. The procession of young boy to young man is the basic storyline for the first two chapters of the novel, and in order to make a good novel this transition must be made successfully.

The reader watches the young Amory slip into bigger shoes over the course of two chapters as he eventually ends up a successful college student. Fitzgerald does not spend hundreds of pages detailing every noteworthy experience of Amory's maturation, but instead shows by way of brief scenes the most important moments of his growing up. These scenes are filled with massively important, yet delicate details that show the reader the main character, rather than simply tell about him.

This way of showing rather than telling can only be done by transitioning between scenes without confusing the reader, while also not giving too much background which could edge toward boring. Fitzgerald shows Amory kissing his first girl at thirteen, and the negative experience he has with that, then a year and a few pages later he meets back up with his mother, and we see the changes that both of them have gone through.

The reader watches Amory's mentality about things change over time, especially while at Princeton, such as when he decides to no longer care much for trying to be the perfect social person and instead just let go and have fun. He still, however, has the desire to be popular, and after he eventually loses everything that his mother taught him, he then becomes a member of the high social ranking Triangle Club. It is somewhat ironic that not until he finished trying so hard to be a top social member did he achieve exactly what he wanted in the first place. He is still somewhat egotistical in his college life, but the reader views the subtle changes of his character and notices how he becomes much more mature and concerned with more than just himself.
On a trip across country with the Triangle Club, Amory meats a girl whom he falls in love with named Isabelle. They meet at the Minnehaha Club in Minnesota, which is important because this was the same place that Amory had his first kiss many years before. By making this the location of their meeting, Fitzgerald does two things that impact the flow of the story: first, he reintroduces a location that the reader is already familiar with, and second, he makes the situation somewhat ironic. At the end of the second chapter, after a fair amount of patient waiting, Amory and Isabelle have their first kiss. In this relationship Amory does not rush and manipulate Isabelle into kissing him, but waits for the perfect time to come so it will be real.

This scene shows how much Amory has been able to change, yet also notes his continuing egotism in the moment of the kiss. Through perfectly written and intertwined scenes, Fitzgerald demonstrates a great use of flow. He takes us from a boy's youth to young adulthood in fewer than one hundred pages, all of which therefore become significant and interesting to read. As the reader watches Amory in different situations, he notices how his reactions differ as his life progresses. By showing us these important scenes rather than simply describing the character from the third person, Fitzgerald has turned a somewhat ordinary story of coming of age into a classic, due in much part to his use of flow