This Side of Paradise characters

Appears from the start

A bright, privileged, and intensely self-conscious young man raised amid his mother's wealth and adult sophistication. He is observant about his own vanity but rarely free of it, and he enters school convinced that charm and intelligence mark him for an exceptional future.

Appears from the start

Amory's wealthy, cultivated, and unconventional mother. She takes him through Europe and oversees an education shaped by charm, art, and social confidence before sending him into more conventional schools. Her influence helps form both his sophistication and his sense that he is meant for an exceptional life.

Also known as Monsignor Darcy

Appears from the start

A Catholic clergyman and old friend of Beatrice who becomes Amory's mentor. Intellectually sympathetic and personally affectionate, he takes Amory's spiritual and emotional ambitions seriously and offers him a steadier form of guidance than his fashionable surroundings provide.

First appears in chapter 3

A lively young woman whom Amory courts during his early romantic education. Their attraction is strengthened by their shared confidence and taste for dramatic feeling, but their encounters also expose how quickly Amory's idealized passion can collapse into embarrassment and wounded pride.

First appears in chapter 2

Amory's Princeton friend and roommate, a thoughtful aspiring writer who is less dazzled by the university's social hierarchy. Their conversations give Amory a candid audience and establish a friendship based on literary interests as well as campus life.

First appears in chapter 2

One of the Holiday brothers at Princeton, sociable, irreverent, and attractive to the circle Amory wants to join. Kerry's ease and humor make him an emblem of the glamorous college life Amory admires.

First appears in chapter 2

Kerry's more inward and intellectually restless brother. Burne belongs to Princeton's privileged social world but is less satisfied by easy popularity than many of the students around him.

First appears in chapter 4

A poised young married relative of Amory whose beauty is matched by practicality and emotional balance. Amory is drawn to her, but Clara sees through the romantic pose he brings to their friendship and refuses to encourage it.

First appears in chapter 6

Alec's younger sister, celebrated in New York society for her beauty, wit, and force of personality. When Amory meets her after the war, both recognize a similarly proud and romantic temperament, and their rapid intimacy becomes the central attachment of his early adulthood.

First appears in chapter 2

A well-connected Princeton acquaintance in Amory's social circle. He moves easily within the campus world whose approval Amory is trying to win.

First appears in chapter 7

A wealthy suitor who can offer Rosalind the financial security that Amory cannot. His presence turns the practical cost of her romance with Amory into an immediate choice.

First appears in chapter 8

An intelligent, imaginative young woman Amory meets in Maryland while recovering from his failed New York romance. She is drawn to poetry, solitude, and emotional intensity, and she meets Amory as an equal in creating a heightened story around their attraction.