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Beatrice Blaine
Rosalind Connage, the younger sister of Alec Connage, has a brief but passionate love affair with Amory that leaves him devastated for the rest of the novel. The two meet at Rosalind’s debutante ball, where they are immediately infatuated with each other. Rosalind is beautiful, clever, sophisticated, and flirtatious, and she has many male suitors whom she tires of easily. Rosalind and Amory are in some ways male and female counterparts: they are both intelligent, attractive, vain, selfish, and charming. And while they’re both prone to infatuation, they’re also quick to change their minds. But their different social positions ultimately leads to the disastrous end of their relationship. As a woman from a respectable, wealthy family, Rosalind is expected to marry a wealthy man who can give her a luxurious lifestyle. Amory, as an educated man from a respectable family, is supposed to provide money for his wife—but his vanishing inheritance and lack of income make this impossible. Eventually, Rosalind chooses to marry Dawson Ryder, a wealthy bachelor who convinces her that she will grow to love him. Rosalind promises Amory that he is the only man she will ever love and that their love was “the first real unselfishness” she ever experienced—however, because of his poverty, their marriage would make both of them miserable. Rosalind’s abandonment sends Amory into a self-destructive drinking binge.
Rosalind Connage Quotes in This Side of Paradise
The This Side of Paradise quotes below are all either spoken by Rosalind Connage or refer to Rosalind Connage. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 1, Chapter 4: Narcissus Off Duty Quotes
She was immemorial…. Amory wasn’t good enough for Clara, Clara of ripply golden hair, but then no man was. Her goodness was above the prosy morals of the husband-seeker, apart from the dull literature of female virtue.
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Amory’s relationship with and attitude toward Clara is notably distinct from his other romantic relationships in the novel. Amory sees some of himself in all of his other lovers. In contrast, Amory puts Clara on a pedestal and is drawn to her because he sees her as his moral superior. Clara makes Amory want to be less haughty and self-interested. Unlike with Amory’s other lovers (whom Amory feels confident in his ability to conquer), Amory does not effortlessly charm Clara, instead seeing himself as unworthy of her. While Amory demonstrates his admiration for Clara, this quote still reflects the same Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odi
Book 2, Chapter 1: The Débutante Quotes
SHE: Well, Amory, you don’t mind—do you? When I meet a man that doesn’t bore me to death after two weeks, perhaps it’ll be different.
HE: Odd, you have the same point of view on men that I have on women.
SHE: I’m not really feminine, you know—in my mind.
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This exchange between Amory and Rosalind, which takes place right after they first meet, illustrates that much of what they are attracted to in each other is their similarities—that is, they largely like each other because they see themselves in each other. They mirror each other in their self-absorption, callousness, fickleness, and charm. While the other women with whom Amory is romantically involved are perhaps more sentimental than him, Rosalind sees herself as above femininity and the sentimentality associated with it. The distinct intensity of Rosalind and Amory’s relationship, and Rosalind’s unique capacity to hurt Amory later, perhaps reflects this Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur molli
All life was transmitted into terms of their love, all experience, all desires, all ambitions, were nullified—their senses of humor crawled into corners to sleep; their former love affairs seemed faintly laughable and scarcely regretted juvenalia. For the second time in his life Amory had a complete bouleversement and was hurrying into line with his generation.
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This quote demonstrates the emotional significance of Amory and Rosalind’s love affair, and it is one of the few moments in the novel when Amory is optimistic and happy about love. In fact, it is the intensity and all-consuming nature of his love of Rosalind described here that leads Amory to be so pessimistic about love later in the novel. That feelings as intimate as theirs could later be corrupted by the forces of class and social conformity provokes a dramatic reaction in Amory, leading him to dismiss love as a corrupting force. What the narrator identifies as Amory’s “bouleversement” Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus
ROSALIND: Amory, I’m yours—you know it. There have been times in the last month I’d have been completely yours if you’d said so. But I can’t marry you and ruin both our lives. (…) I can’t Amory, I can’t be shut away from the trees and flowers, cooped up in a little flat, waiting for you. You’d hate me in a narrow atmosphere. I’d make you hate me.
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Here, Rosalind is articulating her reasons for ending her engagement to Amory and implying her future engagement to his wealthy rival, Dawson Ryder. The idea that their marriage would “ruin both [their] lives” reflects the intense pressures of class in modern society. These pressures revolved around the idea that genuine love was not enough to make a good marriage. Instead, most people believed that money and stability were necessary in order to make a relationship sustainable, regardless of whether or not spouses were in love. The fact that Rosalind feels she would be transformed for the worse by poverty further Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nos
Book 2, Chapter 2: Experiments in Convalescence Quotes
“ ‘S a mental was’e,’ he insisted with his owl-like wisdom. “Two years my life spent inalleshual vacuity. Los’ idealism, got be physcal anmal,” he shook his fist expressively at Old King Cole, “got be Prussian ‘bout ev’thing, women ‘specially. Use’ be straight ‘bout women college. Now don’givadam. (…) Seek pleasure where find it for to-morrow die. ‘At’s philosophy for me now on.”
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This quote appears soon after the end of Amory and Rosalind’s breakup, when Amory is suppressing his feelings by drinking excessively. Despite his state of impairment, Amory is articulating a remarkably coherent assessment of the effects that the war had on him (and, by extension, his generation). He describes how the war destroyed his sense of “idealism,” part of the innocence he had in his youth. Further, he describes how the war gave him a hedonistic mentality, as he now tries to “seek pleasure” in the short term, believing that he might die the next day. Though Amory’s assessment of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam offici
Amory had loved Rosalind as he would never love another living person. She had taken the first flush of his youth and brought from his unplumbed depths tenderness that had surprised him, gentleness and unselfishness that he had never given to another creature. He had later love-affairs, but of a different sort: in those he went back to that, perhaps, more typical frame of mind, in which the girl became the mirror of a mood in him.
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This quote further demonstrates the intensity of Amory’s love for Rosalind, and therefore the degree to which the pain of its dissolution traumatized Amory and made it more difficult for him to have romantic relationships in the future. Despite the fact that both Amory and Rosalind are deeply selfish people, the intensity of their love does make him better and inspires him to be unselfish and tender in a way that even his love for Clara, who is a more moral person, did not. This quote therefore demonstrates the power of love, a power so strong that it scared Amory Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates.
Book 2, Chapter 3: Young Irony Quotes
Eleanor was, say, the last time that evil crept close to Amory under the mask of beauty.
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The idea expressed in this quote, that the temptations of romantic love are a form of evil, is one of Amory’s major realizations by the end of the novel that leads him to his pessimistic view of love and sexuality. In earlier relationships with Isabelle, Clara, and Rosalind, Amory saw the exciting possibilities of being in love. But after the end of his relationship with Rosalind, Amory comes to see love as fundamentally corrupted and dangerous, leading him away from his quest for individual fulfillment and self-knowledge. Such a belief perhaps reflects the fact that, aside from Clara, Amory is Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo
“Rotten, rotten old world,” broke out Eleanor suddenly, “and the wretchedest thing of all is me—oh, why am I a girl? (…) Here I am with the brains to do everything, yet tied to the sinking ship of future matrimony.”
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On their last night together, Eleanor points out to Amory the double standards that govern the norms of relationships between men and women. To Eleanor, marriage seems like a dead end or, in her words, a “sinking ship”: that is, something that is destined to ruin her but that she is powerless to stop or avoid. Eleanor implies here that she would rather not get married but that that option is not available to a woman of her class status. In the same way that Rosalind previously revealed to Amory how love can be corrupted by money (showing him this Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum
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Rosalind Connage Character Timeline in This Side of Paradise
The timeline below shows where the character Rosalind Connage appears in This Side of Paradise. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 2, Chapter 1: The Débutante
In February of the next year, Rosalind Connage and Cecelia Connage, Alec’s young sisters, are preparing for Rosalind’s debutante ball at the...
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Mrs. Connage reveals that their father has lost money, and she urges Rosalind to meet the wealthy bachelor friends of her father’s, especially Dawson Ryder, rather than wasting...
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Amory and Rosalind dance and kiss again. They admit that they are both selfish people, but Amory says...
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Mrs. Connage tells Rosalind that she is wasting her time with Amory because he is poor. Rosalind ends her...
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Book 2, Chapter 2: Experiments in Convalescence
...very drunk at a bar, consuming alcohol to numb the pain of his breakup with Rosalind. Amory drunkenly laments his time spent in the war, explaining that he has lost his...
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...sorrows in alcohol. He reveals that he will never love anyone more than he loved Rosalind. He begins writing and reading again. Amory contacts a friend of Monsignor Darcy’s, Mrs. Lawrence,...
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Book 2, Chapter 4: The Supercilious Sacrifice
...deaths of their friends, Jesse, Kerry, and Dick, as well as by his pain about Rosalind, yet he agrees to spend the night in a hotel with Alec and the two...
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...the same newspaper that publishes the news of Amory’s misconduct, Amory sees an announcement that Rosalind is engaged to Dawson Ryder. He considers her as good as dead. The next day,...
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Book 2, Chapter 5: The Egotist Becomes a Personage
...students subjected to the same old traditions. He feels nostalgia for his youth and for Rosalind. He raises his arms to the sky, saying “I know myself,” “but that is all.”
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