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“The slicker” symbolizes conformity to the new dominant model of masculinity that characterizes the generation depicted in This Side of Paradise. Amory creates the concept of “the slicker” with his friend Rahill in their final year at St. Regis. A slicker is a person who is identifiable by his slicked-back hair and “clever sense of social values.” He also “dresses well,” pretending “that dress is superficial—but know[ing] that it isn’t,” and he does everything he can to project an outward appearance of success. The novel contrasts the slicker with “the big man,” an antiquated model of upper-class masculinity. Unlike the slicker, the big man is not aware of social values and does not care about his appearance. He is also unsuccessful in life and feels nostalgia for his prep school days.
In many ways, the slicker resonates with the idea of being “conventional,” or maintaining the status quo. For example, Amory tells Beatrice that Minneapolis has made him “conventional,” and Tom blames Amory for making him “conventional” at Princeton. Slickers are conventional in that they conform to the customs of society increasingly defined by new class relations and gender roles. Amory, who is middle class, mixes with upper-class students at St. Regis and Princeton, but by their shared educational experience they become part of the same class and are subject to the same customs of masculinity. “The slicker,” therefore, like Amory in certain periods, is a man in this time of change who knows how to mold himself to society and maintain, or improve, his class status: he acts according to social customs, he cares about how others perceive him, and he attempts to get ahead.
The Slicker Quotes in This Side of Paradise
The This Side of Paradise quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Slicker. 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 1: Amory, Son of Beatrice Quotes
Amory’s secret ideal had all the slicker qualifications, but, in addition, courage and tremendous brains and talents—also Amory conceded him a bizarre streak that was quite irreconcilable to the slicker proper.
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Here, the concept of conformity to an upper-class social environment is introduced: that is, becoming “conventional,” an idea that remains relevant through much of the novel. “The slicker” represents conformity to the social model of masculinity that dominates in environments like St. Regis and Princeton. This quote foreshadows what will become a central struggle for Amory: namely, that he wants to be accepted and rise to the top of the social hierarchy, even if he also disdains arbitrary hierarchies and their modes of exclusion. The “ideal” of the slicker that Amory sets up is, in many ways, the type 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 officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi
Book 1, Chapter 2: Spires and Gargoyles Quotes
“Oh, it isn’t that I mind the glittering caste system,” admitted Amory. “I like having a bunch of hot cats on top, but gosh, Kerry, I’ve got to be one of them.”
“But just now, Amory, you’re only a sweaty bourgeois.”
Amory lay for a moment without speaking.
“I won’t be—long,” he said finally. “But I hate to get anywhere by working for it. I’ll show the marks, don’t you know.”
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In this quote, Amory is in his first year at Princeton and struggling to feel accepted as part of the social system. When Kerry says that Amory is “only a sweaty bourgeois,” he means that Amory cannot hide the fact that he is middle class and striving to seem upper class, while many of his classmates come from upper-class backgrounds and do not have to work to make themselves seem socially conventional. Amory resents that he has to work to fit in, worrying that it marks him as inferior. But though Amory aspires to seem leisurely and moneyed, as if 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
“No,” declared Tom emphatically, a new Tom, clothed by Brooks, shod by Franks, “I’ve won this game, but I feel as if I never want to play another. You’re all right—you’re a rubber ball, and somehow it suits you, but I’m sick of adapting myself to the local snobbishness of this corner of the world. I want to go where people aren’t barred because of the color of their neckties and the roll of their coats.”
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In this quote, Tom describes the consequences that he has suffered from becoming “conventional.” The reference to Brooks, meaning Brooks Brothers—an iconic menswear brand that defined 19th- and 20th-century Ivy League style, creating an aesthetic that was shared by middle- and upper-class educated men—symbolizes Tom’s new conventionality. Clothing is significant to becoming “conventional” because it reflects an awareness of social conventions and an intentional attempt to conform. Earlier in the novel, Amory described “the slicker” as someone who “dresses well,” pretending “that dress is superficial—but know[ing] that it isn’t.” Thus, the symbol of “the slicker” is implicitly invoked in 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 dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error.
Book 1, Chapter 4: Narcissus Off Duty Quotes
The intense power Amory felt later in Burne Holiday differed from the admiration he had had for Humbird[…]. Amory was struck by Burne’s intense earnestness[…]. Burne stood vaguely for a land Amory hoped he was drifting toward—and it was almost time that land was in sight.
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This quote illustrates the desire and aspiration that is central to Amory’s friendships with other men. Amory experiences what is described here as almost akin to an attraction to Burne, a magnetism (Burne’s “intense power”) that seems to mirror descriptions of romantic attraction elsewhere in the novel. That Amory’s attraction to Burne is different from his earlier infatuation with Dick Humbird reflects some of Amory’s maturity and development by this point in the novel: he is already coming to recognize the superficiality of hierarchy, conformity, and money—which is what he had admired about Dick. Now, what he admires about Burne 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 odit. Tenetur qui digni
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The Slicker Symbol Timeline in This Side of Paradise
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Slicker appears in This Side of Paradise. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 1, Chapter 1: Amory, Son of Beatrice
...considers himself to be more intelligent than Rahill. Together they invent the concept of “ the slicker ,” a boy whom they consider has “social values,” dresses well, excels in activities, is...
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