Anxiety, a Psychoanalisis Study on Amory Blaine, the main character of This Side of Paradise, a novel by Francis Scott Fitzgerald

¹ FIB Undip, Magister Ilmu Susastra (Master of English Literature), 50275 Jl. Prof. Soedharto, S.H. Semarang, Central Java
² FIB Undip, Magister Ilmu Susastra (Master of English Literature), 50275 Jl. Prof. Soedharto, S.H. Semarang, Central Java

^* Nurdien H. Kistanto: nhkistanto@gmail.com

Abstract

This Side of Paradise (first published in 1920) is the debut novel of Francis Scott Fitzgerald, the famous modern novelist in twentieth-century America. This novel is concerned with a modern industrial society that created a new culture that broke the tradition; one of the elements of this culture is the emergence of anxiety. This paper aims to describe the process of self-acceptance of Amory Blaine, the main character of This Side of Paradise. Amory Blaine faced anxiety in his early mature life as a part of the World War I aftermath. At the exact moment, many old American values should be broken. Using Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis theory, it was found that This Side of Paradise was the expression of the author’s anxiety, Fitzgerald, when experiencing his self-acceptance. Anxiety is the main theme of this novel, besides the breaking tradition. This study applies a descriptive qualitative method that shows anxiety as a specific psychological disease in the modern industrial era, which correlates to the progress of industrial activities. The complexity of modern life has become a trigger for people living with anxiety. The undetected disease could also be a product of the anxious world. In this decade was what we named Covid-19 and its pandemic.