"I knew myself, but that is all!"

Mike: So I've not be abducted or oblivious to the obligations of this blog.  Rather, I decided I'd give Amory's weeks-long hangover a try.  Wow!  What a trip!  

Just kidding, I was a little busy with life: Grades, parent/teacher conferences, Thanksgiving, etc.  Anyway, that has all passed and I'm now able to respond to the last three chapters.  

Regarding "Young Irony" and Eleanor...wtf was all that?  When I read the chapter I was pretty tired and so maybe I didn't get it because I wasn't 100% with it.  I didn't like the manic behavior of Eleanor and I'm glad their romance lasted no more than a summer.  Your question to this chapter was about the potential of Amory's 'the one'.  Clearly that didn't come about.  I really think I should have re-read the chapter.  

The final two chapters were really enjoyable and I think I'm happy with the direction in which Amory seems to be heading.  The Mann Act sounded familiar when I read it and I kind of had an idea when the mention of transporting Jill was raised.  Remember back when I said the rain in NYC would indicate a different Amory?  Looking back, I think that is his turning point.  I think Amory became more and more disillusioned with the life he was living and really did begin to transform as evidenced by his sacrifice for his friend, Alec.  Jill seems like a nice enough young woman but I don't get the impression Amory has any ulterior motives with her.  I think he took the blame because he just didn't give an eff any more.  While I liked the chapter, it did seem like a randomish story (or at least circumstances) similar to the chapter before.  The events didn't necessarily flow with the rest of the story.  Except for Amory, there really hasn't been a steady stream of characters following his life.  Perhaps that is Fitzgerald's aim.  Through this lonely, superfluous, and ostentatious life, Amory is alone.

I like your summation of the final chapter.  I think the ending is vague because Amory's future decisions are still unclear.  I got the impression he was going to become a priest and I wonder if Amory's mentor, Darcy, didn't have a similar experience.  

There were multiple places in the text where I indicated favorite lines.  At the end of the book, I found this potion to be moving (and confusing since I assumed he was to become a priest):

...a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all God's dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken...There was no God in his heart, he knew; his ideas were still in riot; there was ever the pain of memory; the regret for his lost youth...

Great writing, Fitzgerald!  Beautiful.  But if this is the case, surly the road to priesthood will be a bumpy one.  Maybe that's not his road?

My favorite line of the chapter was the same that you indicated in your post:

He found something that he wanted, had always wanted and always would want -- not to be admired, as he had feared; not to be loved, as he had made himself believe; but to be necessary to people, to be indispensible; he remembered the sense of security he had found in Burne.

 Is this what  makes a 'personage'?  When we get here, have we reached the point in life that we are at nearly complete humanage? I know there is a part of me that wants to be admired and loved.  But the idea of being necessary is so alarming and I'm not sure I'd have been able to put my finger on that concept.  I like it a lot.  Good chapter, F. Scott!  

I agree that we should now speak on behalf of the book as a whole.  What were your thoughts overall?  Any important information we've overlooked? Maybe most importantly for your response, what's up with the title?  Where is paradise and were is Amory?  

Also, would you be interested in reading another book after this?  Let me know what you think.