Amory Blaine is the protagonist of the novel. When he reaches adulthood, he is just under six feet tall and handsome with auburn hair, green eyes, and dark lashes. His attractive appearance makes his face more memorable than his personality, suggesting that there is something superficial and forgettable about his young sense of self.

This Side of Paradise is a bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel) and reveals Amory’s mental and emotional development. At the novel’s beginning, Amory is conceited and doesn’t connect well with others his age. He spends his youth traveling the United States with his mother, and this experience educates him in a way that makes him feel superior to his peers. When Amory attends St. Regis’, he struggles to make friends but eventually learns how to adapt his behavior to be more likable. He continues this adaptation when he goes to Princeton, allowing him to make many close friends. However, Amory’s connections are usually based on his desire to increase his social standing, and he adapts his behavior to fit this end. He also uses people and friends, feeling they are beneath him and an audience for his philosophizing. Amory hates it when others view him as a failure, yet he is fundamentally lazy and lacks the drive to succeed, signaling a large gap between his grandiose self-image and reality.