TPA: somewhere between Nathan and Fitzgerald.

Ok. I’m going to try to talk about The Plastic Age, but bare with me if I confuse the two. There is a lot to get mixed up between them. For the benefit of those who haven’t read TPA and to help me keep things straight, I’ll go ahead and list the similarities. First of all they both are set most of the time in prestigious colleges of the Northeast in the 1920s. I think Sanford is a made-up school, but is supposed to resemble one of the Little Ivies. Both colleges are all men and made up of high society folk who care more about socializing and sports and prestige than studying. Hugh and Amory are both handsome athletes: Hugh easily makes connections through his natural charm and Amory considers himself irresistible for a short while.

At the end of the novel, Hugh also goes through a (less prolonged) struggle for identity, wondering whether he has matured or learned anything useful in college. This question goes unsettled, but it is clear that even if he hasn’t changed, his experiences have brought the best of him to bear.

Hugh’s obstacles are surprisingly consistent with college today, both by my account and Nathan’s. First he encounters incredible social pressure to fit in and conform, to hang out with the right people and do the right activities. Good quality one: he ends up defying many norms by befriending Catholic and Jewish boys. Next he loses but later regains his passion for hard work, which is evidenced in his improved studies and his triumphant last track meet. Additionally he faces enormous pressure to dehumanize himself through telling ‘smutty’ stories in bull sessions, being hazed and hazing other freshman, smoking, drinking, consorting with prostitutes and regular girls who get around. Ok the prostitute scene is probably a non-issue today. Although he ends up caving to pressure and participating in these activities, he still retains his high moral values, values which intensify as he ages. In the end college still seems to be a struggle to gain new experiences and find your passion.

Its pretty amazing how little alcohol’s role in colleges has changed. Consider how today the possession and consumption of alcohol is illegal for most undergraduates and back then Prohibition was in full swing. The proportion of students drinking is even the same, one character noting that though many drank, only a small fraction were despicably drunk; yet it still seemed that the entire campus was drinking.

I think the issue of conformity is completely different today. Nathan actually referenced this period’s conception of ‘grinds’ when she talked about academic conformity. Socially however, colleges are too diverse to even come near the standardization seen in the 20s. When everyone is male, and come from largely the same background, and have the same interests (college had much fewer extracurricular options then) the social pressures are astounding. If you were poor, or a different religion, gender, ethnicity, or even liked doing puzzles more than watching the Football game, you were really, truly different. Thankfully although we are to some degree similar, to some degree had similar upbringings, no one can fairly compare today’s undergraduates to those in the 20s.

Above all, chastity is the highest virtue in the novel. Hugh’s two lowest points are when he nearly loses his virginity, being drunk both times. His evolving attitude towards sex and relationships provides a clear chronology as it does in TSOP, and I’ll assume the movie will focus mostly on this structure.
eric