Author(s): F. Scott Fitzgerald

Classics

Amory Blaine inherited from his mother every trait, except the stray inexpressible few, thatmade him worth while. His father, an ineffectual, inarticulate man with a taste for Byronand a habit of drowsing over the Encyclopedia Britannica, grew wealthy at thirty throughthe death of two elder brothers, successful Chicago brokers, and in the first flush of feelingthat the world was his, went to Bar Harbor and met Beatrice O'Hara. In consequence,Stephen Blaine handed down to posterity his height of just under six feet and his tendencyto waver at crucial moments, these two abstractions appearing in his son Amory. For manyyears he hovered in the background of his family's life, an unassertive figure with a facehalf-obliterated by lifeless, silky hair, continually occupied in "taking care".