Amory's Relationships

For most of the beginning of the book, Amory does not have any true friends. His relationship with his mother could be considered a friendship, but he clearly has issues making friends. The other kids at his prep school do not like Amory because he is so arrogant and stuck up and different. I think this is probably because he is so used to his mother doting on him and treating him as an adult and telling him how superior he is. Beatrice clearly made a strong impression on
Amory and contributed to his vanity and his arrogant self-image. Even when he first gets to Princeton, Amory is only concerned with making friends who would improve his image. He finally makes some real friends who don't all live up to Amory's ideals of popularity (like Tom) but he establishes real relationships with these people. At this point, I thought that Amory would grow as a character and rely on his friends for advise and just generally become a less vain, less arrogant person. However, his shallow relationship with Isabelle confirmed that he has remained fairly static. He writes long love letters to her and seems completely obsessed with her, but once they meet up again, the whole thing is broken off because of a trivial incident where Amory leaves a mark on her neck. Isabelle is just as self-centered and shallow as Amory, so their relationship does not last--never really begins actually. Even the death of his friend in the automobile accident is not effect Amory enough. I think he should have valued his friendships more after that, seeing as how easily they could be taken away, but he continues to take people for granted and remains relatively distant from them.