Narcissus Off Duty
- Princeton nearly falls into anarchy when one-third of the entire junior class resigns from all the Princeton clubs. The clubs are what create a sense of hierarchy at Princeton, so the massive resignation smacks of equality and socialism to the established Princeton elite.
- Apparently, the ringleader of the mass resignation is Burne Holiday, the same guy who spent most of his university career desperately trying to get into the best clubs.
- Amory discusses the radical movement with Burne, and ends up agreeing with most of the guy's views. In a way, he's jealous of Burne for having discovered the path that Amory himself would have liked to find on his own.
- One day, Burne gets tricked into escorting a girl to the homecoming football game at Princeton. He wants to back out, but doesn't want to hurt Phyllis' feelings. So he decides to drive her away by dressing up as the biggest, most ignorant Princeton football fan he can. Phyllis is embarrassed to be with him and eventually takes off.
- A few weeks later, Amory goes to New York to catch a stage show. He hears something that reminds him of his old girlfriend Isabelle and scribbles a love poem on his show program.
- Amory receives a letter from Monsignor Darcy telling him that one of his (Amory's) distant cousins is living in Philadelphia. Her name is Clara and her husband has passed away, leaving her a widow with a child. Monsignor Darcy wants Amory to go meet her.
- Amory meets Clara and gradually falls in love with her. But it's a lost cause because Clara has vowed to dedicate her life to being a mother and decided never to marry again.
- Finally, Amory accepts that he'll never be with Clara. He doesn't have long to mope, either, because now the U.S. has gotten involved in World War I and all the young men are being shipped over.
- Amory's friend Burne decides to become a pacifist and refuses to support the war effort. Amory wishes he could take a stand like Burne, but the truth is he cares too much what other people think of him. The best thing Amory can do to show his protest is write a scathing poem about the war and hand it in during one of his English classes.
- Before he knows what's hit him, Amory is called to an army training camp. He's been conscripted into the army and he'll need to go fight in Europe.