The Egoist Becomes a Personage
- Alone again, Amory starts having conversations with himself. These conversations all tend to center on the question of what he's going to do with himself. If he doesn't plan on committing suicide (which he doesn't), he'll need to find something that makes life seem worthwhile.
- Amory continues to wander the streets until one day, he finds out that Monsignor Darcy has passed away. And that just about does it. For Amory, there are no more great men in the world, just a bunch of grey, bland fools who go about their lives chasing money and buying stuff.
- Ultimately, Amory decides that the only way he'll ever learn to love life is if he feels like he's necessary to other people. He needs to be needed. He also wants to give other people a sense of security, since this is what no one has been able to give him.
- One day, Amory takes a walk to Princeton when an expensive car pulls up next to him and the man riding in the back asks him if he'd like a lift. The man is riding with a smaller dude who appears to be his personal secretary.
- Before long, the three of them are talking about politics and the state of the world. Amory takes a socialist angle and insists that the world won't be any better until it stops running on money. He's certain that people will still work hard even if money comes out of the equation. The rich man in the car thinks he's crazy, though.
- Along the way, Amory mentions that it should be illegal for people to have more than a certain amount of money. He also thinks that inheritance should be illegal, so all children start out their lives with the same opportunity to excel.
- Ultimately, Amory doesn't think that it matters whether anyone agrees with him. He's convinced that sooner or later, a revolution will happen in America, and the poor will simply stand up and take the property of the rich.
- After he's done ranting, Amory learns that the rich man has a son who went to Princeton. It turns out that Amory knew him before he died in World War I, so he and the rich man bond over the son's memory before Amory gets out of the car and thanks the man for the ride.
- By the end of the novel, Amory can only look at the horizon and yell out, "I know myself […] but that is all" (2.5.251).