one. The slicker seemed distributed through school, always a little wiser and shrewder than his contemporaries, managing some team or other, and keeping his cleverness carefully concealed.
Amory found the slicker a most valuable classification until his junior year in college, when the outline became so blurred and indeterminate that it had to be subdivided many times, and became only a quality. Amory's secret ideal had all the slicker qualifications, but, in addition, courage and tremendous brains and talents—also Amory conceded him a bizarre streak that was quite irreconcilable to the slicker proper.
This was a first real break from the hypocrisy of school tradition. The slicker was a definite element of success, differing intrinsically from the prep school "big man."
| "The Slicker" | "The Big Man" | ||
| 1. | Clever sense of social values. | 1. | Inclined to stupidity and unconscious of social values. |
| 2. | Dresses well. Pretends that dress is superficial—but knows that it isn’t. | 2. | Thinks dress is superficial, and is inclined to be careless about it. |
| 3. | Goes into such activities as he can shine in. | 3. | Goes out for everything from a sense of duty. |
| 4. | Gets to college and is, in a worldly way, successful. | 4. | Gets to college and has a problematical future. Feels lost without his circle, and always says that school days were happiest, after all. Goes back to school and makes speeches about what St. Regis's boys are doing. |
| 5. | Hair slicked. | 5. | Hair not slicked. |
Amory had decided definitely on Princeton, even though he would be the only boy entering that year
