As a text is a reflection of context and values, thus the comparison of the same discussion from two texts of two different time periods will reveal conflicting and complimentary values, allowing a heightened understanding of each context. The concept of the human heart is a worthy medium to present the attitude and values of a time period; by studying Elizabeth Barret Browning's and F.Scott Fitzgerald's discussion of love we can identify through their differing textual forms the contrasting values between the conservative Victorian Era and the demoralised Jazz Age. "Sonnets From The Portuguese" is a suite of secret poetry recording the steady evolution of Browning's relationship until it reaches its eternal form, aligning with societal expectations …show more content…
When compared to the spiritual, in dominatable love presented in "Sonnets From The Portuguese", "The Great Gatsby" leaves the audience unsatisfied and questioning the unresolved ending as the protagonist Gatsby, for all his impassioned potential, was romanticised by Nick the unreliable narrator and was never able to obtain transcendent love in his secularised society. To Gatsby, Daisy represented the completion of the American Dream; the incredible house, reputable status, comfortable wealth, a lifestyle strived for by the materialistic and frivolous Jazz Age in a society that used opulence to soothe the disharmony of WW1. Bordering obsession, Gatsby's love became an objectified goal because he, like all of his society, devalued love as a means of stability and status instead of the sacred bond between man and woman. "He had been full of the idea so long / Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock". This simile aligns Gatsby with the despondency and deceleration of an overwound clock, proving that Daisy was by no means equal to the enormity of all she represented. Gatsby's temporal love is a product of his demoralised society, allowing an insight that is intensified when the juxtaposed to the divine nature of EBB's
Gatsby loves Daisy while the man In the road loves the boy. The man and Gatsby both take risks that will benefit the person they love. They are both very selfless. The common theme of the great Gatsby and The road is that love is unbreakable. Love blinds us, moves us and changes us.
Many people in the 1920s lived very extravagant lives. The time of the “Jazz Age” or the “Roaring 20s” where girls were flappers and the men were bootleggers. People loved to have fun and be carefree. However, alcohol dependence was becoming a problem and many started realizing that. Taking action to stop this was the hard part. Alcohol was corrupting the 1920s even though some did not recognize it. In the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald displays the corruption during the 1902s through his main character, Jay Gatsby, and his illustration of prohibition.
The novel, The Great Gatsby, is a tragic story of lost love. Gatsby and Daisy are two different people in two different worlds. In their time apart, Gatsby was seeking for the American dream while Daisy was enjoying her riches with Tom. Gatsby is one of a few men who possess the knowledge of the true meaning of love. Love is so powerful and beautiful that Gatsby would do anything and everything to make Daisy his wife. However, love is also a mysterious thing that can turn anything from an everlasting relationship to murder. It turns out that Gatsby, a man with the possession of true love, is the one that suffers the most. Gatsby and Daisy, both represent love in their own unique way. Love could be beautiful but also cruel as the same time.
Gatsby’s endearment for Daisy nourishes the budding seeds of love once planted in the fertile soil of their youth to grow past the tangling vines of her marriage, and at last produce the sweetly amorous fruit they both indulge in. Their relationship revolves around the intertwining attributes of courtly love, spun forward by Gatsby’s persistent dreams of finding a place in Daisy’s heart. Burning in the relentless inferno of his passions, Gatsby surrenders his life and ambitions for the purpose of his love in hopes of taming the insatiable flames. The twentieth century knight binds his honor to Daisy’s wellbeing and displays steadfast loyalty to his mistress. Gatsby acts with unwavering chivalry and sacrifice—perhaps it is in fact Gatsby’s ennobling dedication to this single lady that merits this contemporary courtly lover his label of greatness.
For five years, Gatsby was denied the one thing that he desired more than anything in the world: Daisy. While she was willing to wait for him until after the war, he did not want to return to her a poor man who would, in his eyes, be unworthy of her love. Gatsby did not want to force Daisy to choose between the comfortable lifestyle she was used to and his love. Before he would return to her, he was determined to make something of himself so that Daisy would not lose the affluence that she was accustomed to possessing. His desire for Daisy made Gatsby willing to do whatever was necessary to earn the money that would in turn lead to Daisy’s love, even if it meant participating in actions...
In Fitzgerald’s works, losing love to someone of a higher status is a recurring motif. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby and Daisy are two lovers, brought apart by war. During this time Daisy marries a man named Tom, an extremely privileged young man, because of her need for love and falls in love with the wealth, rather than the man and the “perfection” that comes with it. When returning from the war, Gatsby sees their life in the newspapers
The theme “blind pursuit of an ideal is destructive” is the main message of The Great Gatsby. Gatsby is on a blind pursuit of happiness. His ideal is to be with Daisy as he was in the past. Although, you can not ever really grasp the past and have things the same as they once were. This pursuit is destructive because Gatsby can not be satisfied with Daisy anymore. He really longed for an image of the past and how he and Daisy used to be, but she is not the same as she once was. Her past self is unobtainable but Gatsby is persistent. Gatsby vision of Daisy is unrealistic and much better than her true self. Nick stated in the book, “Daisy tumbled short of his dreams- not through her own fault, but because of his colossal vitality of his illusion”.
The Great Gatsby is an emotional tale of hope of love and “romantic readiness”(1.2) that is both admirable and meritorious .Yet, the question of Daisy ever being able to measure up to Gatsby’s expectations is one that reverberates throughout the course of the novel. Be that as it may, Daisy is never truly able to measure up to Gatsby’s expectations because the image of Daisy in Gatsby’s mind is entirely different from who she actually is. Even during his younger years, Gatsby had always had a vision of himself “as a son of God”(6.98) and that “he must be about his fathers business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty”(6.98). Gatsby’s desire for aristocracy, wealth, and luxury is exactly what drives him to pursue Daisy who embodies everything that that Gatsby desires and worked towards achieving. Therefore, Gatsby sees Daisy as the final piece to his puzzle in order realize his vision. Gatsby’s hyperbolized expectation of Daisy throws light on the notion if our dreams as individuals are actually limited by reality. Since our dreams as human beings are never truly realized, because they may be lacking a specific element. Daisy proves to be that element that lingers in Gatsby’s dreams but eludes his reality.
Instead of approaching Daisy, Gatsby passively watches the green light at the end of her dock, for he fears she will not love him back. Instead of letting her go when he realized she was not the same, he kept pursuing her. Prufrock succumbs to a life of loneliness and depression, for fear if tries to fit in, he will be rejected. Both men had the chance to be happy, but were blinded by their own respective cognitive distortions on life and relationships. Gatsby’s dreams and life were corrupted because of his obsession with Daisy and what she represents for him. His love for her leads to him dedicating his life to try and win here back. Even when he undoubtedly knows he could never be with her he still stretched his arms toward his tainted love, “stretched his arms toward the dark water…” (p. 20) Prufrock’s wise ideologic beliefs about life are meaningless due to his fear of rejection from society. Each own’s sense of reason is tainted and they are mislead by their own overbearing emotions. Instead of living lives of happiness which could have been achieved by following their own sense of reason, they are only led to death and despair. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” (p.180) “Till human voices wake us, and we drown.” (line
money and a life full of luxuries. He fell deeply in love with the young
Lewis, Roger. "Money, Love, and Aspiration in The Great Gatsby." New Essays on The Great Gatsby. Ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985. 41-57.
Nick describes Gatsby as “one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life(Ch.3).” Such description unifies the appearance of Gatsby with people’s expectation of a man who accomplished the American dream. The obsession with wealth often blinds people from the potential crisis. The crisis of having everything they worked and struggled for redefined if the reality fails them. Just like strivers who chase the American dream, Gatsby also spent his whole life in pursuit of his American dream, which Daisy was a major component of.
< “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” This popular saying by Alfred Lord Tennyson has almost become an ordinary expression in all intellectual discussions regarding love. As humans, we are often encouraged to be generous in our pursuit of those we love and to love unconditionally. We are led to believe that love, in its pure form, is an act of selflessness – a complete devotion to another human being. The main issue of such eagerness to love and be loved consequently manifests itself into the hidden disclaimer of self-preservation.
Apathy, affair, and obsession over love are the ways the characters destroy themselves in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby’s intentions were noble, but the fact that he took love too far led to Wilson shooting him and committing suicide, destroying them both. Mishandling love causes every main character to succumb to each of their depressive fates. The characters that are still alive live with a feeling of loss and grief that will always be there, gnawing at their hearts. Love leads to destruction. This theme is displayed as a powerful force, and when mistreated it can kill even the greatest of men; emotionally and physically devastating anyone, no matter how rich or how poor.
In conclusion Gatsby went from powerful millionaire to obsessive lover boy. However it does not end here. Gatsby as a whole can be seen as a cautionary tale, warning its readers to not base their hopes on hallow dreams at Gatsby did. However it’s what he did to attain his status earns him his “greatness”, his self-invention, his talent to make his dreams come true. So there is some good that comes from all the disarray and further cynical attitude set forth by its narrator Nick. Like Odysseus in the Odyssey, he had an undying perseverance to get home or in this case win Daisy back, but like any of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes he did enough to induce his downfall. He chased the American Dream, in constant pursuit with no sign of stopping, even if it killed him.