Is human nature inherently selfless or selfish? Although a seemingly simple concept, the aforementioned question has long been a profoundly controversial topic. While many claim that humans are intrinsically compassionate and inclined to help those in need, others argue that people instinctively prioritize their own individual security over other people’s welfares. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s literary works, “Young Goodman Brown” and The Scarlett Letter, as well as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s renowned novel, The Great Gatsby, all reference the idea that people impulsively pursue perfection, as determined by their community’s values. While different communities establish different standards for perfection, society as whole romanticizes the idea of perfection and subsequently people strive to create the illusion of a perfect life. How an individual represents the values idealized by a given community determines his/her reputation in that community. Although people may appear to wholesomely follow the values idolized by their community, in reality, human nature is inherently flawed, making it impossible for people to achieve perfection. People exploit the faults in their surroundings in hypocritical attempts to justify their own imperfections. Goodman Brown and Dimmesdale demonstrate hypocrisy in their efforts to avoid confronting their own distorted realities. Both Goodman Brown and Dimmesdale seek to exemplify the ideal Puritan lifestyle. After succumbing to unfaithful temptations, both men recognize that they have transgressed certain central values of their respective puritan communities yet neither correctly identifies the sin that ultimately debases his initially righteous character. For instance, Goodman Brown breaches basic Puritan prin... ... middle of paper ... ...g the perfect life should seem unrealistic to anyone evaluating the goal from an objective perspective; however the circumstances of the characters in the presented literary works exaggerate the expectations of everyday society. Each work focuses on portraying a flaw inherent in human nature from a different angle and ultimately, the characters’ quests for perfection demonstrate that the flaws permeating human nature are inescapable, prophesying failure for all those who seek to embody perfection. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, 1850; New York: Bantam Books, 2003. Hawthorne. Young Goodman Brown. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. ‹ http://www.americanliterature.com/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/short-story/young-goodman-brown›.
Gatsby and Greed In this day and age, money is a very important asset to have. One needs to have at least enough to live on, though great amounts are preferable. In The Great Gatsby, by Thomas F. Fitzgerald, having a large amount of money is not enough. It is also the way you acquire the money that matters.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a masterpiece and prehaps even one of the
For most people, a certain colour may represent something meaningful to them. While in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many of the colours used in the novel are meant to represent something. The novel’s setting is in East and West Egg, two places in New York. Our narrator, Nick Carraway, lives in the West Egg. Along with living in West Egg is a friend of Nick’s, Jay Gatsby; a character that is in love with Daisy Buchanan. Unfortunately, Daisy is married to Tom. As the plot unravels, the reader notices the connection between certain colours and their importance to the novel. The use of colours within The Great Gatsby symbolizes actual themes, as grey symbolizes corruption, blue symbolizes reality, and green symbolizes jealousy and envy.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby was a remarkable book. Fitzgerald Made the characters of the book as real and as personal as possible. Three characteristics stood out in the novel to me. Tom’s Jealousy of Gatsby relationship with his wife, Gatsby’s lies about who he is and his life, and Daisy’s ways to tempt Gatsby to fall in love with her. The novel was inspired by the way he fell in love with his wife Zelda.
Perfection is what many people attempt to achieve in there lives, yet none do. It is the ideal result to the hard work and toil each person does, in order to become greater than they are now. Within literature, characters may seem perfect but upon closer inspection, are deeply flawed. This is the case in the three pieces of literature; Oedipus the King, My Last Duchess, and Death of a Salesman. All three of these prove that fact that “Perfection is like a dream. When people finally see the flaws, they wake up and the dream ends.”
Anne Sexton’s “Cinderella” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” deal strongly with the concept of perfection. Both works have a focus on the unattainability of perfection, yet their authors view this fact in different lights. For Sexton, the ease with which Cinderella obtains her so called “happily ever after” is sickeningly unrealistic. For Hawthorne’s Aylmer, it is the pursuit of total perfection that causes him to ignore just how perfect his life really is and the ruin to which his pursuits bring him.
Baym, Nina. Introduction. The Scarlet Letter. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York City: Penguin Books USA, Inc. 1986.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Scarlet Letter”. American Literature: Volume One. Ed. William E. Cain. New York: Pearson, 2004. 809-813. Print
Whether human nature is fundamentally selfish or altruistic is a question that challenge lots of researchers back in the time, and even today. Some people, such as Thomas Hobbes, claimed that man 's nature is basically evil and selfish. However, Joseph Butler, a philosopher, disagreed with this idea. For him, goodness consists in having what he calls the ‘principle of reflection’ govern and control our passions. People always want to know the true, but there is no answer for this question, so we have to find it out base on our knowledge and beliefs. It is important to know what is our true identity when we were born. In my mind, no one is perfect, everyone has the dark-side in themselves. People cannot deny that there is no mistake have
Most Americans go throughout their lives in search of one thing, companionship. Americans believe that by having a companion, they will live a much happier life. By having a companion, Americans consider themselves better “socially” just by their companion. Overcoming loneliness is a major theme in American literature and Americans will risk their reputation and wealth in order to attain it.
In the 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the nature of man, and that, though characters may live complete opposite lives and be from different upbringings, even the most contrasting of people can have similarities. In the novel, the readers are introduced to two characters named Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. Tom Buchanan is introduced as an arrogant, wealthy east egg man who has never had to work for his money. George Wilson is introduced as a poor man, living in the Valley of Ashes, who owns an auto shop as a living. Although these men are in different social classes, if you were to strip these men of their wealth, they would have more similarities than differences. Fitzgerald shows through his writing that the nature of man is aggressive, contentious, and cowardly.
In the competitive, ruthless, and unforgiving world of money and publicity, several individuals strive to make their mark on society. Factors such as greed, desire, and a hunger for attention often reveal one’s dark side when going about attaining a goal or a dream. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby, a charismatic and successful individual from humble origins, spends a majority of his life striving to become part of the American aristocracy, or old money. Although one has to be born into old money, Gatsby lies to convince Daisy Buchanan, a member of the old money society, and Nick Carraway, the non-judgemental main character, that he comes from old money. Similarly, in Nick Paumgarten’s article from the New Yorker, The Most Exclusive Restaurant in America, Damon Baehrel, the
Chase, Richard (1996). "The Lessons of the Scarlet Letter." Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne (pp. 145-152). San Diego: Greenhaven.
In The Great Gatsby, many individuals are involved in a struggle to find themselves and who they want to be. Personal identity is a very challenging thing to define. Everyone has an image in their mind of who they want to be. These images are usually very different from the actual identity of a person. In this novel, Jay Gatsby’s search or struggle for a new identity for himself is an ongoing journey. He has dedicated his entire life creating an image to impress Daisy Buchanan and to set himself into her society. This image does not necessarily depict who he is in reality.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses the aspects of relationships, religion, community, discipline and punishment in the puritan community of 17th century Boston.