Is love enough? Love can be portrayed in many different ways. The novel, Between Shades Of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, follows a family as they are forced from their home be the Soviet Gulag and forced to live in a concentration camp while The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story about the decadence of the twenties and the futility of trying to recapture lost love. Both novels portray love in many different and sometimes contrasting ways. Matrimonial love can be seen from the point of view of someone who cheats on their spouse and from someone who is faithful until the end. Love can also cause people to become self sacrificing or to become self involved and materialistic. As well, unconditional love occurs in both novels. In the novel, …show more content…
Between Shades of Gray, love is shown to be pure and self sacrificing while in The Great Gatsby love is shown to be materialistic and superficial but both types of love is still shown as something that manages to hold people together. One major difference between these two novels is how they view love during marriage.
In Between Shades of Gray, love is shown as a pure and beautiful thing. When Elena, the mother, was dying, she handed her wedding ring to her son Jonas and says, "J-Jonas, keep this...It's full of love. Nothing is more important." (79 p. 314) The ring is a symbol of her pure love for her husband and it shows how much she respects him and values his love. Elena is showing her children that love can keep you together until the end. Whereas, in The Great Gatsby we see how their love during marriage seems to be superficial and mean nothing to either Tom or Daisy. Over the course of Daisy and Tom’s marriage, they both seem to love too much, with too many people. We see this when Daisy says, "’Oh, you want too much!’ she cried to Gatsby. ‘I love you now—isn't that enough? I can't help what's past.’ She began to sob helplessly. ‘I did love him once—but I loved you too.’" ( 7, p. 264) Daisy was once in love with her husband Tom, until she learned of his cheating ways, but then she fell in love with Gatsby. In the end, Daisy decides to go back to Tom. Therefore, both Tom and Daisy are choosing to stay in a loveless, superficial, marriage. Both novels portray a marriage but one is with a choice for pure love while the other consists of a choice of a superficial marriage. Obviously, both couples view marriage differently, but in the end, their choices allow them to remain …show more content…
together. Additionally, these two novels contrasts how love can be self sacrificing or self involved and materialistic. In Between Shades of Gray, Elena’s love, is a maternal self sacrificing love. She chooses to starve herself to death, out of love for her children, so that her children can have the food to eat. This is shown when her daughter Lina says, “‘Think about it. We’ve seen her nibble, but she’s always giving us bread,’ I said. ‘Just yesterday she gave us bread. She said it was an additional ration she got for hauling logs.’” (72 p.285) The lesson Lina learns from her mother’s ultimate act of love, her death, is the fact that she wants to live. Lina learns how much she should cherish life and how she should “smell the lily of the valley on the breeze” (81 p. 314) and “to paint in the fields”. (81 p. 314) Lina chooses to honor her mother’s love by surviving the situation she has been put in. This love shows how Elena is trying to keep her family together by helping them to survive. In contrast to Elena’s self sacrificing love is Daisy’s materialistic love in The Great Gatsby. When Daisy first visits Gatsby’s house, she exclaims, "’They're such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. ‘It makes me sad because I've never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.’" (5 p.117-118) Gatsby is flaunting his wealth to Daisy in order to win her love. Daisy is overjoyed at this display of wealth. This shows that they both treasure and value material possessions. Therefore, their love is based on a materialistic view of love. Both views of love manage to keep something together. Whether it be a family or a temporary love affair. One similarity between these two novels is, that they both exhibit unconditional love.
In Between Shades of Gray unconditional love is shown many times. One time is when Jonas asks his sister, Lina, “‘Do you want my coat?’ he asked. ‘I think it will fit.’” Lina is freezing and her brother chooses to forgo his own warmth and comfort in order to try to help his sister. This act that he chooses to do is definitely an act of pure unconditional love. This type of love keeps the family unit together during the hard times they are facing. At the same time, in The Great Gatsby, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.” (4 p.78) This shows how much in love Gatsby is. He choose to buy a mansion because Daisy lived across the bay. He bought it in hopes of seeing her at one of his parties and being able to pick up where they left off. This shows his unconditional love for Daisy because he spent millions and continued to throw parties every day just with the hope of seeing her. He would do anything for her. Gatsby is hoping that his love for Daisy keep them together. Both novels show unconditional love but, during Between Shades of Gray it is a two sided love but in The Great Gatsby it is a one sided love so eventually while Jonas and Lina’s love endures and keeps them together, Gatsby’s love ends tragically. Although Gatsby’s love ends, Daisy does goes back to her husband, so Gatsby losing his love keeps Daisy and Tom
together. Overall, in these two novels, love is shown in many very different ways but, however it is shown, it manages to keep people together. A couple who love each dearly is shown, as well as, a couple who are adulterous and have no love left. A mother’s never ending love of her children is discussed, as well as, a girl who is very materialistic. Lastly, unconditional love is showcased during these two novels. Each of these types of love show us a different side of human emotions but also prove that no matter what type of love it is, it can be used to keep people together.
In contrast, love is the fundamental force that motivates Gatsby's action. Hence, Gatsby's love for Daisy is fueled by his materialistic belief and ambitious desires; as a result, his love is tragically misguided and unauthentic. Fitzgerald explores the theme of love by displaying a parallelism between the theme of love and the facade of the false American dream. Both Shakespeare and Fitzgerald illustrate the synonymous relationship between blindness and the theme of love and convey that a relationship founded upon materialistic desires will ultimately fail. Love is the common fundamental aspect within both novels that profoundly impacts the characters in the novel.
Daisy and Gatsby spend five years away from each other and when they get back together, the circumstances change. Daisy gets married to Tom Buchanan. Gatsby has no option except for grabbing Daisy’s attention. The love that the readers realize is passionate however this love changes into a forbidden one because Daisy is now married. Gatsby tries his best to convince Daisy that everything will go back like they used to, but she doesn’t seem to agree. The past cannot be repeated. Tom sees the love between Daisy and Gatsby but he does not say anything until the right time. The circumstances that are happening to both Daisy and Gatsby make their love forbidden. As much as Gatsby is very rich, he does not seem to be enough because he’s new money
There is a fine line between love and lust. If love is only a will to possess, it is not love. To love someone is to hold them dear to one's heart. In The Great Gatsby, the characters, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are said to be in love, but in reality, this seems to be a misconception. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the themes of love, lust and obsession, through the character of Jay Gatsby, who confuses lust and obsession with love.
Nothing is more important, to most people, than friendships and family, thus, by breaking those bonds, it draws an emotional response from the readers. Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan had a relationship before he went off to fight in the war. When he returned home, he finds her with Tom Buchanan, which seems to make him jealous since he still has feelings for Daisy. He wanted Daisy “to go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you” (Fitzgerald 118) Gatsby eventually tells Tom that his “wife doesn’t love [him]” and that she only loves Gatsby (Fitzgerald 121). But the unpleasant truth is that Daisy never loved anyone, but she loved something: money. Daisy “wanted her life shaped and the decision made by some force of of money, of unquestionable practicality” (Fitzgerald 161). The Roaring Twenties were a time where economic growth swept the nation and Daisy was looking to capitalize on that opportunity. Her greed for material goods put her in a bind between two wealthy men, yet they are still foolish enough to believe that she loved them. Jay Gatsby is a man who has no relationships other than one with Nick Caraway, so he is trying to use his wealth to lure in a greedy individual to have love mend his
Love, love, love; the only thing everybody talks about. Every movie, every series, every story talks about how two people fall in love and live happily ever after. All stories get to the conclusion that the love the couple shared was unique and that the two lovers matched perfectly together. But what happens when two lovers do not belong to the same social class? What happens when they don’t share common things they like? Are they not meant to be? “In love everything is possible”, someone once said. When someone is in love, he/she would make everything that he/she cans to make his/her lover happy and keep him/her by their side forever. F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the most important American writers of the twentieth century, depicts a love story in his novel The Great Gatsby and shows how love can change a person. Gatsby, the man from which the story takes its name, fell in love with Daisy when he was young officer just before going to war. As the story goes on, he falls more and more in love with her, but he loses her to a richer man. Gatsby’s love for Daisy
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.
They both went at attaining love in similar and different ways. In the end though, Gatsby was able to realize that he would not be with Daisy and he accepted reality, but Blanche was still left trying to live in a fantasy. They would never get their first true love, and due to that they both lost a great amount. Gatsby lost the ultimate; he lost his life because of Daisy. Blanche lost the respect of all those who loved her, and was in the end sent to a mental hospital because she had lied so much, and when she finally told the truth it was unbelievable.
...ces throughout the novel demonstrate how he is not as innocent or quiet as readers think. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby as not being a Romantic hero due to Gatsby`s attempts in faking his identity, his selfish acts and desperation for Daisy`s love and his fixation with wealth, proving that love is nothing like obsession. Gatsby does not understand love; instead he views Daisy as another goal in his life because he is obsessed with her and is willing to do anything to buy her love. Obsession and love are two different things: love is something that sticks with a person till his or her death, while obsession can cause a person to change his or her mind after reaching their goals. Thus Gatsby`s story teaches people that a true relationship can only be attained when there is pure love between both people, untainted by materialism and superficiality.
The Great Gatsby: Unfaithfulness and Greed. The love described in the novel, The Great Gatsby, contains "violence and egoism not tenderness and affection." The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, writes on wealth, love, and corruption. Two coupes, Tom and Daisy Buchanan and George and Myrtle Wilson, match perfectly with these categories. Both couples are different in the way they choose to live together, but are similar in a few ways. Unfaithfulness and greed are the only similarities the couples shared.
As the case with most “Novel to Movie” adaptations, screenwriters for films will make minor, and sometimes drastic, adjustments to the original text in order to increase drama and to reach modern audiences. Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film interpretation of The Great Gatsby followed the 1925 classic great plot quite accurately, with minor deviations. However, Luhrmann made some notable differences to the characters and settings of The Great Gatsby in order for the story to relate to the current generation and to intensity the plot
Scott Fitzgerald and The Notebook directed by Nick Cassavetes both share a similar love story. Both pieces of work share the theme of first love, presenting the idea that first love is the strongest and can never die. Gatsby and Noah are both men living in poverty who fall in love with women more wealthy than they are. Being separated from one another for years, both men and women eventually reconnect with each other and realize their love for one another still exists. Both women are already in a new relationship, leaving them with the struggling decision to choose which man they want. Soon enough, the women realize they are still in love with their first love and know they can not lose them again. After several years of the couples being separate from one another, they reconnect, with their love being stronger than before. The Great Gatsby and The Notebook both prove that after being apart for so long, ones love can still
The relationship between Gatsby and Daisy is one of constant lies, and deceit. Gatsby falls in love with Daisy before he goes to the Army as a young man, and Daisy fell in love with him too. Yet Daisy is very materialistic and Tom, a very rich man came into place and Daisy married him instead of waiting for Gatsby like she had promised. Gatsby waited for Daisy but she did not wait for him, and instead married Tom just for his money. This shows how there relationship has been riddled with lies since the very beginning of the story.
In the beginning, Gatsby was a poor army boy who fell in love with a rich girl named Daisy. Knowing from their different circumstances, he could not marry her. So Gatsby left to accumulate a lot of money. Daisy, not being able to wait for Gatsby, marries a rich man named Tom. Tom believes that it is okay for a man to be unfaithful but it is not okay for the woman to be. This caused a lot of conflict in their marriage and caused Daisy to be very unhappy. Gatsby’s dream is to be with Daisy, and since he has accumulated a lot of money, he had his mind set on getting her back. Throughout the novel, Gatsby shows his need to attain The American Dream of love and shows his determination to achieve it. You can tell that Gatsby has a clear vision of what he wants when Nick says, “..he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I gla...
What would you do for love? The novel Between Shades Of Gray follows a family as they are forced from their home be the Soviet Gulag and forced to live in a concentration camp. The Great Gatsby is a story about the decadence of the twenties and the futility of trying to recapture lost love. Both novels portray love as a major theme but, in Between Shades of Gray, love is shown to be pure and self sacrificing while in The Great Gatsby love is shown to be materialistic and superficial. Both versions of love are very different, but love is still shown as something that manages to hold people together.
As an American citizen we seem to make presumption that all cultures are different from ours, and some might even call those cultures weird. Americans fail to realize just how similar we are to these “weird” cultures. By reading Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe and The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald , it makes the reader realize how similar the African culture is from the American culture. There 's those obvious differences we already knew about with the two cultures, but readers can learn that not just American culture value men and give them advantages, but many cultures including 1900 's African culture. In both books we come across two main characters that is portrayed as being more superior compared to others. Okonkwo, main