Compare And Contrast Wilson And The Great Gatsby

The US is a country founded on the concept of freedom and equal rights, America prides itself on the lack of aristocracy and the equal opportunities but through Gatsby’s character Fitzgerald challenges the aristocracy and the limits of opportunity, which leads the reader back to the idea of the American Dream. When comparing the visible separation between West Egg and the Valley Of Ashes, there’s a distinct divide with a metaphorical clear link connecting them both. The valley of ashes is symbolic of the poverty, representing a proletarian society in need of urgent help but is neglected. The Wilson’s are used to exemplify how the economic boom didn’t positively impact all America, whilst George and Myrtle’s lives are significantly more difficult

The writer stages the hard reality of the American dream through the underlying comparison of both Gatsby and Wilson. It’s apparent that they both share common traits. For example; both Gatsby and Wilson know what it’s like to be poor. Both use their love for the woman they can’t have to catalyse their ‘progress’, however it could be argued that Gatsby’s love for Daisy is a mere obsession, lust for the perfect embodiment of a status that would suit his wealth. Furthermore, a Marxist would view George’s character as the reality of the American Dream, whilst Gatsby is what most of us strive to be. Contrary, feminist critique would describe the ‘obsession’ as objectification of the women in the novel, this is supported by women’s role in the novel and how women are only objectified as an add on to glorify and enhance the value of a male in the 1920s, this further perpetuates the harmful notion that this is indeed a man's

For example the appearance and significance of the colour yellow is shown to represent prosperity and wealth, this is shown in chapter 5 which indicates the beginning of the novel's climax. The colour yellow is orchestrated when Daisy and Gatsby are reunited. were it seems that yellow is consuming the setting. Gatsby’s car is yellow, Daisy’s buttons are yellow, Gatsby’s tie is yellow. Nick even describes the scent of the flowers as ‘pale gold’. Fitzgerald uses the imagery of gold to represent not only prosperity in the novel but in our lives as it carries connotations of the ‘Golden Age’ , ‘Golden opportunities’. Gold in the novel is an enchanted colour that conflates wealth and beauty. However, the colour yellow could also be used to symbolise decay and deterioration. This is shown through the eyes of Dr. Eckleburg which in the novel are rimmed with a yellow frame, through psychoanalysis this introduces an alternative interpretation of the decay of religious belief with the eyes of Dr Eckleburg are the unblinking, observing eyes that witness beyond the valley of ashes , New York and the suburbs. Myrtle’s house is yellow, this implies to the reader that Fitzgerald is using Gold/yellow to dissociate the idea of wealth, whilst instead associating wealth with corruption and death. Perhaps the reason why Fitzgerald uses the symbolic use of the colour yellow is