Comparing Love In The Great Gatsby And T. S. Eliot

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The Love that Decays with a New Era: Why does one value love? Love creates a sensual feeling in humans that provides self-worth and exuberance in a depressingly disconnected society. However, the valuations of love become shifted in the Modern era and are almost non-existent, with only a few individuals left that have an aspiration for the emotion and it’s intimate values. Authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, and T.S. Eliot create characters to demonstrate their modern thematic standings on love and its impact through their texts, The Great Gatsby, “A Rose For Emily”, and “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock”. These authors illustrate how in the modern era, alienated individuals long for the values of love in such a way that …show more content…

Scott Fitzgerald creates a character that isn’t corrupted by his wealth, but by the idea of his exuberant love that existed in the past. A “...green light that burns all night at the end of [Daisy’s] dock” symbolizes the unreachable perception of how Daisy will forever stay unobtainable by Gatsby, and his denial over this inadmissible fact (Fitzgerald 92). Gatsby, as an alienated individual, is too caught up in his past to come to the realization that time and the people around him are moving forward, while he becomes further alienated living his life in the past. Gatsby begins to “...[revalue] everything in his house...” when Daisy enters for the first time, scrutinizing “...the measure of response it [draws] from her well-loved eyes” and anticipating her approval (Fitzgerald 91). The reevaluation of his belongings demonstrates how materialistic objects interest Daisy more than their relationship, while Gatsby is drawn to Daisy’s happiness and their prior love; this comparison is significant to display their contrasting values of love that will further degrade their relationship. Feeling pressured to make both men happy, Daisy “helplessly” admits that Gatsby “[wants] too much” and “even alone [she] can’t say [she] never loved Tom” (Fitzgerald 132). Gatsby’s recollection of their love induces Daisy to feel the constraint to match his imaginable expectations of her since she does not understand why love is so substantial to Gatsby. Gatsby’s inability to let go caused …show more content…

Alfred Prufrock is an indecisive character in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” that has an inability to love with his insecurities and perception of himself holding him back. He contemplates “[having] the strength to force the moment to its crisis” but is reminded that he has “...seen the moment of [his] greatness flicker/ And [he has] seen the eternal footman hold [his] coat and snicker/And in short [he] was afraid” (ln 80 and 84-86). His old age and “eternal footman” or lingering fear of death, holds him back from his possible potential to find love or express the way he feels, leaving Prufrock isolated from society. (ln 85). Stuck in the past, possibly in a time in his life where he was rejected, “[he] has heard the mermaids singing, each to each/[he does] not think they will sing to [him]” (ln 124-125). The “mermaids singing” are metaphorically being used to compare a woman’s voice, to make a statement that women will never talk to him as he will never approach them with his lingering fear of rejection in mind (CITE QUOTE). His helplessness and longing for the love left with nothing but the recollection of his youth and indecisive actions that left him

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