Within each story that is written, each novel and poem, there are changing values and perspectives that are reflected. These important ideas allow the audience, as readers, to synthesise an understanding of the lens through which the pieces are written and hence further develop an appreciation for the influence that social, cultural and historical contexts hold. Both Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s (EBB) poetry ‘Sonnets form the Portuguese’, 1845 and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby”, 1925, explore similar perspectives of ideal love, it is the context, however, that alters the composer’s viewpoint and allows the reader to consider the true differences between the ideas placed forward. Fitzgerald’s novel, through criticism of the dominant hedonistic traits of the time, highlights the demoralized world of the 1920s. Similarly, Barrett Browning expresses a strong defiance to the rigid principles of the Victorian period. From this, responders are able to heighten their understanding of both the personal contexts and interpersonal human emotion expressed, and it is from a study of both texts that a responder is able to gain a better understanding of both the contrasts between contexts, and common thematic …show more content…
concerns placed forward. Both Barrett Browning’s sonnets and Fitzgerald’s novel discuss the great effects the past may have on the present. While Browning’s sonnets express a desire to progress onwards from the past, ‘The Great Gatsby’ is largely based on the belief that one could repeat it. “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can.” In order to rekindle his love with Daisy, Gatsby creates a metaphorical façade, a key to unlock the shackles that bind him to his lower class status. The ‘platonic conception’ of himself demonstrates his lack of progress since the two lovers were separated the first time. ‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly back into the past.” Gatsby, through building a future on the desire to return to a previous life, only further solidifies the idea that his dream, and hence the American Dream, is completely unobtainable. His personal recount, at the beginning of Chapter 8, of his brief affair with Daisy, only further disconnects her from the realities of life. Gatsby solidifies her as a dream, ‘the first ‘nice’ girl he had ever known’, the ripest apple hanging just of his reach. F Scott Fitzgerald highlights the distillation of love into an object used to determine self worth in a time of such materialism. “Chatter… laughter… innuendo…meetings between women who never knew each others names,” This juxtaposition to the heavily suppressed passion of the Victorian Era emphasises the changes in accepted social behaviours and the effect the past may have on each individual. Correspondingly, Barrett Browning’s sonnets effectively communicate the concept that although one may be able to progress onwards from the past, it may never be entirely escaped.
In Sonnet I, Barrett Browning alludes to the Greek poet Theocritus and of how he “had sung... of the sweet years... the dear wished for years.” The use of the passive verb ‘sung’ demonstrates the overpowering restriction of emotion during the Victorian period. This comparison between the ‘sweet years’ of Theocritus and the ‘melancholy years’ of Barrett Browning is then followed by the sibilance of ‘sweet, sad years’. This emphasis of syllable is able to mirror the sound of a sigh, and hence, once more draw on the tone of doubt expressed by Barrett Browning in her early
sonnets. Throughout ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’, the uses of anaphora, as seen through the repetition of phrases such as “Spring” and “cuckoo song”, exemplify Barrett Browning’s growth in confidence and signify her rebirth from the past. Browning’s persona becomes an embodiment of the transition from one’s previous self to a more knowledgeable or resolved figure. Despite the similarities in demonstrating how influential the past may be on the present, Fitzgerald focuses heavily on the repetition and transformation of the past rather than the transcending of the former life into the future. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby mirrors many aspects of Barrett Browning’s sonnets, however in reference to mortality and the significance in their varying contexts is something that demonstrates great contrast.
Hawthorne and Fitzgerald, two great American romantics, display new attitudes towards nature, humanity, and society within their novels. The novels The Scarlet Letter and The Great Gatsby are very similar with their adjacent themes, motifs, and symbols. The comparison between these two literary pieces show the transition from adultery to ability, societal standards during the chosen time periods, and good vs. evil.
All stories have the same blueprint structure with the same type of ending whether it be good triumphs over evil, rags to riches, the voyage and the return, tragedy, or rebirth. The thing that sets these stories apart is the message they intend to in our minds. “ The power of a story to shift and show itself to anew is part of what attracts people to it, at different ages, in different moods, with different concerns” (Auxier 7). These messages are given by the characters in the story that all have their own reasoning but in the end have one meaning behind it. Some messages give specified personal messages rather than a broad stated such as the stories The Wizard of Oz and The Great Gatsby. Blinded by the ignorance of desires, the characters
During the course of the semester, I covered many topics during this class. These topics consist of; The Great Gatsby, The topic of Rationalism, Romanticism/transcendentalism, The crucible, and Fahrenheit 451. In this assignment, I was asked to summarise each topic with a single thing I could use to describe the meaning of the topic. I chose to summarise each topic in terms of a single quote. I chose quotes because of the open-mindedness of quotes. Everyone sees quotes differently, and they have different meanings for everyone. They are often used to express opinions, or public knowledge led to educate and inspire others.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) The character McMurphy as played by Jack Nicholson, McMurphy’s is a criminal who is troubled and keeps being defiant. Instead of pleading guilty, McMurphy pleads insanity and then lands inside a mental hospital. Murphy reasons that being imprisoned within the hospital will be just as bad as being locked up in prison until he starts enjoying being within by messing around with other staff and patients. In the staff, McMurphy continuously irritates Nurse Ratched. You can see how it builds up to a control problem between the inmates and staff. Nurse Ratched is seen as the “institution” and it is McMurphy’s whole goal to rebel against that institution that she makes herself out to be.The other inmates view McMurphy like he is god. He gives the inmates reason to
I believe that Jay Gatsby and Othello’s inability to face the truth lead to their tragic consequences, but in real life I believe it is not the case. The Great Gatsby and ‘Othello’ are both stories beautifully constructed by William Shakespeare and F. Scott Fitzgerald. I believe that the refusal to face the truth for Gatsby and Othello, was definitely an element used by the authors to construct them as tragic protagonists.
“The Great Gatsby” and “The Love Song for J. Alfred Prufrock” are two pieces of writing written in the 1920’s. Both F. Scott Fitzgerald and T.S Elliot were able to express the overwhelming force of the most powerful human emotion. Although the two eponymous characters seem vastly different from each other in, it can be seen when analyzed in greater depth that the two hold more similarities than differences. Both Prufrock and Gatsby live more in their own minds than the actual world. This causes them to become isolated from other people and become captives by their own illusions. Both men will eventually allow love and fear to corrupt their lives and lead them to make decisions which will ultimately bring about their demise.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby is generally regarded as an excellent novel which expresses much more than the superficial plot. The Great Gatsby could be, however, more complex than the average reader might imagine. The Great Gatsby is often interpreted as the corruption of the American Dream. In this framework, the Buchanans are viewed as the example of irresponsibility and degradation, and Gatsby the embodiment of idealism and sentimentality. In this essay, I want to offer another reading of The Great Gatsby in Freudian frame of reference.
In both Frankenstein and The Great Gatsby, the protagonists fall into a life of despair and pain because of their unwavering obsession with their respective subjects. Jay Gatsby is infatuated with a rich married girl named Daisy, whom he only knew for a short time before he went to fight in the war. Upon his return, Gatsby does everything in his power to draw Daisy back in and achieve his ultimate goal of having her as his own despite the many obstacles in his way. His persistence does not come without a price, however. Victor Frankenstein is obsessed with becoming a legend and hero in the scientific world. He believes that he is a greater being than the rest of humankind and that he has immense power. Because of his deep desire to meet his full potential, he pushes the boundaries of his own morals and integrity. The consequences of his irresponsibility are bloody and heartbreaking. While Frankenstein’s infatuation stems from his narcissism and Gatsby’s from his idealism, both character’s egotism and superficiality contribute greatly to their uncontrollable, downward spiral into an obsession; their respective
Nostalgia, the bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past, is the dominant feeling throughout The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is an eloquently written novel filled with intricate details and written to evoke the romanticism in anybody. The love affairs evolving throughout the story add substance as well as emotions to the author’s message, a moral lesson concerning how people think and behave. I found numerous instances in the book that aroused soul-searching questions that every person asks him/herself at one period of time or another. Mr. Jay Gatsby, the self made millionaire, is desperately seeking to reunite with his first and only love, Daisy Buchanan, who is already married to Tom. The story unfolds through the eyes of Mr. Nick Carraway, who lends a moral standing to the story, remains more distant than the other characters, and is more a spectator than being actively or emotionally involved in the situations. Fitzgerald’s use of Carraway as a spectator, and how brilliant it is, is one aspect that all literary critics seem to agree upon. The first literary critic, Jeffrey Steinbrink, primarily focuses his analysis on the element of time. He states, “the notion that the flow of history can be arrested, perhaps even reversed, recurs in The Great Gatsby as a consequence of the universal human capacity for regret and the concomitant tendency to wish for something better” (Steinbrink 179). The inability to recover the past as well as the tendency to try and correct it is most evident with Jay Gatsby.
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, display the customs and beliefs of past society. Both novels project the idea of wealth and high-class but also accentuate the search for love. Fitzgerald emphasizes the harm in devoting one’s life to achieving wealth for the one he loves, as Gatsby believes in order to win over Daisy he must acquire a great deal of money. Austen displays the importance of love over looks and money. She details the happiness Elizabeth is able to receive once she marries the guy who has similar wit and sarcasm. Although the novels were written a century apart, Pride and Prejudice and The Great Gatsby encompass similar ideologies, along with people and beliefs, of the time.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises are equally similar and different. The two stories are similar in their commitment to the failure of the American dream and its moral hollowness. However, the means and literary methods which the two authors choose to prove their point are distinctly different. Hemingway and Fitzgerald attempted to evoke aimless traveling across East to West and West to East through their writing styles in which the various nature of modernism in literature is reflected. Hemingway adopts his original sentence structure called “cablese” which consists of ordinary speech and exact words without any vague expressions, while Fitzgerald describes the protagonist, Gatsby through Nick’s perspective.
Within the debate on who is to be crowned the “Great American Novel,” a valid factor that may be taken into consideration is how ideals in culture become altered with an evolving environment, and therefore, the argument can be made on the behalf of The Great Gatsby to be considered for the title. Due to its more recent ideological concepts, the novel addresses American ideals that are not fully developed or addressed at all within The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. These ideals can be boiled down to primarily two concepts: the fully-developed American dream of richness and upper-class goals, and consumerism in the industrialization of America. While Mark Twain’s piece touches on the “American dream” with Huck beginning the book off with $6,000
Aspirations are the foundations that allow people to strive for the unattainable. In Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby, Holden Caulfield and Jay Gatsby both have high expectations for how their lives will turn out, but circumstances and their inability to adapt to those circumstances ultimately leave both characters failing to attain their goals. Jay Gatsby and Holden Caulfield both have goals they want to achieve, but their dreams, how they face reality, and their level of maturity all affect their goals.
The collaboration of two of some of the most influential musicians to not just happen to jazz but to the evolution of music is bound to be pioneering. This wasn’t the first time that Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong performed together, however, it was the first of three times for it to be released as a studio album. Norman Granz was responsible for the creation of the pairing as he worked for the Verve recording label. Granz selected eleven melodies that maintained a slow to moderate tempo to ensure an intimate feeling in the music was kept. To provide the instrumental section, the Oscar Peterson Quartet was hired. By the time Verve hired Armstrong and Fitzgerald, they were both already well-established musicians with prominent careers.
In “Sonnet 43,” Browning wrote a deeply committed poem describing her love for her husband, fellow poet Robert Browning. Here, she writes in a Petrarchan sonnet, traditionally about an unattainable love following the styles of Francesco Petrarca. This may be partly true in Browning’s case; at the time she wrote Sonnets from the Portuguese, Browning was in courtship with Robert and the love had not yet been consummated into marriage. But nevertheless, the sonnet serves as an excellent ...