It is no mystery that Muley Graves of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath and Gatsby of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby live very different lives in totally different places. Muley Graves, the Joad’s old neighbor in Oklahoma, doesn’t make the move to California, despite his wife and children going there, while Gatsby lives a lavish lifestyle in a suburb mansion by New York City throwing nightly parties. Despite their differences, they both desire to live in the past while having trouble letting go of the past, go to great lengths to do so, and both are unable to connect with reality when it comes to wanting to recreate the past . First, both want to live in the past since they can’t seem to let go if it. Muley, despite his family and house being gone, stays in Oklahoma even though there is nothing there for him except constantly being chased by the police. Muley decides to stay in Oklahoma because of his immense pride and his initial belief that everyone will come back when things return back to normal as they were before the Dust Bowl and foreclosures as he says “There ain’t nobody can run a guy name of Graves outa this country” and “I’m lookin’ after things, so that when all the folks come back, things will be alright” (Steinbeck, 2006, p. 51) which he later says he knew wasn’t true. Also, he, obviously, has trouble letting go of the land he lived his entire life on as he recollects the many memories he had there (Steinbeck, 2006 p. 51), and he definitely wants things to go back to the time before the foreclosures because of his love of the land. Similarly, Gatsby still tries to win back Daisy because of his maintained love for her. Gatsby wants to live in the past because he wants to recreate what he had going with Daisy... ... middle of paper ... ... him seem even more illogical. To summarize, Muley and Gatsby both display an unrealistic mindset when it comes . In conclusion, although both Muley and Gatsby are both very different people with different lives and goals, they do, in fact, have a lot in common since they both try to reconstruct the past as they both have trouble letting go if it, make many hard fought- efforts to recreate the past, and both display irrational reasoning and thinking about reliving the past. This only goes to show that very different people can actually be fairly similar. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F.S. (1953). The great Gatsby. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons. Lombardi, E. (2011). The great Gatsby quotes. About.com. Retrieved from http://classiclit.about.com/od/greatgatsbythe/a/aa_greatgatsbyq_2.htm. Steinbeck, J. (2006). Grapes of wrath. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
Gatsby seems to think that his wealth will allow him to buy back time, or to buy back the time he had with Daisy. He feels if he could just go back to the past, or have the present seem like the past, then everything in the future will turn out the way he wants.
There are many themes that are implemented in the Great Gatsby that Fitzgerald uses as a technique to juxtapose two contrasting topics. During this time of the Roaring Twenties, business and economy was booming, however there’s still was a underlying hint of urban corruption and the gap between the rich and poor became greater. Through the technique of juxtaposition, Fitzgerald paints a detailed picture of society in the 1920’s and its cultural clashes. By comparing the characters living in the East and West Egg, Fitzgerald highlights the contrast between morality and corruption in society during the 1920’s. Additionally, his contrasting descriptions of Tom and Daisy’s house to the Valley of Ashes offers a juxtaposition of the rich and poor.
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.
When looking at Jay Gatsby, one sees many different personalities and ideals. There is the gracious host, the ruthless bootlegger, the hopeless romantic, and beneath it all, there is James Gatz of North Dakota. The many faces of Gatsby make a reader question whether they truly know Gatsby as a person. Many people question what exactly made Jay Gatsby so “great.” These different personas, when viewed separately, are quite unremarkable in their own ways. When you take them together, however, you discover the complicated and unique individual that is Jay Gatsby.
Gatsby to represent the reinvention of himself. Gatsby reinvents himself to conform to his ideas
Illusions and reality are vital elements in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby because the novel focuses on an idealistic world that holds the main character, Jay Gatsby, captive. Gatsby believes that he can make his illusions reality through a series of plans. He is blind to the fact that his ultimate plan asks too much of others. The author cleverly chooses his words so readers can understand how resisting reality or living in fantasy can become catastrophic. Several critics elaborate on the obsession Gatsby has with achieving his dream. The other characters in the novel are aware that the past is the past, but he is oblivious to the idea. Although Gatsby refuses to take the truth into consideration,
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is an absurd story, whether considered as romance, melodrama, or plain record of New York high life. The occasional insights into character stand out as very green oases on an arid desert of waste paper. Throughout the first half of the book the author shadows his leading character in mystery, but when in the latter part he unfolds his life story it is difficult to find the brains, the cleverness, and the glamour that one might expect of a main character.
Explain the two conflicting attitudes the narrator has toward Gatsby. What is the effect of this paradox?
The 1920’s was a time of great change to both the country lived in as well as the goals and ambitions that were sought after by the average person. During this time, priorities shifted from family and religion to success and spontaneous living. The American dream, itself, changed into a self centered and ongoing personal goal that was the leading priority in most people’s lives. This new age of carelessness and naivety encompasses much of what this earlier period is remembered for. In addition, this revolution transformed many of the great writers and authors of the time as well as their various works. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, perfectly symbolizes many emergent trends of the 1920’s. More importantly the character of Jay Gatsby is depicted as a man amongst his American dream and the trials he faces in the pursuit of its complete achievement. His drive for acquiring the girl of his dreams, Daisy Buchanan, through gaining status and wealth shows many aspects of the authors view on the American dream. Through this, one can hope to disassemble the complex picture that is Fitzgerald’s view of this through the novel. Fitzgerald believes, through his experiences during the 1920’s, that only fractions of the American Dream are attainable, and he demonstrates this through three distinct images in The Great Gastby.
Much like how Daedalus enabled Icarus to attempt to exceed his limitations in flying too close to the sun, Nick enables Gatsby to attempt to exceed his limitations in pursuing Daisy.
The Great Gatsby is an American novel of hope and longing, and is one of the very few novels in which “American history finds its figurative form (Churchwell 292).” Gatsby’s “greatness” involves his idealism and optimism for the world, making him a dreamer of sorts. Yet, although the foreground of Fitzgerald’s novel is packed with the sophisticated lives of the rich and the vibrant colors of the Jazz Age, the background consists of the Meyer Wolfsheims, the Rosy Rosenthals, the Al Capones, and others in the vicious hunt for money and the easy life. Both worlds share the universal desire for the right “business gonnegtion,” and where the two worlds meet at the borders, these “gonnegtions” are continually negotiated and followed (James E. Miller). Gatsby was a character meant to fall at the hands of the man meant to be a reality check to the disillusions of the era.
Recreating the past will only result in sorrow and misfortune. Leave what happened long ago where it is and create a new future and make this new life whatever is desired. If only Gatsby believes in this. Daisy knew this to be true and even Nick knew that reliving the past will never truly result in happiness. Gatsby pushed his ideals onto Daisy and made her do something she does not want to do. Gatsby wants to go back five years and live this life again whereas Daisy just wants to create a new life. The uncertainties of the past are not grounds to repair a current situation in an individual’s life. The basis of the future is that what is created in the present. The future is not created in the memories of days before, the future cannot the same as the past once was. The future is the life of an individual, this present day reflects how the individual feels now and not how they felt five years ago. Using what has already occurred to change the future will never end well and individuals who seek to use memories to fix the present will only dig their own grave. Gatsby slowly digs and digs as he attempts to win over Daisy and even when he does, he will take nothing less than to go back five years and start
Gatsby has many issues of repeating his past instead of living in the present. A common example of this would be his ultimate goal to win Daisy back. He keeps thinking about her and how she seems perfect for him, but he remembers her as she was before she was married to Tom. He has not thought about the fact that she has a daughter, and has been married to Tom for four years, and the history there is between them. The reader cannot be sure of Gatsby trying to recreate the past until the reunion between him and Daisy. This becomes evident when Nick talks to Gatsby about how he is living in the past, specifically when Nick discusses Daisy with him. “‘I wouldn’t ask too much of her,’ Gatsby ventured. ‘you can’t repeat the past.’ I said. ‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’” (110). This excerpt shows how Gatsby still has not learned that eventually he will have to just accept the past and move forward with his life. If he keeps obsessing about Daisy, and trying to fix the past, more of his life will be wasted on this impossible goal. Througho...
...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.
In the Great Gatsby, Tom and Daisy are both invited to the Gatsby’s huge party. And after the party, Gatsby tells to Nick that “I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before”(Fitzgerald 110). Through this, readers can estimate that Gatsby is still in the past and tried to make all things as same as the past. Also, Gatsby still loves Daisy and want her to love a smuch as he does. According to the “On possession and character in the Great Gatsby”, “Part of Gatsby's dream is to turn back the clock and marry Daisy in a conventional wedding”(Donaldson 8), But she already gets marriage with Tom. Therefore, Gatsby wants Daisy to tell to Tom that “I never loved you”(Fitzgerald 109). It states that he wants to bring back Daisy as before as she gets marriage, and wants her to marry with him. Furthermore, it states that Gatsby wants Daisy to break up with Tom and make her as same as before she gets marriage. When Nick tells Gatsby that you cannot repeat the past, Gatsby gets angry and tells to Nick that he can repeat the past and also can make Daisy to love him as past as she does. But readers, Nick, and Fitzgerald know that repeat the past is hard thing. Especially in Fitzgerald’s shoes, Fitzgerald has drastic time after Zelda’s affair. And he also misses his past, before Zelda gets affair, as Gatsby does. Through this, readers can estimate that Gatsby reflect