Fitzgerald stresses that unless you are born into wealth, it is virtually impossible to achieve it.
Social Class, therefore, is depicted as being unavoidable, and in the novel the characters are separated by it. There are the rich, snobby members of the upper class; Tom, Daisy, Jordan, and there are the hardworking ‘chums’ of the lower class; George and Myrtle.
Characterization plays an important role in the novel. Fitzgerald creates his characters to suit the very themes that he is trying to communicate. Tom, for example represents the callous, immoral nature of the very rich; “-even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach,”
Tom is having an affair with a married woman and he carelessly flaunts this fact; “We’re getting off,” he insisted. “I want you to meet my girl.” He is also quite the liar, he has Myrtle, his mistress, convinced that he will not be able to marry her because his wife is a Catholic and will not divorce him. In truth, Tom would never marry Myrtle, she is of the lower class, and Tom loves the classiness of his wife, and would never divorce her.
The use of a narrator: Nick, provides the responder with a first-person view of the events that take place in the novel, the world is seen through Nick’s eyes; “I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”Of course, the function of the narrator is to guide us through the world of the rich and famous.
‘The Great Gatsby’ is full of symbolism, some harder to detect than others. The green light, the eyes of Dr Eckleburg, and the silk shirts are all examples of some symbols. The green light represents Gatsby’s utmost desire to posses Daisy, and the silk shirts represent his wealth which indicates that he is worthy of Daisy; "It makes me sad because I've never seen such - such beautiful shirts before." Daisy herself is a symbol of all Gatsby’s hopes and desires, of the attainment of his dream.
The eyes of Dr. Eckleburg represent G-d; they symbolize an ever-present being watching over all of our actions; “God knows what you've been doing, everything you've been doing. You may fool me but you can't fool God!...God sees everything"
The novel is also very ironic. It is ironic, for example, that Daisy is driving the car that kill Myrtle, when Myrtle is the woman who is having an affair with Daisy’s husband.
‘Great Expectations’ is a novel, written by Charles Dickens that explores dreams and reality, and is related to the Great Gatsby in that they both portray themes of ambition and self-improvement. Two techniques that Dickens uses are imagery and first-person. In the novel Dickens uses highly descriptive language in order to create sensory stimulation in the responder. A more specific example is that of the clocks in Mrs. Havisham’s house which are all frozen at the same time to represent her desire to return to the past, and her inability to accept the future; “ It was when I stood before her, avoiding her eyes, that I took note of the surrounding objects in detail, and saw that her watch had stopped at twenty minutes to nine, and that a clock in the room had stopped at twenty minutes to nine.”
The use of first person narration, much the same as in the ‘Great Gatsby’ allows the responder to view the world through the eyes of another.
Another text that explores Dreams and Reality is the film ‘the Talented Mr. Ripley. It is about a young New Yorker, Tom Ripley, whose chief talent is “Telling lies, forging signatures and impersonating almost anybody.” This text once again explores ambition, and as in the Great Gatsby, the main character must create, or in this case steal, a new identity in order to rise to the top. “I always thought it'd be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.”Tom’s dream is to be as he puts it, a ‘somebody’. This drives him to murder and impersonate a wealthy young man; Dickie Greenleaf.
Two language techniques used are foreshadowing and the use of a protagonist. At the very beginning of the film Tom refers to events later on in the film; “If I could just go back... if I could rub everything out... starting with myself.”Tom is the protagonist, and is by no means a good man. Yet the responder sympathises with him despite the fact that he is a cold-blooded murderer. This is due to the masterful way that Tom is portrayed by the composer, and the way the composer appeals to the responder’s compassion.
‘Cat’s in the cradle’ is a song written by Sandy and Harry Chapin which tells the story of the relationship between a father and his son. It explores the transient nature of dreams. It’s irony is the main way in which it is related to the Great Gatsby. The son’s dream is to become like his father, simile is used to introduce this dream; "I'm gonna be like you, dad. You know I'm gonna be like you.", and it is accomplished by the end of the song; “ it occurred to me, He'd grown up just like me. My boy was just like me.”
However in fulfilling this dream, the son was unable to live out his other dream, which was to spend time with his father. This is similar to the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. Gatsby goes off to become rich then returns to Daisy only to find that she is gone. In the same way, the father goes off to work, then when he returns for his son, he finds that his son has grown up and left.
Imagery is used to represent the sons childhood; “And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, Little boy blue and the man in the moon”, that which the father is missing out on.
Everybody does have dreams, and everybody, living in reality, must deal with it. The texts cited support this in that they all provide examples of dreams and the accomplishment of these dreams, as well as the harshness of reality and the consequent failure to fulfill our dreams. If the nature of life is indeed to fulfill some dreams, and fail others, then it is the aspiring nature of all human beings that provides our lives with purpose
