'The American Dream not only fails to fulfil its promise but also contributes to the decay of social values' (Tyson 1999). How far does The Great Gatsby demonstrate this view of the American Dream?
'The American Dream not only fails to fulfil its promise but also contributes to the decay of social values' (Tyson 1999). How far does The Great Gatsby demonstrate this view of the American Dream? The American Dream is often portrayed in literature as the pursuit of ultimate happiness with regard to life and employment. The stereotypical protagonist of an early-twentieth century American novel is self-reliant and a hard worker, seeking to make a successful living through motivation and perseverance. Jay Gatsby himself has pursued this dream and is a success story in terms of wealth, though the novel may be viewed as an exploration of the corrupted ideal that the American Dream became in the 1920's when people with newly acquired wealth sought to flaunt what they owned. It is largely the owned wealth in the novel that is presented as an ideal; social values and morality are shown as corrupt and indeed unimportant alongside material prosperity. Nick narrates in Chapter One, "I decided to go east and learn the bond business," and presents a stark contrast between his small new house and those on either side that 'rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season'. This affirms the importance of wealth from Nick's perception and equally from that of the other inhabitants of West Egg. They are the newly rich, who have worked hard and earned their money in a relatively short period
To what extent is Dracula a conventional Gothic protagonist
To what extent is Dracula a conventional Gothic protagonist? Within the Gothic genre, features of the Gothic protagonist include sharply contrasting character traits, some degree of tragic stature, a striking physical presence, an element of the sexual, and an association with the bestial. Stoker presents Dracula with greatly contrasting traits, from the impeccably polite and courteous host who greets Harker at the door, to a raging psychopathic monster. The aristocratic and noble nature of Dracula's heritage gives him charisma and credibility, on first encounter he seems strange but eccentric, however this lulls Harker, and obviously his female victims, into a false sense of security: "The light and warmth of the Count's courteous welcome seemed to have dissipated all my doubts and fears." Stoker reveals Dracula's true self slowly and subtly, so as to build tension, such as when Dracula touches Harker and he feels: "a horrible feeling of nausea." This imagery hints at the horror of Dracula's true character, which is finally revealed when he encounters the Brides: "But the count! Never did I imagine such wraths of fury, even in the demons of the pit!" Stoker presents the count as being: "lapped in a storm of fury," foreshadowing the terrible storm at Whitby when Dracula arrives on English soil. Stoker's uses the imagery of hell to describe Dracula's rage, writing: "his eyes
!['So where does love come in? It's not strictly necessary, is it?' What are Barnes' views of the role of love in history and in this novel? [A History Of The World In 10 1/2 Chapters]](https://mbt-essays-prod-public.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/834991/listing/834991_1.jpg)
'So where does love come in? It's not strictly necessary, is it?' What are Barnes' views of the role of love in history and in this novel? [A History Of The World In 10 1/2 Chapters]
'So where does love come in? It's not strictly necessary, is it?' What are Barnes' views of the role of love in history and in this novel? In this novel, Barnes makes little reference to love in any of the 'main' chapters of the novel, however he explores the concept in some depth in the 'parenthesis' chapter. He seems to display very confused and contradictory views of love, his opinion oscillating wildly as the chapter progresses. Julian Barnes, at the beginning of the chapter, starts to ponder on the necessity of love. He begins by listing various languages' words for 'I love you', and muses upon the concept of tribes without words for the saying. 'Or have they all died out?' he wonders. This seems to be idle thought, in which Barnes merely hypothesises that, perhaps, without love humanity cannot survive. However, he later expands upon and contradicts this idea. 'Our love does not help us survive... Yet it gives us our individuality, our purpose.' States Barnes. It is perhaps worth noting the conclusive tone evident in this phrase; here, he doesn't pose a question, but instead offers an answer. This appears to imply that he has a certain confidence in his answer, that he has reached a personal conclusion in his mind. Therefore, one can read into it that Barnes decisively views love ass being superfluous to survival in practical terms, but is necessary to make us
English Literature - Atonement (Essay 2)
"Atonement offers us no heroes and no villains- only victims" How far, and in what ways, does your reading of Atonement lead you to agree with this view? Atonement conveys a dichotomous message. Ian McEwan - the reality, the tangible author - is supplemented by a deeper layer; his construct - the potentially unreliable narrator - Briony Tallis. Essentially, branding any of the enigmatic individuals offered to us in Atonement as 'heroes' and 'villains' is impossible - and indeed unjust - simply because of the sheer amount of ambiguity and subjectivity involved - "there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so"1. The select tendencies these individuals relay on the other hand is another matter; the notion of 'victimhood' must imply some malicious behaviour beforehand. Taking 'villainy', the Concise Oxford Dictionary, necessarily - though feebly - lists it as a derivative of 'villain'; alluding to it as an individual's moral essence. The Collins Dictionary, on the other hand, defines it as a "vicious behaviour or action"2, supporting the notion that select 'behaviour' and themes are the 'heroes' and 'villains' of the novel. For example, on the surface Briony is a 'villain' whose actions merely generate destruction and deprivation. Yet, the Observer gives the view that "the personal story - especially Briony's childhood 'failure to grasp the simple truth that
How Does Atwood present women in the Handmaid's Tale?
How does Atwood present women in the handmaid's tale? Atwood presents women as intelligent, submissive, rebellious, ignorant and powerful. The narrator of the story, Offred is desperate to escape her life however she is fearful of the consequences of any rebellion, and ultimately submits to her fate. Offred is an intelligent, educated woman, and Atwood's lexical choice demonstrates Offred's understanding of words: "Larynx. I spell. Valance. Quince. Zygote." Her intelligence is highly frustrating, as her stream of conscious thoughts is suppressed and internalised. If she was stupid and ignorant, she would find it easier to come to terms with her situation, however her crystal clear memories and vivid imagination provide an alternative reality that is painful to conceive: "I would like to believe this is a story I'm telling." Atwood writes about a past world that all readers can relate to, a world that Offred took for granted: "I had a paper due next day. What was it? Psychology, English, Economics. We studied things like that then. On the floor of the room there were books, open face down, this way and that, extravagantly." Atwood presents Offred's intelligence and her appreciation of words and language as a way of expressing herself and remaining true to her past. Atwood's presentation of a future where women's only function is as vessel for childbirth has a deeper poignancy
Plot-Construction of Pride and Prejudice
JANE AUSTEN'S PLOT-CONSTRUCTION In contrast to the simplicity of her style, Jane Austen's plots are unexpectedly complex. She is not content to simply draw two or three characters in isolation. She prefers a family, with their many friends and acquaintances and she tries within her limited range to make things as difficult as possible. SETTINGS OF HER NOVELS Jane Austen's field of study is man. She is, therefore, more preoccupied with human nature than nature in the nineteenth century usage of the word. The background and the scenery of the provincial town is rich in its beauty and grandeur. But there is no attempt to look into the spirit of this country. Thus although, she has some sense of locality yet she does not paint an English community like the other writers of her time. She rather avoids those very elements of the population in which the local flavour, the breath of the soil is most pronounced. She is further incapable of evoking a scene or a landscape and cannot conjure up the spirit of Bath as Emile Bronte could conjure up the spirit of the Moorlands or Hardy that of Wessex. All this, one may say, would be fatal to her dramatic quality of construction. In all her novels, we see only a limited range of human society. Most of her characters are the kind of people she knew intimately, the landed gentry, the upper class, the lower edge of the nobility, the lower
Consider the significances of innocence in Part One of Atonement.
Consider the significances of innocence in Part One of Atonement. Innocence can be defined as being pure and lacking corruption, having little knowledge of something's consequences, and is also used as a euphemism for virginity. McEwan explores innocence as key theme in Atonement throughout Part One, showing how the main characters' innocence, or lack of, forms the narrative plot. McEwan creates the nursery setting to represent Lola's innocence, having Paul Marshall's intrusion show her vulnerability. Despite 'the adult she considered herself at heart to be' McEwan has 'Lola had come to the nursery that morning' to show the irony of her desires. Although she is fifteen, McEwan places most of Lola's acts in the nursery, a room which has strong connotations of being cared for as a young child. This makes it clear to the reader she may not be ready for adult experiences, emphasising her innocence. McEwan creates Paul Marshall to be seemingly pure as he enters the nursery in his 'white suit', with Lola's vulnerability made clear as she thinks 'a game was being played' whilst they conversed. However, the trust surrounded with the nursery is broken as he sees 'that the girl was almost a young woman' whilst 'watching her closely'. The reader are led to believe by McEwan that Paul Marshall is caressing Lola, and the description of her 'unblemished incisors' highlights this
Who Controls the past, controls the future - Who Controls the present controls the past - What might George Orwell have meant to say when he said this?
Question: Who Controls the past, controls the future. Who Controls the present controls the past. What might George Orwell have meant to say when he said this? George Orwell, a large figure of literature, was an anti-communism, and against totalitarian tendencies. Therefore, in 1949, he published a book, 1984, warning about the future. A prediction of the future? Fear is a characteristic built within the human being, which at the time was the future and in whose hands it would be? In this novel, George Orwell's vision of the world is deeply shocking, as domination of a certain 'Party', controls everyone and everything. They control what we (the public) see, hear, touch, smell, and even think about. History is a vital part of human existence and as illustrated well in the book, the past is 'nature alterable', and if done so, will be true 'from everlasting to everlasting'. The re-creation of history by these white males conveys the world, as they want it to be, in order to attain control over the public i.e. the World. By rewriting books, as they wanted them, and confiscating any unwanted material, they had full control of the past, therefore they were control of the current time (present), and hence the future! The motto of the Party is 'Those who control the past, control the future; Those who control the future control the past. By manipulating all forms of
Myrtle's Tragic Achievement - The Great Gatsby.
Hallie Anoff October 10, 2002 Period 7-Beyer MYRTLE'S TRAGIC ACHIEVEMENT In the book The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald describes a world based around wealth and class in the roaring 20's. Voluptuous Myrtle Wilson is desperate to improve her life. She shares a loveless marriage with George Wilson, who owns a run-down garage in the valley of ashes. She begins to have an affair with Tom Buchanan in hopes of happiness. Tom, who is married to Daisy Buchanan, is a Yale graduate who comes from an immensely wealthy midwestern family. Myrtle's relationship with Tom keeps her in high-spirits because she is now linked with the "upper-class", however she has become phony and is treated poorly by Tom. This all will lead to her "tragic" achievement. The affair between Tom and Myrtle has spoiled her. On a visit to New York City, Myrtle "let four taxicabs drive away before she selected a new one, lavender-colored with grey upholstery" (Fitzgerald 31). During the taxi ride, she spotted a man selling a dozen puppies in a basket hanging from his neck. She demanded that Tom purchase her one. He bought her an Airedale for the outrageous amount of ten dollars. Tom also bought Myrtle her own apartment in the city. Myrtle is used to living with George who is a lethargic and impoverished man. It is very exciting for Myrtle to be overwhelmed with riches. The affair between
Discuss the view that in "Behind the Scenes at the Museum" and "Catcher in the Rye" Holden and Ruby can be regarded as unreliable narrators
Julia Christie Coursework Discuss the view that in "Behind the Scenes at the Museum" and "Catcher in the Rye" Holden and Ruby can be regarded as unreliable narrators ---------------------------------- In both "Behind the Scenes at the Museum" and "Catcher in the Rye" there are obvious signs that Holden and Ruby are troubled and unreliable characters. The informal conversational tone that Holden uses is meant to be spontaneous and unrehearsed; so instead of getting a focused autobiography, we get a scanty account of a few days that often trail into other stories that are what we use to draw a picture of Holden. Holden states his intentions from the beginning. He has no intentions of telling his 'whole goddam autobiography or anything' and states clearly that he doesn't want to write 'all that David Copperfield kind of crap'. This also suggests that Holden has no concern with what has happened previously, which we later see is not the case. "Catcher in the Rye" is only spread over a few days unlike "Behind the Scenes at the Museum" which can be seen as more of a bildungsroman and appears to be a child's viewpoint in an adults voice. This is characterised by the use of vocabulary and descriptions and also marked by the use of parenthesis. Parenthesis often follows descriptions such as after the description of the guest bed Ruby adds in brackets 'much nicer than the camp bed'
