How are the two books an exposure of two different ideals - The Great Gatsby - Heart of Darkness.

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How are the two books an exposure of two different ideals.

One of the most significant ties that bonds these two books together is the gradual deconstruction and exposure of an ideal, or institution, that takes place in each book. For Fitzgerald's book the ideal under attack is the capitalist 'American dream' of the self made man. In Heart of Darkness, the issue Conrad deals with is colonialism. Both novels essentially dethrone their ideal through: an explanation of what exactly the ideal is with the narrators view attached, the presentation of characters that represent products of the ideal, and the final betrayal of the ideal against the believer.

In The Great Gatsby we don' t learn about the true identity of Jay Gatsby until halfway through the book (chapter 6). As a result we do not find out what he is really searching for, when we symbolically see him arms outstretched towards a green light, until this point. In Heart of Darkness on the other hand, it's made clear from the start what exactly at the heart of the story. The result of this is to make Fitzgerald's a more subtle satire. The novel can be read as essentially a tragic love story, and indeed it is left to the reader to discover what exactly the ideal represents to Gatsby. The most useful passage to look at, as said before, comes in the discovery of Gatsby's true identity (chapter 6).

James Gatz was originally the son of "unsuccessful farm people". However, from an early age he was blessed "extravagant ambition" and before he ever met daisy one could see that he didn't feel right in his current economic and social position. Such was his desire for wealth, that James invented an alternate persona that "sprang from the Platonic conception of himself." Nick in this statement is suggesting that Gatz has modelled himself on an idealised version: Jay Gatsby, the man he envisions himself to be in his

fondest dreams. This ideal of himself in fact becomes so important to him that; to protect it, he is willing to damage his actual circumstances. We can see evidence for this when Gatsby leaves college, because he finds his work as a janitor degrading, despite the fact that a university education would dramatically improve his social standing.

The opportunity to achieve his dreams eventually arose in the form of his future mentor Dan Cody a "product of the Nevada silver fields", and someone who represented "all the beauty and glamour in the world". Gatsby's desire to have what Dan Cody embodied was only exacerbated, not created, by two further factors. Firstly his being cheated out of the inheritance Cody left him, and secondly the betrayal of his first love, Daisy, for another man who crucially, was her social equal and the choice of her parents.
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Nick in the Great Gatsby is much less opinionated that Marlow. The downfalls of pursuing the American Dream are only implied by the actions of the characters, and the demise of Gatsby. Nick very rarely makes a negative comment. For example the most he ever manages to say about Daisy's shameful admiration of wealth, is that her voice is "full of money", and even this is Gatsby's original observation.

In Heart of Darkness however, Marlow's view of colonialism is clear from the start. As he begins his story, the first things that he says are about ...

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