Compare and contrast the writers' presentation of Gatsby and Heathcliff.
ENGLISH LITERATURE A2 UNIT 5: LITERARY CONNECTIONS COURSEWORK: COMPARING TEXTS COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE WRITERS' PRESENTATION OF GATSBY AND HEATHCLIFF Fitzgerald's novel 'The Great Gatsby' is a short American tale arising out of the jazz age during the 1920's. It is full of love, expectations and ultimately loss. The eponymous Gatsby is, as the title suggests, the focal point around which Fitzgerald presents his story, through the narrator Nick Carraway. In much the same way that 'The Great Gatsby' was a product of its era, Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' is largely a result of the romantic movement that was sweeping Europe, intellectually and artistically in the late eighteenth to mid nineteenth centuries. The focus on freedom, emotion and the individual come cross strongly during the novel, with the protagonist, Heathcliff's name conjuring images of the wild Yorkshire moors in which the tale is set. Bronte implements the use of a narrator in her novel. The role is split between the pompous Lockwood and the pragmatic servant Ellen Dean (Nelly). Lockwood's judgement, and therefore Bronte's presentation of character through him, is made doubtful to the reader by a series of blunders. An example being where Lockwood, upon encountering Heathcliff's dogs: 'indulged in winking and making faces at the trio' after previously being warned 'to let the dog alone'- showing that he
Tom and Gatsby: Contrasting Differences As Seen Through Nick
Tom and Gatsby: Contrasting Differences As Seen Through Nick In his literary masterpiece The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald paints a picture of American high-society during the "Roaring Twenties". In order to appreciate The Great Gatsby, it is essential to understand the setting of the book. Hudson Gevaert describes the 1920's in America on his informative website. He states: They were known as the Roaring Twenty's because the economy at the time was through the roof and people were partying all over the place. At the time there was a legal ban on the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drink called prohibition. ...Organized criminals catered to the needs of the drinking public by illegally supplying them with liquor and made a fortune doing it. Even with all the crime in the Jazz Age though, it will still be remembered for its glittering lights and unbridled romance. Along with the elaborate parties, scandals, and romances prevalent in this book, The Great Gatsby is a notable example of the "American Dream" and the means to attain that dream. The "American Dream" is defined by living a life of happiness, prominence, and wealth. This was either attained by being born into money, or by creating your own prosperity. The latter relies on personal struggles and plays a key role in shaping a young man in the book by the name of James Gatz. James Gatz created an
How far do you agree that The Great Gatsby is a moral work? What do you think Fitzgerald is saying about American society in the period through the characters in the novel?
Lorna McGoldrick Explorations in Literature. Assignment One, F.Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby Q. How far do you agree that The Great Gatsby is a moral work? What do you think Fitzgerald is saying about American society in the period through the characters in the novel? The author of The Great Gatsby, Francis Scott key Fitzgerald was born in Minnesota. He grew up in an upper- middle class family. The Great Gatsby, first published in 1925, which Fitzgerald himself considered a masterpiece. It attained excellent review, with T.S. Eliot being among the first to comment on the book, calling it, "the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James." (Web 1) More recent Tony Tanner claimed it to be "the most perfectly crafted work of fiction to come out of America." (Tanner, 2000). The Great Gatsby is set in the 1920's, a period when business was booming and a time of material demands, a period hailed as the "jazz age" by the author. The Fitzgerald's had belonged to the "jazz age", and doubtless enjoyed the trappings of the era. It is my belief that the novel is a satirical view of American society in the 1920's. One of the main themes within The Great Gatsby is the portrayal of the carelessness of the main characters towards their morals. The work contains innumerous references to the fast-paced immoral lifestyles that the population were leading
"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald exposes the American society during the 1920's.
"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald exposes the American society during the 1920's. The preface section of the novel states, "The twenties were not a ten-year binge during which everybody got rich and danced the Charleston in speakeasies while drinking bootleg hootch...The Twenties were primarily an era of possibilities and aspiration" (page ix-x). During the twenties there was the prohibition which brought on crime and also a time when people were quickly becoming rich. Value for the moral family also declined in the twenties because of an increase in restaurants, bakeries, and fast food. Gary Dean Best gives statistics on this saying, "the number of restaurants in this country increased almost four times as fast as the number of families; between 1914 and 1925, bakery production increased 60 per cent, while population increased only 15 per cent" (page 18). Through his use of character, symbolism, setting, and narrator in his novel, Fitzgerald critiques the causes of the moral decline during the 1920's, of American society. The decline of the moral family during the twenties is exposed through the characters in "The Great Gatsby". A prime example of this is Tom Buchanan's character. Urban Americans are described in Best's "The Dollar Decade" saying they were "never at home except when they have to be; they seem to feel out of place there" (page 21-22). This is how
The Great Gatsby's Green Light and American Optimism
Steve Lundell L354 The Great Gatsby’s Green Light and the Obligations of American Optimism Beneath the unrequited love thematically central to Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, a ruminative indictment of American excess and its attendant dream is found, which changes the novel’s narrator, Nick Carraway. America is often defined by the notion that anyone born in any set of circumstances can be anything they desire. Circumnavigating a green light referenced by Jay Gatsby in the beginning and then espied by Nick at novel’s end, Fitzgerald leaves the reader with a powerful symbol of an unobtainable dream. This dream seduces with indomitable optimism and anticipation throughout the novel’s luxuriant details of affluence and release. Whether this was the dream referenced in the Declaration of Independence is a matter of dispute. Whether the relentless “pursuit of happiness” is equated as an “unalienable” human right (Declaration of Independence) may not have been Gatsby’s concern as much as how his pursuit would finally end, if ever, in a realization of the American Dream. But Fitzgerald shows that within this pursuit and its intended attainment are corrosive spoils and consequences, which end up in Nick’s newfound awareness and Gatsby’s death. These outcomes are at the heart of the novel, in that longing for the green light causes an obligatory
The analyzation of The Great Gatsby.
AN ANALYZATION OF THE GREAT GATSBY BY PRISCILLA A. MEADOWS NOVEMBER 17, 2000 The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald takes place among the contrast of the neighboring rich and poor. After reuniting with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, Nick Calloway is thrust into a world in which both rich and poor are miserable and extra marital affairs are common. Not long after meeting Daisy's husband, Tom Buchanan, Nick is soon exposed to the affair Tom is having with Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle Wilson is the wife of auto-mechanic, George Wilson. About this time Jay Gatsby enters the lives of many of the locals as the elusive host to many elaborate parties. Gatsby's interest in Nick eludes him until Jordan Baker enlightens him to the love Gatsby has long felt for Daisy. Jordan is Nicks love interest and a well-known golf champion. As a good friend to Daisy, Jordan has an insight to the feelings that are felt between Gatsby and Daisy. All affairs of the heart come to light one tragic evening and as Gatsby and Daisy leave the others behind Myrtle is killed as she runs across the street. Witnesses do not see the driver and Gatsby is soon telling Nick that Daisy had been driving the car on that fateful night. A mournful George out for vengeance eventually finds his way to Tom. Tom has no intentions of admitting adultery with Myrtle, so he instead turns George's attention to Gatsby
Is the Twentieth century American novel a medium for social criticism? (discuss at least two writers). Both F.Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby and John Dos Passos's Manhattan Transfer
Is the Twentieth century American novel a medium for social criticism? (discuss at least two writers). Both F.Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby and John Dos Passos's Manhattan Transfer contain significant criticisms on American society but they present and explore this in different ways. Manhattan Transfer is comprised of snapshots of life, it has three sections and in the first one we are introduced to at least twenty characters. It does not focus on any one specific life or subject. The Great Gatsby is a continuing story of the lives of a small group of upper class Americans and their part in society. Not only is it interesting to consider the ways that the two writers differ in their approach to criticising society, it is interesting to examine the affects that these different styles have on the reader. One of the main themes that are prevalent in both stories is the criticism of society's obsession with wealth and status. Fitzgerald explores this theme through the unfolding of the lives of his characters and their attitudes towards each other. We are told that Daisy refuses to marry J. Gatsby despite being in love with him, "[He] was poor and she was tired of waiting". Instead she marries Tom Buchanan, "A man full of pomp and circumstance" who could afford to give her "a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars" the day before her
The Great Gatsby setting anaylsis
The year is 1922, the First World War had just ended four years prior and the nations of the world were different because of it. Many Americans were celebrating the success of involvement in the war and were on a high horse. Even though the United States had recently outlawed the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol, it was not hard to find if you had enough money. Bootleggers and rumrunners were going into business all over the US and getting very rich from it. The criminal underground flourished and mobs and gangs were expanding and becoming very successful and prominent members of society. The American Dream seems easier to achieve in this get-rich-quick America. The gap growing between the rich and poor was getting substantial and the Great Depression following this roaring decade will settle this growth. The setting in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is characterized by this world. The title character Jay Gatsby is a mysterious man that is suspected to have close ties to this criminal underground of bootleggers and is a rich and seemingly successful man because of it. We find out in the end that Gatsby's money and amazing parties do little to acquire him real friends that care about him as a person. The main character in the story, Nick Carraway, lives on Long Island in New York in the area known as West Egg. West Egg is a place where "newly" wealthy
Write a critical appreciation of this extract, paying particular attention to its significant at this point in the novel and the ways in which it is written."There was…"(Page 41) to "…constantly changing light." (Page 42)
Write a critical appreciation of this extract, paying particular attention to its significant at this point in the novel and the ways in which it is written. "There was..."(Page 41) to "...constantly changing light." (Page 42) "In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths..." This surreal introduction to Gatsby's summer parties highlights an alarming sense of corruption to the reader. The immediate dreamlike image of the blue gardens proves both glamorous and surreal. The colour blue is used as a symbolic tool. The initial portrayal of men and girls as moths creates a sense of destruction. Moths are attracted to light, which in turn kills them. This image reinforces the idea that there is something threatening about Gatsby's parties. On the surface Gatsby's parties seem like the place to be; they are beyond the ideals that people in America in the 1920s dared to dream. Gatsby owned a number of motor vehicles, including a Rolls Royce. These vehicles took the guests to and from the parties. This gives a clear image to the reader that Gatsby was a very wealthy man. The mention of his motor vehicles implies impatience and a constant need for change. Gatsby employs eight servants including an extra gardener to keep his dream parties alive. "Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York..." Everything at Gatsby's
Characters in 'Living Well is the Best Revenge'.
A.Nicole Kwilos Dr. Price English 3371 25 April 2004 Characters in Living Well is the Best Revenge Living Well is the Best Revenge, by Calvin Tomkins, is a biography on the extravagant life of Gerald and Sara Murphy. The book discusses the many famous people that were friends with the Murphys while they were living in France. The book goes into a lot of detail about the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, his family and their relationship with the Murphys. Fitzgerald was intrigued by the Murphys and their life style; he wrote a book, Tender is the Night, which Fitzgerald says "was inspired by Sara and [Gerald], and the way I feel about [the Murphys] and the way [they] live" (Tomkins 4). Both of the Murphys did not care for the book and Sara, "who was rather offended by [the book], said once that she rejected categorically "any resemblance to us or to anyone we knew at the time" (5). However years later Gerald re-read the book and realizes that much of the book events were taken right from their lives back then. Much of Living Well is the Best Revenge is dedicated to disproving Tender is the Night. The characters Nicole and Dick Driver do however bear a strong resemblance to the Murphys although there is some exaggeration and poetic license taken with the characters. Sara, in Living Well is the Best Revenge, is described as a delicate beauty with golden hair. She was