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Literary compare and contrast essay
Literary compare and contrast essay
Literary compare and contrast essay
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The Great Gatsby has been one of the classic novels of the twentieth century. It creates a unique society that makes the story such a masterpiece. Another magnificent work that relates to The Great Gatsby is T.S. Eliot's 'The Hollow Man.'; The lines in the poem portray the story so vividly that it should have been an epigraph for the novel. The poem's references to hollow and stuffed men, can describe different characters in The Great Gatsby. The hollowness of men represents ruthless barbarians with no respect for humans and no understanding of love. However, the stuffed men seem to be educated, wealthy, and respectful. The differences in these types of men can be seen through the events of the novel. Another aspect of the poem that represents the novel is the idea of the paralyzed force. This force symbolizes freedom and uniqueness. It also is captivating and serves as authority. So, the similarities between The Great Gatsby and 'The Hollow Men'; remarkably show the hollow and stuffed characteristic of the people in Gatsby's secret society.
The first similarity between the two pieces of work is the hollowness in mankind referred to by the poem. In the novel there are two main characters that depict such hollowness. The antagonistic character of Tom Buchanan represents the ruthless and careless American whose dream is to use women and acquire money. In addition he has no respect towards others which creates pain for people around him. An example of this is when Myrtle repeatedly uttered his wife's name which was Daisy. Tom took this as an insult and viciously punched her in the nose. He never took into consideration that hitting a women is uncivilized. Another quality he has is to flaunt his wealth in other peoples' faces. This can be seen when he takes Nick around his colossal house. Tom wants others to feel jealous of his riches, when he is actually jealous of the others around him. Thus revealing his emptiness of heart and spirit. His hypocritical remarks show his hollowness towards other. During the climatic scene in the plaza hotel he said 'I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to you wife.(137)'; He doesn't take into account that he has been doing the same thing with Myrtle and plenty of other ladies. Another hollow character in the novel is Daisy. Daisy portrays the conceite...
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...ed to be in charge of the conversation. Also, Owl Eyes was one of the few honorable people who attended Gatsby's funeral. He had an admiration toward Gatsby and cherished his view toward life.
So, 'The Hollow Man'; has many parallels that make it a perfect epigraph for The Great Gatsby. The three key aspects of the poem that relate it to The Great Gatsby were the hollow men, the stuffed men, and the paralyzed force. All three depict the society Gatsby lived in and the life he had to go through. The hollow and stuffed men showed the two types of people in Gatsby's society. The hollow men contain no inner spirit or love toward one another. However, the stuffed men consisted of bravery, self-control, and love. They were Tom, Daisy, Jay, and George, respectively. The poem categorizes where people fit in society. The final parallel is the paralyzed force including Owl Eyes and the billboard. Both had a frozen outlook on life and someone to look up to. In conclusion, Fitzgerald and Eliot created classics that will be analyzed for many years to come. However, no one will be able to make an epigraph for The Great Gatsby better than Eliot's 'The Hollow Man.';
...s motivation to reach into Daisy’s heart is the downfall that lead to Gatsby’s persistent nature which concentrate solely the past, Also, emptiness of existence with realization to taint ideal, Gatsby’s heart fill with illusions. As a great man his death overflows with generosity and kindness that people did not notice. The good man Gatsby’s death is a tragic, but in the end it’s another meaningless loss that buried as a lonely hero.
Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby makes the reader feel almost depressed. Fitzgerald describes things that are usually viewed as pleasant and beautiful in dull, grim ways. The story line itself is grim, and Fitzgerald truly conveys that through his descriptions, which set the tone of futility. When reading the book, one understands right away that the story isn’t going to be a happy one. A description of Tom Buc...
In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main characters Tom and Gatsby are both similar and different in their attitudes and their status. Both Tom and Gatsby have attained great wealth and live in very lavish conditions. They differ greatly, on the other hand, in the way that they acquired this wealth, and the way in which they treat other people. Even though both characters have great amounts of wealth, they are almost complete opposites due the way in which they acquired their wealth.
In the novel, The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel was written in the 1920's and during that time society had no civilized manners, they only cared about money. Because the society has no ethics they hurt others and do not realize how greedy they are. The author uses different characters throughout the novel to present his theme. Symbols can also be found in The Great Gatsby. An example would be West Egg which represents the recent rich and East Egg which represents the established upper classes. The West Egg and East Egg symbolize the different social status of society.
“So The Great Gatsby house at West Egg glittered with all the lights of the twenties, there were was always Gatsby’s supplicating hand, reaching out to make glamour with what he had lost be cruel chance...of how little Gatsby wanted at bottom-not to understand society, but to ape it”(21-22). The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald features constant parties, glamorous houses, and extravagance to reveal the values of the characters and the society they live in. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby exemplifies the innate values and morals of its characters and the society in which they live by using continual partying, glamorous houses, and extraordinary extravagance.
...hed everything he had ever dreamt of, only to die tragically in the end, with no one by his side. Good things only last so long, The Great Gatsby showed the darker side of the 1920’s, which was hidden behind false identity, and fake smiles. The corruption, the affairs, the abuse that most got away with, just so long as they could pay off their dues with their riches. The poignant, yet hopeful tone is about life and how it almost always ends in heartbreak or death. Life, no matter your accomplishments, ends in a depression, it sucks you down, and you either fight it or it kills you. The world is a dog eat dog world. You fight to stay alive, to make something of yourself, to survive, and in the end you usually always end up dead in a ditch somewhere, because the world took everything you had and so much more, and you have been drained of your ability to fight back.
In the book The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates how people who seem to have wonderful lives because they are wealthy, can be selfish and poor in character. Those people lead to the decline of the American Dream for Gatsby. The 1920's was the age of prosperity on Long Island and that is why most people assumed that if you were rich and wealthy you had a good life. They also assumed that they had positive personalities. Fitzgerald proved them wrong. " One of the novel's dominant themes involves the decay of traditional American values in a suddenly prosperous society" (Howes). In fact, most of the characters in the novel were major factors to the fall of the American Dream. He exposes the greedy, conceited, and low people who live in it.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published in the year 1925. It is romantic novel between a lot different characters that you get to know in the novel. It is like one big love circle. Daisy Buchannan is married to Tom Buchannan but before their marriage Daisy was in love with a man named Jay Gatsby. Gatsby had to go fight in the war and Daisy never heard or saw of Gatsby again. Only on the day of her wedding Gatsby wrote her a letter explain why he couldn’t see her and that he was coming home, but sadly it was already to late. Daisy was to marry Tom Buchannan and nobody could stop it. Daisy is now in marriage she doesn’t want to be in and she finds out later hat Tom has a mistress in the city. Another side of the novel is about the narrator Nick Carraway. Nick is first cousins to Daisy and they grew up together. Nick knows Tom from Yale they both graduated the same year. Nick moved from the west to West Egg to start over and he shortly discovers that he is neighbors to The Great Gatsby himself. Deeper into the novel Nick and Gatsby become acquainted and become very good friends. Gatsby lets Nick know that him and his cousin Daisy have a past and he would like to schedule to see her but he doesn’t want Daisy knowing that she is going to see him. Nick is told to invite Daisy over for tea and Gatsby just so happens to drop by. This plan is put into full affect and
Exercise regularly. Physical activity plays a key role in reducing and preventing the effects of stress. Nothing beats aerobic exercise for releasing pent-up stress and tension.
There I no doubt that the eyes seen throughout the story symbolize the corruption, demise of spiritual values, and the true emptiness of the American Dream during the 1920’s. This time eventually led to the Great Depression and the worst economic times our country has ever seen. There are many connections that a reader can find between life and The Great Gatsby. The biggest one being that there will always be people surrounding you that are genuinely bad people. However, if a person withholds from being like the horrible people that surround them, they show their true character and who they really are.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, reveals thin threads woven between himself and the novel, revealing the truth about a corrupted society filled with discontentment and superficiality. From marriages to women to an impossible dream, all these aspects of Fitzgerald’s life influences his work, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald’s novel quite closely resembles his own circumstances through his portrayal of the characters and the society of the 1920’s. Though Fitzgerald himself lived in a society of shallowness, he was able to portray that the emptiness in society would not bring anyone happiness. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the characters in The Great Gatsby to represent the people in his own life and to show that wealth causes corruption.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a tragic tale of love distorted by obsession. Finding himself in the city of New York, Jay Gatsby is a loyal and devoted man who is willing to cross oceans and build mansions for his one true love. His belief in realistic ideals and his perseverance greatly influence all the decisions he makes and ultimately direct the course of his life. Gatsby has made a total commitment to a dream, and he does not realize that his dream is hollow. Although his intentions are true, he sometimes has a crude way of getting his point across. When he makes his ideals heard, his actions are wasted on a thoughtless and shallow society. Jay Gatsby effectively embodies a romantic idealism that is sustained and destroyed by the intensity of his own dream. It is also Gatsby’s ideals that blind him to reality.
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.
Scott Fitzgerald was a writer who desired his readers to be able to hear, feel, and see his work. He made it his goal to be able to make readers think and keep asking questions using imagery and symbolism. The Great Gatsby was not just about the changes that occurred during the Jazz Age, but it was also about America’s corrupted society which was full of betrayal and money-hungry citizens. It was the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg that overlooked all the corruption that occurred throughout the Valley of Ashes. It was the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg that serves as a symbol of higher power who witnesses everything from betrayal to chaos in Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
The 1920’s were a time of social and technological change. After World War II, the Victorian values were disregarded, there was an increase in alcohol consumption, and the Modernist Era was brought about. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a perfect presentation of the decaying morals of the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald uses the characters in the novel--specifically the Buchanans, Jordan Baker, and Gatsby’s partygoers--to represent the theme of the moral decay of society.