Illusive Natures in The Great Gatsby and A Streetcar Named Desire Illusive natures and concealment of a person’s true identity are often evidenced in modern literature and even through our personal lives. Judy Garland, a renowned actress, once claimed, “How strange once an illusion dies. It’s as though you’ve lost a child.” It can be inferred from this that destructive circumstances result because of an illusive nature. This idea is clearly illustrated in both A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The lead protagonists, Blanche Dubois and Jay Gatsby, in both texts put on a facade. Their illusive natures are depicted through their personal possessions (important literary symbols), mysterious …show more content…
These objects are the rhinestone tiara and her various accouterments (clothes she possess). Stanley Kowalski mentions to Stella Kowalski: “And diamonds! A crown for an empress!” (Williams 36) Blanche fools Stanley and other people by creating an aura of sophistication, in reality the tiara was from a costume ball and wasn’t real diamond. This aura of sophistication that Blanche creates is also witnessed in the concluding scene when Blanche states: “It’s Della Robbia blue. The blue of the robe in the old Madonna pictures.” (Williams 135) This is in response to Stella and Eunice who claimed that the jacket was lilac and blue. Blanche was appalled by this and corrected them. Blanche tells them that the robe is similar to what Madonna wore, thus creating that aura of sophistication. Blanche relates herself to Madonna – someone who’s sophisticated – because that’s the kind of person that Blanche wants to be connected to. In reality both the tiara and the jacket are deceptive, creating false images. This illustrates that despite the ordeal that Blanche went through (Harold Mitchell deserted her and Stanley abused her) she still surrounded herself with the illusory image at the end of the play (she was still the same person and hadn’t changed). Similarly, as the Old-Eyed man observes: “They used to go there by the hundreds!” (Fitzgerald 187) It depicts how lonely Gatsby was at the end and …show more content…
Gatsby does so by changing his name and concealing how he earns his wealth. As Nick Carraway observes: “James Gatz – that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen…” (Fitzgerald 105) Gatsby changed his name because he didn’t wanted to be connected with his past and wanted to avoid it. He didn’t want people to know that he came from a despondent background (his parents were farmers). He wanted people to think that he was “old money” so that he could win Daisy’s affection. By changing his name people weren’t aware of his meagre past because he wasn’t born into a wealthy family. There were also numerous rumors affiliated with Gatsby such as him being Kaiser Wilhelm’s nephew because people don’t know how he acquired his wealth. Tom also states that, “A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know.” (Fitzgerald 115) This proves that it’s inevitable that the past will be revealed and that Tom is aware that Gatsby didn’t inherit his money but is earning it dishonestly. This shatters the illusion that Gatsby has tried too hard to
The bildungsroman ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D Salinger and the play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams are both post-World War Two narratives which incorporate protagonists that challenge contemporary American attitudes. Blanche DuBois and Holden Caufield are quintessential examples of characters who subvert societal expectations, impositions and hegemony of America in the late 1940s and early 50s, the author and playwright have the plot revolve around these characters and their itinerant lifestyles as they literally and socially move from one milieu to another. Both Salinger and Williams use a plethora of literary devices such as symbolism, juxtaposition and imagery whether it is visual, auditory or olfactory to highlight
Comparing A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof In the game of life, a man is given the option to bluff, raise, or fold. He is dealt a hand created by the consequences of his choices or by outside forces beyond his control. It is a never ending cycle: choices made create more choices. Using diverse, complex characters simmering with passion and often a contradiction within themselves, Tennessee Williams examines the link between past and present created by man's choices in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. "
However, he believes that there is a reason behind his dishonesty and that he is not a man of total fraud. Gatsby, indeed, has been dishonest, both with himself and with the rest of the world. He has lied to Nick and the others about where he comes from. His made-up story is that he comes from a wealthy family of now deceased people. He says that he is an Oxford-educated man. He also claims to be from the Midwest and lies about his own name. In reality, he is midwestern, but his father is alive and well. He is not an Oxford graduate (he only attended for five months) and he comes from poverty. His birth name is James Gatz. He is a man of new money, and he established his wealth illegally by selling drugs with his business partner, which explains his alias. In addition to Gatsby’s dishonesty by others, he is dishonest with himself. Gatsby has fabricated a dream—a fictional reality—in his mind. He wants Nick’s cousin, Daisy, whom he met five years prior to the story’s beginning, to marry him. However, this marriage could never happen, because Daisy is already married to an East Egg man named Tom, with whom she has a child. Despite the odds, Gatsby continues to push Daisy toward breaking it off with Tom. His dream overwhelms the harshness of his reality, thus causing Gatsby to continue to falsify reality and misshape it to agree with what he wants. His dishonesty is the root of his
Antagonists often offer a powerful contribution to various pieces of literature. Stanley Kowalski, in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, and Tom Buchanan, in “The Great Gatsby”, both act as valid and powerful antagonists in their respective texts. These two characters share the need to find out the truth about the protagonists of the novels. They both are considered dominant, violent and strong men. They share the trait of honesty, but lack a sense of morality. Although there are evident differences regarding the social class of these two characters, they rightfully serve as similar characters. Both authors used very similar character traits to prove that despite the domineering and abusive mannerisms-characteristics of these
Having read the play “A Streetcar named Desire” by Tennessee Williams and watched the film “Blue Jasmine” directed by Woody Allen, I believe that Williams ‘ character Blanche deserves more sympathy than Allen’s character Jasmine. “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Blue Jasmine” similarly tell the story of a socialite who faces an epic downfall in life. Woody Allen’s film manages to parallel Tennessee’s original “A Streetcar Named Desire” whilst adding a modern twist and subtle adaptations. Despite the similar experiences of the two characters, Blanche faces shame, embarrassment, and guilt to a greater extent compared to Jasmine and therefore is more deserving of our sympathy.
In the novel The Great Gatsby and the play A Streetcar Named Desire the main characters James Gatsby and Blanche Dubois have a lengthy search for love. Both characters go about their search in similar and different ways. The characters choose illusion over reality, but the way in which they go about it differs. Also in an attempt to impress, both characters try and “buy” love by using material possessions to attract people to them. Although Gatsby and Blanche devote a lot of their lives to finding true love, their searching leaves them unsuccessful.
Gatsby is a dreamer, he dreams that one day he and Daisy will be able to be together once again. To achieve this dream Gatsby has made himself a rich man. He knows that in order to win Daisy back he must be wealthy and of high social stature. Gatsby becomes rich, has a beautiful mansion, nice things, things like shirts “They’re such beautiful shirts. . . it makes me sad because I’ve never seen such-such beautiful clothes” (pg.98).Gatsby believes his dream will come true because of all the money and nice things he has. The way that Gatsby becomes rich is in a way the demise of his dream. Gatsby becomes wealthy by participating in organized crime, including distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen securities. Daisy eventually learns about this and it is one of the reasons she will never again be with Gatsby. The other reason is Daisy a...
As the case with most “Novel to Movie” adaptations, screenwriters for films will make minor, and sometimes drastic, adjustments to the original text in order to increase drama and to reach modern audiences. Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film interpretation of The Great Gatsby followed the 1925 classic great plot quite accurately, with minor deviations. However, Luhrmann made some notable differences to the characters and settings of The Great Gatsby in order for the story to relate to the current generation and to intensity the plot
Mankind and humanity have two different meanings, mankind is the human race collectively and humanity is the state of being humane and benevolent. Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby highlight the difference between those words. In their novels, Fitzgerald and McCarthy use vengeful judgement to elucidate mankind’s lack of humanity.
No one truly knows the true story behind Gatsby and his wealth. This adds an intriguing aspect to the life of Jay Gatsby. Gatsby lies in order to uphold his image. For example, Gatsby states that he is an Oxford man, however the reader finds that this is not entirely true. The social class that Gatsby strive to be a part of is well educated and proper. Gatsby creates an omission lie, that he is an oxford man. This is because Gatsby refrained from telling the whole truth, Gatsby leaves out certain information to hide the full truth. This deceives characters making them believe that he is well educated and fits in with the high society. In addition Gatsby lied to Nick about how he acquired his money. At first, Gatsby told the tale that he inherited his money, in order to fit in with the old money social class. Gatsby did not want to tarnish his his already vague image by letting it know that he was part of the mob. Gatsby wanted to be viewed as a gentleman not a
Love and relationship’s is a very well popular theme in story’s and books and this theme can have an influence on the reader in a various way. In the book, The Great Gatsby, Daisy’s and Gatsby’s relationship develops the love theme in the story. In the short story, “On the Gull’s Road”, the relationship between Mrs. Ebbling’s and the narrator is also what develops the love theme in the short story. Both story’s has an effect on the reader and both stories develop the theme of love and relationships.
Jay Gatsby is in love with Daisy and wants to spend the rest of his life with her but unfortunately, when they first met, he couldn’t. In the novel, Gatsby says that the only reason Daisy didn’t marry him was because he was poor. So in order to win Daisy, Gatsby had to be rich. However, to keep his illegal way of earning his riches a secret Gatsby has to lie. Gatsby even has to lie about his past. On page 65 Nick says “…and I knew why Jordan Baker believed he was lying. He hurried the phrase “educated at Oxford” or swallowed it, or choked on it…” Gatsby has to lie about his family, childhood, and education just to name a few. In fact, Gatsby even lies about his name, which is actually James Gatz, so Daisy wouldn’t find out about his poor past. He had to lie and cheat about everything to get his dream girl. Throughout the book many of the people at the party spread rumors about Gatsby and how he got his money. He doesn’t correct them though because he doesn’t want anyone to find the truth, otherwise he won’t get Daisy. Gatsby lies so much that he has to cover up the old lies with new ones. On page 90, for ...
Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters in the novel, fails to realize that when one tells a lie, it comes back to bite you. For example, he initially tells his neighbor, and potential friend Nick, that he had inherited his redundant sums of money from his family. One night, the night Gatsby reunites with Daisy, he and Nick are admiring his substantial house. During the conversation, Gatsby slips out, “It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it” (Fitzgerald 90). By this, one can see Gatsby lie about how he acquired the wealth he has. When Nick questions his inheritance of the money, Gatsby automatically stutters with another lie- that he lost his family fortune in the panic of the war and had to earn all the money again by himself. Gatsby may have not realized he let this lie slide out from under him due to the rush of emotions connected with the reunion of his long lost love. Nevertheless, he did lie to Nick about his past, along with many other people, including Daisy. When he and his love first meet, he lies to her and comes off as a rich, stable man, she would be lucky to fall in love with. This is not the case, however. He is not as innocent as to have just inherit the wealth he gloats. Fitzgerald states, “He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretenses. I don’t mean that he had traded his phantom millions,...
As an American citizen we seem to make presumption that all cultures are different from ours, and some might even call those cultures weird. Americans fail to realize just how similar we are to these “weird” cultures. By reading Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe and The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald , it makes the reader realize how similar the African culture is from the American culture. There 's those obvious differences we already knew about with the two cultures, but readers can learn that not just American culture value men and give them advantages, but many cultures including 1900 's African culture. In both books we come across two main characters that is portrayed as being more superior compared to others. Okonkwo, main
For example, Leonardo Dicaprio’s character of Gatsby was focused on emotions. I enjoyed that Redford was very calm and cool about everything and the way he approached the character but, Dicaprio made such an open and outgoing character which made the movie more entertaining. DiCaprio captured Gatsby’s intensity and charm and brought out the crazy mood swings and took his character and the audience to a more emotional place. Both Robert Redford and Leonardo DiCaprio had their own way of approaching the character and really selling Gatsby but Leonardo DiCaprios was better. Another reason I prefer the 2013 version of the 74’ is because of the bond and friendship Nick Carraway played by Tobey Maguire and Gatsby had MaGuire was able to bring a true and strong meaning to their friendship that made his and Gatsby’s bond feel organic and real and you were able to see that clearly unlike with Waterston where you just saw the friendship and didn’t feel any emotion. But I felt much more of a connection with his character than I did with the ’74 version. If you have read the book and seen the original film, then you understood where Nick was coming from in the scene where he was furious with Gatsby, after he believe he killed Myrtle only to find out that Gatsby wasn’t the one driving the car that killed Mrytle, MaGuire, did a fantastic job in showing his emotions and how what happened to Myrtle and the person that killed Myrtle affected him. I loved that Nick was a lot more real in this movie. He didn’t hold back and he gave the audience a reaction that anyone in life would have had if they were in his situation. Nick had the major issue of being dragged into situations because of people he knows. I thought Maguire did a great job of showing ...