Francis Scott Fitzgerald and Edith Wharton authored novels that take place in America around the beginning of the nineteenth century. In both This Side of Paradise and The House of Mirth, the authors paint the protagonists as imprisoned. This is a criticism of the society that they live in and is represented in the authors’ use of imagery, characterization, and the motif of social standing.
Wharton uses a great deal of imagery to reflect Lily Bart as imprisoned, while Fitzgerald uses less imagery to describe Amory’s predicament but still has his character as a prisoner. In The House of Mirth, Lily is depicted by Selden as wearing bracelets that act as chains: “[Lily] was so evidently the victim of the civilization that had produced her, that the links of her bracelet seemed like manacles chaining her to her fate” (Wharton 6). Wharton’s depiction of Lily, coupled with the simile, as chained to a society continues throughout the novel, as she is seen as a slave by the upper class. Wharton’s criticism lies in Lily’s character - she is genuine, living in a world of falsities. However, Lily cannot escape because she was raised to live in the fallacious society. This imprisonment in a caustic world for a substantive prisoner is the force that drives Lily to her death, Wharton’s depiction of the fate of those who cannot achieve the accepted. In This Side of Paradise, Amory reflects on the new students at Princeton in the scheme of life:
Here was a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creed, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride; a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown ...
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...ief that a place with the aristocracy is further paramount than love. Fitzgerald’s criticism lies in the sense that there can be no love and money; either money exists in a person’s life, or love exists. For both Wharton and Fitzgerald, they hold the thought that, for the aristocracy, there is a choice, and within this choice is where their criticisms are aligned.
This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, both contain their authors’ criticisms of society. This criticism is displayed by the imprisonment of the main characters throughout the novels. This criticism is visible is the authors’ imagery, characterization, and the motif of social standing’s importance.
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. This Side of Paradise. Lexington: n.p., 2014. Print.
Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. New York: Bantam, 1986. Print.
Although Fitzgerald glamorises the lifestyles of the rich minority, he also asks us to question how attractive money really is, by conveying. to us the destruction and unhappiness that huge wealth can cause. underneath its dazzling exterior. We are led through the various events of the novel by our narrator. Nick Carraway, who is also Gatsby's neighbour.... ...
Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. Print.
As the eras changed, American culture did as well. Literary works including The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne reveal to us two main characters that were alienated by their societies and not valued for their true worth as individuals. Both main characters in these novels endure an identity crisis which then leads to them becoming their own tragic hero/heroine. Both F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby and Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlett Letter, depict characters that reinvent themselves to conform to their own ideas of how they should live and how people should perceive them. In both contexts, the main characters are both, in a way, trapped in their lifestyles. Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby had spent his whole life dedicating himself to win a beautiful girl (not of the same status) and Hester Prynne of The Scarlett Letter not being able to be herself because her perfect Puritan society didn’t accept the fact that she was an individual. In the end, both characters leave their marks and leave us as readers to decipher our thoughts and opinions on them.
The lives we lead and the type of character we possess are said to be individual decisions. Yet from early stages in our life, our character is shaped by the values, customs and mindsets of those who surround us. The characteristics of this environment affect the way we think and behave ultimately shaping us into a product of the environment we are raised in. Lily Bart, the protagonist in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, is an exceedingly beautiful bachelorette who grows up accustomed to living a life of luxury amongst New York City’s upper-class in the 20th century. When her family goes bankrupt, Lily is left searching for security and stability, both of which, she is taught can be only be attained through a wealthy marriage. Although, Lily is ashamed of her society’s tendencies, she is afraid that the values taught in her upbringing shaped her into “an organism so helpless outside of its narrow range” (Wharton 423). For Lily, it comes down to a choice between two antagonistic forces: the life she desires with a happiness, freedom and love and the life she was cut out to live with wealth, prestige and power. Although, Lily’s upbringing conditioned her to desire wealth and prestige, Lily’s more significant desires happiness, freedom and love ultimately allow her to break free.
He writes, through the voice of Gatsby, that “her voice is full of money” (127), implying that Daisy speaks with an eloquence and elegance found only in the voice of those born wealthy. Gatsby inherently connects Daisy with the idea of wealth and money, and shows a desire to be seen as one born with money. Hence, the reader can conclude that Gatsby is in love with what Daisy represents: wealth and the high class. By associating Daisy with the high society, Fitzgerald indirectly reveals his attitude towards America of the 1920s. He implies that similar to how Daisy chooses material pleasure and societal benefit as opposed to a real feeling that brings true joy, the people of the 1920s prioritize wealth and fleeting pleasure over concrete feelings that bring true happiness. He even takes his commentary a step further, as the “true” feeling represented in The Great Gatsby is love. Ironically, the love depicted in this society is corrupt and fake. Thus, Fitzgerald states that the ideologies and values of the American 1920s will result in its downfall, just as the corrupt and fake love between Gatsby and Daisy results in the downfall of Gatsby. Furthermore, through his portrayal of Daisy’s inadvertent cruelty towards both Myrtle and Gatsby, Fitzgerald parallels the unconscious depravity of the high society and its negative impact on America. This is seen
Characters in books can reveal the author feeling toward the world. In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald suggested the moral decline of the period in America history through the interpersonal relationships among his characters. The book indicates the worthlessness of materialism, the futile quest of Myrtle and Gatsby, and how America's moral values had diminished. Despite his newly acquired fortune, Gatsby's monitory means could not afford his only true wish, therefore he cannot buy everything which is important to Daisy. (Fitzgerald, -page 42) What you wish for is not always what you want or not all that glitters is gold.
Thesis: In this passage, Fitzgerald's stylistic choices illustrate his concern with America's path of loneliness and isolation if they continue to pursue a corrupted American dream.
Fitzgerald's book at first overwhelms the reader with poetic descriptions of human feelings, of landscapes, buildings and colors. Everything seems to have a symbolic meaning, but it seems to be so strong that no one really tries to look what's happening behind those beautiful words. If you dig deeper you will discover that hidden beneath those near-lyrics are blatancies, at best.
There are certain struggles in life that some are not sufficiently knowledgeable to overcome. A prevalent issue, F. Scott Fitzgerald was unwillingly forced into, during the twentieth century, was naiveness. This brought common misconceptions of what makes life worthwhile. The novel, This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is influenced by his adolescent to adult years. Through the character of Amory Blaine, Fitzgerald portrays that naiveness and conceit can prevent life fulfillment.
Novels and stories are often written by an author with the intent on leaving the reader with some important piece of advice or a message. In several stories, readers can find hints and underlying themes about social problems and solutions to such problems. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s style of writing drips with underlying themes and symbols. His most popular work, The Great Gatsby, focuses on social classes in the 1920’s. The social divides between different classes cause many problems and people get mentally and physically hurt. Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway are two characters in this novel that get caught up in their social classes and are living in the past.
In 1897, consequently to the collapse of Edwards business, the family moved to New York, in order for Edward to take up a job as a salesman for Proctor and Gamble. Be that as it may, their moved was brief after Edward was let go from his employment in 1908, inciting a move back the St. Paul where the Fitzgerald’s lived off the McQuillan family fortune, (Fitzgerald, Bruccoli and Baughman, 1995). For the next 14 years, Scott invested the larger part of his time at boarding school, at Princeton University, in the army, and in New York City (Ibid, 1995). Fitzgerald’s writing career began to take off in 1920 after the publication of his first novel, This Side of Paradise (Bruccoli and Smith, 1981). The novel received glowing reviews (Ibid, 1981) and secured Fitzgerald’s place as one of the country’s most promising young
Two stories of disillusionment mirror one another in the tale of The Great Gatsby and the short story “The Far and the Near.” Here are two authors, within a ten year time span, that both wrote about life being completely shattered with a closer inspection of their surroundings. Both Fitzgerald and Wolfe wrote about the time of American history that was more consumed with image and excess than with love and respect for people and their surroundings. Each author gives an insightful warning that is spun throughout their stories that keeps the reader questioning the true intent behind each character. F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Thomas Wolfe’s “The Far and the Near” share various characteristics including, theme, writing style, and literary elements.
“Full of money—that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song in it” (Fitzgerald 127).... ... middle of paper ... ... These character portrayals make readers question if wealth and luxury are really necessary.
The purpose of this essay is to examine how the two modernist writers depict America in the 1920’s in a state of moral decay and the pursuit for material wealth gradually replaces the purity of conventional moral ideals and beliefs in their ways by comparing and contrasting the two novels.
In writing this book, commonly refered to as the “Great American Novel”, F. Scott Fitzgerald achieved in showing future generations what the early twenties were like, and the kinds of people that lived then. He did this in a beautifully written novel with in-depth characters, a captivating plot, and a wonderful sense of the time period.