Eating and drinking is not only a necessity, but also a pleasure. Humans have known and experienced this since the beginning of man. Food plays a very important part in everybody’s daily life. However, the role of food in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work The Great Gatsby and John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath vary immensely. The complexity and need for sustenance differ between the books, but both reflect the events, viewpoints, and attitudes of the time periods they are set in.
The complexity of food and drink changes from book to book. Extravagant and sophisticated food and drink litter the background in The Great Gatsby. For instance, chapter three of The Great Gatsby describes “buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d’oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold” (Thomas, 2010). Here, Gatsby’s ostentatious display merely offers a descriptive backdrop for the story. They do not eat it. Instead, its presence simply provides a conspicuous display of wealth. Quite the opposite is true in The Grapes of Wrath. The Joads have over-simplified and often disgusting foods. Chapter 19 portrays a scene in which they eat milled nettles and fried dough made from flour swept off the floor of a boxcar (Steinbeck, 2006). The family gobbles up anything it can get their hands on, whether it’s side-meat, beans, or week-old food. There is no need for elaborate food. They are not compelled to impress others with displays of fancy food, like in The Great Gatsby. Instead, any form of nourishment will suffice. Food serves as a means of survival for the Joad family, while the characters of Fitzgerald’s piece regard it as though it’s insignificant.
Gatsby’s and...
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...le intimations at the importance of nourishment give insights into the eras in which they were written. Indeed, these purposeful symbols show the pleasure and necessity of food that every being, past, present and future, experiences.
References
Cheek, Jerrie S. (2005, August). The roaring twenties. Retrieved from
http://webtech.kennesaw.edu/jcheek3/roaring_twenties.htm
Nelson, Cary. (n.d.). About the great depression. Retrieved from
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/about.htm
Steinbeck, John. (2006). The grapes of wrath. New York, NY: Penguin Classics.
The grapes of wrath, Hollywood with a conscience. (2011). Retrieved from
http://www.squidoo.com/the-grapes-of-wrath-hollywood-with-a-conscience
Thomas, Steve. (2010, August 28). The great gatsby. Retrieved from
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/index.html
The meal, and more specifically the concept of the family meal, has traditional connotations of comfort and togetherness. As shown in three of Faulkner’s short stories in “The Country”, disruptions in the life of the family are often reinforced in the plot of the story by disruptions in the meal.
Throughout the novel, The Grapes of Wrath there are intercalary chapters. The purpose of these chapters are to give the readers insight and background on the setting, time, place and even history of the novel. They help blend the themes, symbols, motifs of the novel, such as the saving power of family and fellowship, man’s inhumanity to man, and even the multiplying effects of selfishness. These chapters show the social and economic crisis flooding the nation at the time, and the plight of the American farmer becoming difficult. The contrast between these chapters helps readers look at not just the storyline of the Joad family, but farmers during the time and also the condition of America during the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck uses these chapters to show that the story is not only limited to the Joad family,
John Steinbeck’s novels The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men reveal and confront the struggles of common individuals in their day-to-day lives. The Grapes of Wrath creates a greater verisimilitude than Of Mice and Men as it illustrates the lives of Oklahoma farmers driven west during the Dustbowl of the late 1930’s. Of Mice and Men deals with a more personal account of two poor men and the tragic ending of their relationship. Steinbeck expresses his concern for multiple social issues in both The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. Tightly-knit relationships appear prominently in both books and provide the majority of the conflicts that occur. The decency of common people is written about to a great extent in The Grapes of Wrath and is also prevalent through numerous examples in Of Mice and Men. As in all effective writing that bares the soul of the author, each novel reveals Steinbeck’s core beliefs.
Neither life nor culture can be sustained without food. On a very basic level, food is fundamentally essential for life, not simply to exist, but also to thrive. A means by which carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, nutrients, and calories are introduced into the body, food is a mechanism of survival. However, on a more abstract level, food is also fundamentally essential for culture by establishing its perimeters and dimensions and in shaping its authenticity and character. Food becomes the carbohydrates and calories that maintain any culture. Food offers a dynamic cross-section of man's tendencies. "Nourishment, a basic biological need," argues anthropologist Sidney Mintz, "becomes something else because we humans transform it symbolically into a system of meaning for much more than itself" (7). By examining food consumption and preparation, much is discoverd regarding the intricacies of culture. The preparation and consumption of food in Puritan society are reflected in Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. Rowlandson's view of food and admissions of hunger in the infancy of her captivity cast a revealing light upon the roots of her conceptions and ideas about food and, more generally, about her culture's conceptions and ideas about food. As the conflict between her soul and her stomach raged over food, Rowlandson's attitudes toward the Native Americans' preparation and consumption of food reflect the socialization of the Puritans to believe that every meal ...
In conclusion the Grapes of Wrath is a literary masterpiece that portrays the struggles of man as he overcomes the adversity of homelessness, death, and the wrath of prejudice. Steinbeck fully explores each faucet coherently within the boundaries of the Joad family’s trials and
Andrew T. Crosland, an expert on the Jazz Age writings of author F.Scott Fitzgerald, wrote that Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby included over 200 references to cars (Crosland). This is not surprising as the automobile, like the flapper were enticing novelties at the time this book was written. The main characters in The Great Gatsby who, by the way, all drive cars are Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle and George Wilson. Attractive, yet enigmatic, Gatsby tries to win the love of an aristocratic woman, who rebuffs Gatsby for her upper class husband. This leads to Gatsby’s tragic murder after he is falsely accused of killing Myrtle with his Rolls Royce. The automobile, as
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel written by John Steinbeck, which focuses on an Oklahoman family that is evicted from their farm during an era of depression caused by the Dust Bowl. The Joad family alongside thousands of other refugees (also affected by the dirty thirties) migrates west towards California seeking employment and a new home. John Steinbeck’s purpose for writing this novel was to inform his audience of how many of their fellow Americans were being mistreated and of the tribulations they faced in order to attain regain what they once had. As a result, The Grapes of Wrath triggered its audience’s sympathy for the plight of the Dust Bowl farmers and their families.
The tale of The Grapes of Wrath has many levels of profound themes and meanings to allow us as the reader to discover the true nature of human existence. The author's main theme and doctrine of this story is that of survival through unity. While seeming hopeful at times, this book is more severe, blunt, and cold in its portrayl of the human spirit. Steinbeck's unique style of writing forms timeless and classic themes that can be experienced on different fronts by unique peoples and cultures of all generations.
There are numerous symbols in The Grapes of Wrath that through analysis provide additional levels of insight and understanding into the novel. These symbols enhance the reader’s overall experience and provide a deeper meaning to the novel. They encourage readers to look beyond the surface to identify parallels in the text that foreshadow future events or represent certain ideas that the author is trying to stress. One of the major symbols of the entire book, is Tom himself. He represents the mental attitude experienced by the migrant families throughout the book. Tom accurately represents the hope burning inside of every migrant. As we learn about Tom throughout the novel, we come to know of the murder that he committed. Although it may not have been completely intentional, he is still forced to abandon his family. When he reunites with his family, he is immediately accepted back into their family, and he joins them as they begin to embark on their journey to California. He is with them every step of the way to California on Route 66 and constantly encourages them to persevere even through the difficult times. While in California, history is repeated, and Tom kills yet another man out of anger. He is forced to hide away and is of no use to the family anymore as he can no longer work. Later, he is forced to abandon his family yet again. This all directly correlates to the hope found in every migrant. It all began in Oklahoma, where hope hurt farmers during the Dust Bowl. After the hope had hurt them, it abandoned them. A quote in Chapter 1 of The Grapes of Wrath represents this, “The children stood near by, drawing figures in the dust with bare toes, and the children sent exploring sense out to see whether men and women would break...
For readers who observe literature through a feminist lens, they will notice the depiction of female characters, and this makes a large statement on the author’s perception of feminism. Through portraying these women as specific female archetypes, the author creates sense of what roles women play in both their families and in society. In books such as The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the roles that the main female characters play are, in different instances, both comparable and dissimilar.
The Great Gatsby is a well written and exemplary novel of the Jazz age, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald desired writing his books about the roaring twenties and would explain what happened during that time frame. The majority of the characters in The Great Gatsby cared more about money, power, and having a good time then the people in their lives. This lack of caring for others resulted in the hardships the characters faced. Especially, Jay Gatsby was one of these cruel characters.
Materialism has a negative influence on the characters in the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. “The most terrible thing about materialism even more terrible than its proneness to violence, is its boredom, from which sex, alcohol, drugs, all devices for putting out the accusing light of reason and suppressing the unrealizable aspirations of love, offers a prospect of deliverance.” This quote, stated by Malcolm Muggeridge, says that people get bored with the things that they have when they get new things all of the time. When they get bored with these things, they turn to stuff like sex, alcohol, and drugs. In The Great Gatsby, Myrtle, Daisy, and Gatsby are greatly influenced by money, and material things. The negative influence that materialism has on these characters is shown throughout the entire novel.
Food means different things to people in different countries of the world; pasta is common in Italy, hamburgers are a favorite in the US and tacos are a typical dish in Mexico. Human existence solely depends on this source of energy. A person’s fundamental need for food makes it a very important item, placing the people who control the food in a very high esteem. Consistency is also important in the delicate balance of life. Erich Maria Remarque, author of All Quiet in the Western Front, and Elie Wiesel, author of Night, both use food in their novels to convey this idea. Many of their thoughts and “meanings” concerning food paralleled one another. Food, one of the quintessential elements of life, plays a significant role in wartime experiences around the world and even in different time periods.
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald has explored three separate themes: his own life, narrator Nick Carraway, and literary criticism. Back then this good book called The Great Gatsby was released in 1925 (Shain). He could not think of anything else for the next novel (Shain). When it came to the twenties he was over his head (Shain). Fitzgerald was like a brother to Graham. She stopped all the rumors about him from his recent novels and stories (Doreski). Their social lives raised put more effort to make repeating small stories, for the “Saturday Evening Post”. Fitzgerald wrote a play that failed called the “The Vegetable”, they found durable frustration in getting to his other novel (Anderson).
The Modernist movement took place in a time of happiness, a time of sadness, a time of objects, a time of saving, a time of prosperity, a time of poverty and in a time of greed. Two novels, written by Steinbeck and Fitzgerald, portray this underlying greed and envy better than most novels of that period. These novels, The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath, show that despite the difference between the 1920s and the 1930s, greed remained a part of human life, whether superficially or necessarily, and that many people used their greed to damage themselves and others.