Is human nature inherently selfless or selfish? Although a seemingly simple concept, the aforementioned question has long been a profoundly controversial topic. While many claim that humans are intrinsically compassionate and inclined to help those in need, others argue that people instinctively prioritize their own individual security over other people’s welfares. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s literary works, “Young Goodman Brown” and The Scarlett Letter, as well as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s renowned novel, The Great Gatsby, all reference the idea that people impulsively pursue perfection, as determined by their community’s values. While different communities establish different standards for perfection, society as whole romanticizes the idea of perfection and subsequently people strive to create the illusion of a perfect life. How an individual represents the values idealized by a given community determines his/her reputation in that community. Although people may appear to wholesomely follow the values idolized by their community, in reality, human nature is inherently flawed, making it impossible for people to achieve perfection.
People exploit the faults in their surroundings in hypocritical attempts to justify their own imperfections. Goodman Brown and Dimmesdale demonstrate hypocrisy in their efforts to avoid confronting their own distorted realities. Both Goodman Brown and Dimmesdale seek to exemplify the ideal Puritan lifestyle. After succumbing to unfaithful temptations, both men recognize that they have transgressed certain central values of their respective puritan communities yet neither correctly identifies the sin that ultimately debases his initially righteous character. For instance, Goodman Brown breaches basic Puritan prin...
... middle of paper ...
...g the perfect life should seem unrealistic to anyone evaluating the goal from an objective perspective; however the circumstances of the characters in the presented literary works exaggerate the expectations of everyday society. Each work focuses on portraying a flaw inherent in human nature from a different angle and ultimately, the characters’ quests for perfection demonstrate that the flaws permeating human nature are inescapable, prophesying failure for all those who seek to embody perfection.
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, 1850; New York: Bantam Books, 2003.
Hawthorne. Young Goodman Brown. Web. 24 Sept. 2013.
‹ http://www.americanliterature.com/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/short-story/young-goodman-brown›.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Enriched Classic ed. New York City: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print.
One’s self image of morals allows a person to accurately determine what they believe is wrong and vice-versa as is the case with Young Goodman Brown; the protagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story “Young Goodman Brown” who sees a disturbing vision in which all of the supposedly good townsfolk enter into a pact with the devil. In Goodman Brown’s vision, while following the unholy worshippers to their meeting place, he proclaims “With heaven above and fa...
In a nation, two communities can often differ from each other. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses his writing to contrast the morality described by Nick Carraway in the Midwest, to the corruption and inhumanity that is quite starkly present in the East.
In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, both text creators use their main character to display how to attempt to overcome the inevitable adversity that comes with the pursuit of self-fulfillment. The quote “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” by John F Kennedy greatly resembles the ideas proposed by the text creators through Gatsby and Willy Loman. Throughout the sources, both Willy Loman and Jay Gatsby pursue the American Dream relentlessly to the brink, where they ultimately drown in the relaxing pool of self-fulfillment that is death. However, in their attempt to secure the satisfaction of self-fulfillment, the main characters are used by the
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. 1851. Rpt. In Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings. Ed. Leland S. Person. New York: Norton, 2005. 3-166. Norton Critical Edition.
http://www.chuckiii.com/reports/book_reports/scarlet_letter.html. March 1, 2002. Clendenning, John. The. Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Anne Sexton’s “Cinderella” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” deal strongly with the concept of perfection. Both works have a focus on the unattainability of perfection, yet their authors view this fact in different lights. For Sexton, the ease with which Cinderella obtains her so called “happily ever after” is sickeningly unrealistic. For Hawthorne’s Aylmer, it is the pursuit of total perfection that causes him to ignore just how perfect his life really is and the ruin to which his pursuits bring him.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Scarlet Letter." Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York: Norton, 1987.
In the competitive, ruthless, and unforgiving world of money and publicity, several individuals strive to make their mark on society. Factors such as greed, desire, and a hunger for attention often reveal one’s dark side when going about attaining a goal or a dream. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby, a charismatic and successful individual from humble origins, spends a majority of his life striving to become part of the American aristocracy, or old money. Although one has to be born into old money, Gatsby lies to convince Daisy Buchanan, a member of the old money society, and Nick Carraway, the non-judgemental main character, that he comes from old money. Similarly, in Nick Paumgarten’s article from the New Yorker, The Most Exclusive Restaurant in America, Damon Baehrel, the
In the 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the nature of man, and that, though characters may live complete opposite lives and be from different upbringings, even the most contrasting of people can have similarities. In the novel, the readers are introduced to two characters named Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. Tom Buchanan is introduced as an arrogant, wealthy east egg man who has never had to work for his money. George Wilson is introduced as a poor man, living in the Valley of Ashes, who owns an auto shop as a living. Although these men are in different social classes, if you were to strip these men of their wealth, they would have more similarities than differences. Fitzgerald shows through his writing that the nature of man is aggressive, contentious, and cowardly.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses the aspects of relationships, religion, community, discipline and punishment in the puritan community of 17th century Boston.
Chase, Richard (1996). "The Lessons of the Scarlet Letter." Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne (pp. 145-152). San Diego: Greenhaven.
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.
In The Great Gatsby, many individuals are involved in a struggle to find themselves and who they want to be. Personal identity is a very challenging thing to define. Everyone has an image in their mind of who they want to be. These images are usually very different from the actual identity of a person. In this novel, Jay Gatsby’s search or struggle for a new identity for himself is an ongoing journey. He has dedicated his entire life creating an image to impress Daisy Buchanan and to set himself into her society. This image does not necessarily depict who he is in reality.
Most Americans go throughout their lives in search of one thing, companionship. Americans believe that by having a companion, they will live a much happier life. By having a companion, Americans consider themselves better “socially” just by their companion. Overcoming loneliness is a major theme in American literature and Americans will risk their reputation and wealth in order to attain it.