A Modernist Examination of the Good Anna and the Great Gatsby

Foeller, E et al. Innovative Fiction Between the Two World Wars. American Literature. Zbigniew Lewicki (ed). Cultural Section, US Embassy, Warsaw, pp. 60.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald shows many examples of modernism. Fitzgerald shows many modernism techniques like loss of control, alienation, corruption of the American Dream, breaking society’s rules and feeling restless. Fitzgerald also shows modernism through the fragmented writing.

In book, “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts how the American was corrupted through wealth. Fitzgerald provides many examples. The most common example shown was Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s idea that to achieve his American Dream must be to acquire wealth. In order to show this, Fitzgerald uses various literary elements. Two of those being imagery and foreshadowing, these played a critical role in describing the theme, and specific moods to show what was to come and as well as describe the story as a whole. These play a vital role in representing Gatsby’s life and journey to acquiring Daisy, his version of the American Dream.

The “curtains” have human-like qualities, for they are making “whip and snap” sounds. Also, the “picture” has human-like qualities of “groan.” Fitzgerald adds these sounds to show the awkwardness setting in the Buchanan’s house. Just walking in the hallway of Tom Buchanan made Nick feel unease; it was so quiet that Nick can hear the cry of a picture and the lash of the curtain moving.

“Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so,” once said Charles de Gaulle. This valiant quote by a former president of France accentuates my opinion of the Great Jay Gatsby. From humble beginnings rises our main focus of F. Scott Fitzgeralds’ The Great Gatsby. Young Jimmy Gatz is brought to West Egg from his heavily impoverished North Dakota family. His desire to be something greater than a farmer drove him to fortune and love through any means necessary; his life long obsession, Daisy Fay, infatuates Jay in his own insatiable thirst for her affection. James follows Daisy in the years after he is deployed to World War 1, and when he sees she has married Tom Buchanan he becomes hell-bent on replicating the success Tom has inherited in order to win over Daisy. Through moderately deceitful ways, Jay Gatsby builds his wealth and reputation to rival and even supersede many already lavish family names. Astonishingly, the great Mr. Gatsby, overrun with newfound affluence, stays true to his friends, lover, and his own ideals to his blissfully ignorant end.

Gatsby. Penguin, 2014. Print. This novel is an investigation of a double murder that happened quickly after F. Scott Fitzgerald’s return to New York. With evidence from newspapers, letters, and newly found archives, the author describes the new opinions of the readers of The Great Gatsby. The author then interweaved both stories with the hope to solve the mysteries of a murder and the success behind Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. As the author does this, she compares and contrasts the events of the book and the murder to one another.This is a credible source because the author found many direct sources from the time era,

While not a complete victory for Anna, the battle for her inheritance was not a complete loss either. She capably fought her father and even the entire city council of Hall. This was no easy task because she couldn’t represent herself in court. It was one of the first times where the moral code of Germany was overturned. She contested her father and went against the respect you’re supposed to have. Her story was not a complete positive statement of female dominance, because that certainly was not the case, an ugly thirty-year court battle doesn’t indicate disempowerment either, even though her battle didn’t personally benefit her to the fullest, it was a large step for women.

“Writers consistently use novels as a lens through which they scrutinise society.” To what extent do you agree with this view?

In The Great Gatsby, the author, F Scott Fitzgerald depicts the post - war roaring 20’s, a time of overwhelming prosperity and a new found sense of hope for the future. While this novel is often perceived as a romance, it is also a criticism on the devastating nature of the elusive american dream. The story of Jay Gatsby is a representation of what had become the values of the individual at the time. With the progression of the early 1920’s the vision of the perfect life, or the american dream, had been skewed. It was replaced with greed, and an abundance of reckless spending in which the wealthier individuals placed their misguided ideas of happiness. In the Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald chooses to expose the hidden truth behind the illustrious concept of the American dream. Through his use of literary devices such as, symbolism, metaphor, and, irony the central idea of the truly unattainable American dream is supported throughout the novel.

One strong theme of modernism in literature is the attack and or decline of The American Dream. The American Dream is the idea that everyone, men, and women, have an equal opportunity to achieve wealth, success and or happiness through determination, and hard work, in other words, the pursuit of happiness. Two writers that illustrate this theme of modernism are F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, and Ernest Hemingway, author of The Sun Also Rises.

Finally, later in the book and towards the end, Anna starts going to therapy sessions, and learning how to deal with her PTSD, and becomes much more confident and in control. “So it’s not like you live happily ever after… But you do handle it. Because the thing that you learn is that

We are first introduced to Anna, a thin woman with short dark hair, in her dialogue with her father where it quickly becomes apparent that they already have a difference in opinion on love, marriage and what she should wear on a yacht. “that guy will never marry you my darling daughter” to which Anna replies “so far, I’ve been the one who doesn’t want to marry him” “it’s the same difference” her father disagrees (Antonioni. 3:45 – 3:55). Although this is a short glimpse into Anna’s character we can see that she resists these social standards and almost seems annoyed by them. Anna is seemingly the most self- aware of the characters but seems to be stuck in a position where she is unsure of how everyone else will react to her true

The short story, “Golden Girl”, by Gillian Chan, follows the story of a girl named Donna, and her rough friendship with Anna. The reason for this rough friendship is because of Donna’s lack of good character, which is evident in her actions throughout the story. At the beginning she proves to be selfish, then later she shows no regard for Anna’s problems, and at the end she acts on jealousy. Donna proves to be selfish at the beginning when she talks about why she is friends with Anna, “I worked hard to be Anna’s friend. Don’t get me wrong--it was worth it …

First, the structure of the story reflects Anna's state of mind. The events in the story seem to take place with a total disregard for timekeeping.

The development of American Literature, much like the development of the nation, began in earnest, springing from a Romantic ideology that honored individualism and visionary idealism. As the nation broke away from the traditions of European Romanticism, America forged its own unique romantic style that would resonate through future generations of literary works. Through periods of momentous change, the fundamentally Romantic nature of American literature held fast, a fact clearly demonstrated in the fiction of F. Scott Fitzgerald. In an era of post-war disillusionment, when idealism succumbed to hedonistic materialism, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s romantically charged novel,