Comparison of Great Gatsby and Sonnets from the Portuguese Essay

‘A deeper understanding of aspirations and identity emerges from considering the parallels between the Great Gatsby and Browning’s poetry’. Compare how these texts explore aspirations and identity?

    Many argue that F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is an example of the "great American love story", but it is not. The Great Gatsby is not a tale about perfect love; it is a tale of love and lust corrupting individuals in their lives, and of an American dream that is never fulfilled. Throughout the story, we follow multiple relationships, but focus is on the single relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. This relationship, however, fails to fulfill many requirements that would make it a true love story, and thus, while some hardship is to be expected, this relationship encounters an excessive amount. To determine if The Great Gatsby is a "great American love story", it is necessary

In the roaring 20’s, America was referred to as the ‘Jazz Age’, a positive and optimistic time where possibilities seemed endless. The concept in EBB’s sonnet of ideal love transforming individuals is similarly interpreted through the characterisation of Gatz into Gatsby. The obsessive love to ‘own’ Daisy highlights the idea that this power of love can only exist in the Jazz Age. Gatsby’s idealised love is derived from the traps of wealth and money which is clearly evident in the dialogue “her voice is full of money”. Gatsby’s is willing to reinvent himself for Daisy and he consumes everything he does in life to make himself worthy of Daisy so they can marry as if it were five years ago. Nick the novel’s narrator, tells Gatsby that “you can’t repeat the past” to which Gatsby replies “why of course you can! I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before”. This evidently shows that the power of ideal love which is genuine and unconditional is very strong on individual’s and transforms them into a whole new world with new values. Gatsby’s determination to make everything right evidently depicts how the concept of ideal love had transformed him to attain his ideal love, Daisy. Hence, Fitzgerald conveys his perspective of ideal love during the Jazz Age, and similar to EBB, ideal love is seen to transform individual’s and demanding for love to

Gatsby believed wholeheartedly that his happiness lay in the chance of reuniting with Daisy, but she was unfortunately unable to live up to his obsessive and arguably overwhelming dream. In fact, Gatsby himself becomes so engrossed in his “American Dream”, that when Daisy’s rejection comes, his life seems to lose all its purpose in the absence of his obsession. Perhaps even his former warm view of the world was lost as he lay in the pool, waiting for Daisy’s phone call, and “looked up at an unfamiliar sky.” This shows us how obsession can take over one’s life, wielding a complete unhealthy control over our emotions and actions. On the critical side, it is also showing us that the American Dream, which was once a genuine, pure aspiration for advancement, has, for many people, turned into a greedy desire and obsession for wealth and material goods. As well as the unrealistic notion of equal opportunity for all, Fitzgerald is suggesting that what was once “a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable”- as coined by U.S writer James Truslow Adams- has evolved into a dense objective of achieving personal material comfort. Although Gatsby claims that he did everything for Daisy, there is the underlying question; was his bootlegging really all for Daisy’s love, or was it for his own ideal life that he dreamed of- a life of luxury, aesthetic appeal and a beautiful woman? Fitzgerald is criticising the corruption of what was idealised to be a world of freedom, equality and opportunity. Instead of striving for an improved, richer and fuller life for the country as a whole, society has turned into a battle between individuals to get to the top and appear the most

According to some, true love is a pure motive for any venture; for others, the concept of true love is pure hogwash. Whether or not Gatsby’s affection for Daisy is really “true love”, the fact that it remains his sole motivator for success must compare with those classic fairy tales of heroes rescuing princesses. In Gatsby’s mind it certainly does, he sees himself as a heroic prince or knight in shining armor on the gallant quest to save Daisy from the man she does not love. Equivalent to the white knights of arthurian legend, Gatsby stops at nothing to achieve his singular goal; and goes to extents such as buying that specific mansion “so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (78), reading “a Chicago paper for years on the chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy's name” (79), and taking the blame for her hit-and-run. His dream of love and a life with Daisy, naive though it may be, is morally righteous at its heart. However, one might call it

Gatsby believed that in order to fulfill his own concept of the American Dream he needed to win Daisy’s love, and to do that he would need to “establish himself as Somebody.” Although he loves Daisy, he also sees her as more of a goal – a step toward the perfect life promised by the American Dream. In a way, Gatsby views Daisy much the way

Through marriages, relationships, and friendships the author questions rather love itself is unstable or is it the way the characters experience love and desire problematic? I choose to write on this because the way that Frederick Douglass portrays them is a phenomenal complex that will make you reconsider true love. The relationship at the very heart of The Great Gatsby is, of course, Gatsby and Daisy, or more specifically, Gatsby’s tragic love of (or obsession with) Daisy, which is a love that drives the novel’s plot.

The Great Gatsby does not depict marriage and love in the traditional sense. Characters in this novel are married to the money and love the power it gives them. Love is caring for each other, supporting one another through tough times, always being by your partner’s side no matter what happens in life; good and bad. In this story the American dream of being wealthy gets in the way of true love. In most of these relationships love is missing, marriage had become a game; it was ok to go behind one another’s back to achieve their dark goal, abusiveness acceptable. For example on page 12 it says “Tom Buchanan broke her nose (Myrtle) with his open hand.” Take Jay Gatsby for example a man in love with a rich, young and beautiful woman named Daisy. He knew the only way for her to even notice him would be if he was rich. He lived in the illusion that money equaled happiness and that followed him till the day he died. Nothing made him happy he always wanted more and more. Sure his love for money made him wealthy but whether he had nothing or all the money in the world he could still not buy true love.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby divulges the unscrupulous 1920s, comprising of the hedonistic and materialistic society of America. Correspondingly, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s various sonnets establishes a restrained, solitary response, revealing the composer’s context. Both mediums explore the notion of religion, either prominently or vaguely utilising a variety of literacy and poetic techniques.

Written during and regarding the 1920s, ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald is both a representation of this distinctive social and historical context, and a construction of the composer’s experience of this era. Beliefs and practises of the present also play a crucial role in shaping the text, in particular changing the way in which literary techniques are interpreted. The present-day responder is powerfully influenced by their personal experiences, some of which essentially strengthen Fitzgerald’s themes, while others compete, establishing contemporary interpretations of the novel.

Although it is the repercussions of their deceptive fantasies that Gatsby and Lester fall victim to, it was their continued search for love that leads them to these. Love is the principal value in The Great Gatsby and is illustrated best by the contrast of Gatsby’s idealized romantic love for Daisy with Daisy’s “love” for wealth and status, a love which is common to the majority of their irresponsible society. F Scott Fitzgerald emphasizes Gatsby’s “romantic readiness” through this contrast as well as Gatsby’s fall from grace that results in him becoming lost in “the colossal vitality of his illusions” (pg. 92). Daisy characterizes the power of a love of money in the Great Gatsby and is used by Fitzgerald in condemning Gatsby’s hedonistic society as well as his own. However it is the absence of love –rather than the presence- that is most prominent in American

People were also affected by the pursuit for the American Dream as it brought people’s desire for love. An example of this is Gatsby’s American Dream as it included acquiring Daisy and her love which has taken over his entire life. The American Dream is reaching whatever your dream is through hard work and Daisy is Gatsby’s one dream. His intense desire for love with Daisy affects Gatsby by blinding him from the fact that Daisy does not deserve his admiration as she is selfish, shallow and hurtful person. Even though other characters such as Nick clearly see this, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness” (Fitzgerald 262). Gatsby also dedicated everything in his life to acquiring Daisy’s such as hosting large, extravagant parties in hopes she would come and buying the mansion directly across the bay from her house. "It was a strange coincidence," I said. "But it wasn 't a coincidence at all.” "Why not?” "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.” (Fitzgerald 114). Secondly, another example of how the desire for love in the novel affects the characters is how George Wilson is

She says that she loves him to the depth and breadth and height, which indicated that her love is long lasting. The image “by sun and candlelight” that Barrett Browning creates, is that her love may be ordinary like the sun, but its continuous since the light keeps shining day and night, which is why she uses the candlelight to represent the light she has for him is still on at night. Another image that Barrett Browning conveys is “I love thee freely, as men strive for Right, I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise”. This line shows that her love for him is of her own free choice and she compares it to the nationalists that fight for their countries, indicating that their love is as strong as a person’s love is to their country. Barrett Browning also says, “I love thee with the passion, put to use/In my old greifs… and with my childhood’s faith” here, the poet redirected her emotions from her past concerns onto her love. She states that her she loves him with her childhood’s faith, which could mean that she loves him with unquestioning confidence, just like a naïve child might.

The Great Gatsby does not offer a definition of love, or a contrast between love and romance. Rather it suggests that what people believe to be love is normally only a dream. America in the 1920s was a country where moral values were slowly crumbling and Americans soon only had one dream and objective to achieve, success. Distorted love is one theme in the novel The Great Gatsby, present among all of the characters relationships; Daisy and Tom, Tom and Myrtle, Daisy and Gatsby, and Wilson and Myrtle, though Myrtle does not return the love. This distortion illustrates that it is not love that leads several characters to death, but lust and the materialistic possessions that really drive the characters to their lonely

It is often said that certain literary works and characters within such works represent real-world issues. In the work The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the character of Gatsby is shrouded in ambiguity to the reader, providing them with a possibility for personal interpretation. In the work, Gatsby’s character develops from a character representing materialism and a fixation on status to one filled with humility and selflessness for his romantic devotion towards the character of Daisy. Through this shift, the reader is provided with insight in order to draw parallels between Gatsby and two distinct periods in American history. The materialistic side of Gatsby, driven by wealth and his status in Long Island, represents the moral corruption and materialistic desires of America in the 1920s, whereas the romantically devoted Gatsby represents wartime America, devoted to sacrifice and nobility. The contrast within the life of Gatsby allows for a profound insight into the significance of the work as a representation of changing American values.