Different books, despite different storylines, may still address similar themes. What similarities of themes did you find in your paired texts, and how are they obvious in the character's behaviour?
Throughout two of F Scott Fitzgerald's books, ‘The Great Gatsby' and ‘Tender is the Night', comparisons can be made between the themes that are dealt with in each book.
These themes that are portrayed, include materialism, the corruption of dreams and idealism, which all come under the larger theme of searching for human fulfilment.
Materialism is a theme that is very common through both of the books. In ‘The Great Gatsby' we are constantly seeing characters living a hedonistic
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This book that Dick is writing also symbolises the corruption of dreams and the idealism.
Dick's ideal, was to marry the perfect woman, Nicole, write his fantastic book ‘psychology for psychiatrists' and be the best psychiatrist in the world. At the beginning of his career all of these things were attainable, but slowly each one of these things slipped away to falter his life. These things were not only just an ideal or a plan in life, they were a necessity for Dick. He dreamed of them all and it was from then on that it became an obsession. This lead to Dick's belief that his life couldn't be fulfilled unless all of these things were obtained.
Nicole, although beautiful and elegant, was flawed. Described by Dick as a ‘beautiful empty shell', she was the object of Dick Diver's romantic imagination. He took it upon himself, to obtain this ‘beautiful shell', despite the obvious problems and warnings from his associates. Looking at his ‘need' for her, it wasn't just love; it was also the need for a challenge and he put his entire effort into proving that Nicole could be changed. When he met Rosemary, things started to look up. Finally he had met a woman, although not as beautiful as Nicole, that was stable and independent. He took advantage of her love for him to experience what a relationship with two equal participants would be like. After he had tasted what a relationship like this was like, his dream became
He begins to understand how trapped he is from living his life the way he desires to. In his heart, Dick wants to be with Rosemary, who he is in love with, and do his work, but his responsibility to Nicole is constantly inhibiting him from doing so. He is unable to "let go his hold on [Nicole]," no matter how hard he tries(Fitzgerald 266). This causes Dick's morale and mental state to weaken, resulting in a deterioration of Dick's once appealing disposition. As Dick's commitment to Nicole waivers, she is mentally pushed to the breaking point and almost kills them both by running their car off the road. No longer the charming man he was at the beginning of the novel, Dick turns to alcohol. Dick's interactions with people are not positive like they used to be. He goes down a self-destructive path and eventually gets beaten up and arrested. Upon his realization that he has failed the people who depended on him, Dick refers to himself as the "Black Death," because he doesn't "seem to bring people happiness anymore"(Fitzgerald 324). At this point in Dick's life, there has become a sharp contrast to his prosperous past lifestyle. Rather than bringing joy and exuberance to everyone he comes into contact with, Dick now seems to be doing the opposite. Dick's father dies along with his friend Abe, which is especially painful for Dick because he feels that he is partly
He began his life as an aspiring and ambitious athlete, who did above average in his studies. Eventually he became wrapped up in a life of crime, and after spending much time in jail, Dick’s life became that of a fulltime criminal. He showed little to no remorse for killing the Clutters right up until he is about to be hung. While he and Perry waited to carry out their sentences, Dick constantly attempted to plead his case and have their sentence changed from the death penalty to life imprisonment. By showing how Dick has no concern for human life other than his own, Capote shows Dick as a nefarious person who selfishly wished for mercy from those who were persecuting him. Even after all he did, Dick still felt he deserved some mercy. This creates an image in the minds of the readers that depict Dick as pretentious and uncaring individual who would throw away his only friend just to save himself. During his imprisonment, Dick had planned to escape from prison by plotting to kill the undersheriff. Capote includes this piece of Dick’s time in prison in order to create an impact on the readers that shows them that Dick’s life of crime did not stop when he was arrested,
Throughout the great American classic, “The Great Gatsby”, there are many instances of literary devices. In all of its context, it is easy to see that Fitzgerald uses a certain kind of literary terms and themes throughout all his writings. In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses devices such as foreshadowing, imagery, and suspenseful moments to capture the attention of his readers.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s the Great Gatsby is a detailed and attentively structured book outlining a tragic love story that revolves around Jay Gatsby, a wealthy yet mysterious man, and the dainty and fragile woman of his dreams, Daisy Buchanan. The story is revealed through the eyes of the narrator, Nick Carraway, who significantly becomes a part of Gatsby 's life due to the fact he was harshly involved by him. Throughout the book, it becomes evidentially clear that obsession takes over the personality of Gatsby turning his relationship towards Daisy all the more toxic. Moreover, the obsession that Gatsby accumulates towards Daisy causes severe consequences towards his own life ultimately leading to his own downfall. Overall, Fitzgerald’s
That excerpt from the story exemplifies just how literal the author is and how deep of a meaning he is trying to uncover, when in reality it is quite obvious what the author of the book that the narrator is reading intends by the passage. Although, by Dick doing this he is comparing the unrealistic invasion of aliens construed by the narrator with the also unrealistic vision of the American Dream. Both pose unrealistic outcomes, as well as the overwhelming odds against either proceeding to fruition.
Nicole knew from the start what Rosemary's intentions were she also knows that Dick feels something towards Rosemary too. “ She’s very attractive, an infant , [but] she’s very attractive”(Fitzgerald 167). Nicole kept repeating this to Dick Diver as if she wants Dick to confess something to her about Rosemary and the affair they have going on. At this point in the book Nicole is changing. “ [Now] that [she] has reached the point at which she no longer needs Dick. [He] is even more lost than ever. Nicole tells Dick that things were never the same after Rosemary entered their lives (Becnel). In the beginning of their marriage we notice that Nicole is very dependent of Dick Diver. She is Dick’s other half. At some point she finally lets him go and grows dependent of herself. She divorces Dick, and marries Tommy. “ Dicks affairs and drinking become too much for [him] to live with, Nicole is “rescued” by Tommy Barban, with whom [She] has an affair and marries” (Smith 259). Alcohol took control of Dick Diver’s life. A small mistake that Dick makes causes his marriage to fall apart and Nicole’s character eventually develops and she realizes that she does not want to be with Dick
In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a universal theme between multiple characters is how they pursue towards their American dream. Money commonly intervenes with what is truly important, finding happiness and being satisfied. The characters Nick, Gatsby, and Myrtle are all similar due to their aspiration of an American dream.
Not only does Dick Diver's longing for youthful innocence show in his own youthful behavior, but also in his attraction to much younger women, both paternally and sensually. His relationships with Rosemary, his children, Nicole, and others reflect almost incestuous motives, a result of Dick's fascination with immaturity (Stanton, 118). Starting with relatively unimportant evidence, it is reported that after the divorce, Dick moved to upstate New York and
Dick never abandoned Perry, which allowed Perry appreciate Dick’s company, even though Dick used him for his own benefit. Perry’s relationship with Dick reflects how he feels about the disaster in his family during his childhood. His parents splitting up showed how unstable of a relationship they had, while his relationship with Dick remained stable. He did whatever he could to stay close with Dick, considering that his family was never close when he was younger.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby takes upon the role of a stereotypical American living within a society that is made up of greedy and consumeristic individuals that are
Three Relevant Theories The three most relevant theories that pertain to Dick’s life are Rational Choice, Humanistic, and Activity Theory. Rational Choice Theory relates more to his younger and middle adulthood when he was trying to find out where he thought he belonged in life. The Humanistic and Activity Theories are associated with Dick’s later and older adulthood years where he’s taken a step back and analyzed the meaning of his life. All three of these theories can shed light on Dick’s years of adulthood and help us understand certain events, circumstances, and actions of his
F. Scott Fitzgerald was a very famous writer in the 1920’s. “The Great Gatsby” was one of his famous novels.The 1920’s was very fascinating period where many interesting this have happened. Fitzgerald also had a very interesting life and both Fitzgerald's life and the 1920’s had influenced “The Great Gatsby”. Both the book and the author have many similarities between each other. To better understand “The Great Gatsby , by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a reader will find it helpful to know some details about Fitzgerald’s life and experiences.
Nicole is a brilliant and ambitious woman, who is diagnosed with schizophrenia; and like Scott, Dick is a brilliant and ambitious man who feels he’s not reaching the high goals he sets for himself. Like Scott, Dick is not wealthy. When Zelda and Scott were still together, Scott had an affair with a young film star, Lois Moran. Dick also has an affair with an actress, Rosemary Hoyt. Mental illness, alcoholism, growing emotional distance, and eventual separation are circumstances that defined both the real and the fictional
On first glance, The Great Gatsby is about a romance between Gatsby and Daisy. The true theme behind this wonderful novel is not merely romance, but is also a very skeptical view of the extinction of the American dream in the prosperous 19s. This loss of the American dream is shown by Fitzgerald's display of this decade as a morally deficient one. He shows its incredible decadence in Gatsby's lavish and ostentatious parties. This materialistic attitude toward life came from the disillusionment of the younger generation of the old Victorian values. Also, with Prohibition in effect, illegal bootlegging practices made for yet another way for Americans to fall down the path of
In 1968 Dick left this home at age fifty one to live on his own I could imagine his intentions to get away and experience new things and new adventures. Dick put himself to the test of survival he had no one to rely on but himself to see what he was capable of. This man was an incredible writer and documenter. Not only did he have to worry about food, a place to sleep but everything was recorded by film so people knew what he did to survive. Dick wrote daily journals with extreme detail on top of his very busy schedule of preparing for the winter that will become in the