Slaughterhouse Five, The Great Gatsby, Great Expectations

Love and Money as Presented in the Novels Pride and Prejudice and The Great Gatsby

“In a decade that roared with social amends” it was often referred to as the Roaring Twenties. Two famous literature pieces are very similar connecting key events and issues from this time period. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Ken Allen’s “Roaring Twenties” both utilize conflict, foil and symbolism to help the readers acknowledge the influence of class and money over the characters during the Roaring Twenties.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is told from the perspective of one of the main characters, Nick Carraway. Nick tells the story of a man named Jay Gatsby, who is his neighbor in the West Egg. Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby as a man who everyone wants to know and copy but deep down are very envious of him. Gatsby trusts few people and those whom he trusts know his life story. To everyone else, he is a mystery. Everyone seems obsessed with Jay Gatsby. For this reason the novel revolves about rumors of Gatsby rather than the truth.

The Great Gatsby is too concerned with conveying a picture of 1920s American society to have relevance to modern readers.

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is seen as a mysterious character that’s not called great or bad. The Great Gatsby takes place in the 1920’s during the “roaring twenties” or called as the “Jazz Age”, a period ending the Great Depression and an era where jazz and dancing become trendy. Gatsby does not seem to be fit to be called “great”, instead he is fit for being called a determined man. Some may not call Gatsby “great” because of his lies and some will call him “great” because he is a man who is determined to get Daisy back from Tom or because Gatsby is a nice man who does not have much ignorance like Tom. An example why Gatsby do not deserve to be called a “great” man is because he is a liar and a “great” man does not

Explore the presentation of femininity and identity in The Great Gatsby and The Color Purple, considering the contexts of their production, reception and the different ways in which these texts have been read.

Ambition. It is a vital characteristic required for an individual wanting achieve their goals. Being ambitious alone is crucial to success as it is the drive that propels one toward it. It is and always will be a human trait. Perhaps that is why the theme of ambition has been so prevalent in literature. It is the dominant theme in The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald, William Shakespeare 's Macbeth, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort. In this essay, I will discuss the two ways over ambition can cause an individual 's downfall. The first is setting unattainable goals which we can see in The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman. The second is trying to achieve your goals unethically, seen in Macbeth and in The Wolf of Wall Street . The idea of ambition and striving for achievement is highly valued by our society today. However, many people forget that too much of anything can be catastrophic.

Throughout Angela's Ashes it is evident that the narrator, Frank, is somewhat ignorant to the reasons why he and his family are suffering socioeconomically; he doesn't realize that his parents are actually the root of the problem. This is why it's very significant that Mr. Timoney had Frank read A Modest Proposal to him, for the essay puts blame on the Irish as the initiators of the economic crisis in Ireland. The author, Jonathon Swift, states that the Irish keep having children that they can't support and if they didn't have so many children, they would have more money for food and other necessities. In response, Swift writes that Irish children should be sold to the English as food. In turn, the Irish would gain a profit from their,

“You cannot open a book without learning something” (Confucius). Through numerous years of reading and comprehending texts, it’s needless to say that through each text, I overcame another road block. I have learnt to spell simple words, find morals in stories and understanding how important the Australian identity is to its country. Through my experiences of different text types, it has further shaped and moulded my personal attitudes, values and beliefs when a hurdle in my life was encountered, which is inevitable. The opportunities and experiences that I have studied has prepared me for the next stages of my journey. Each challenge and tribulation provides a fundamental foundation for the texts that we enjoy, immerse ourselves in and have further influenced all of us. In particular it has influenced my understanding of my past, present and most importantly my future.

Humans are malicious and furtive creatures. They conform to their surrounding environments and surrender to the pressures of their social class and peers. Therefore, people dissemble their true feelings, and present a false identity of themselves to the world. Humanity also struggles with the acceptance and realization of reality, for people consume themselves with their own mental fantasies. In the novels, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the events the characters face during the roaring ‘20s and World War II illustrate how vastly different plot can share similar themes of humanity. The duality of humanity consists of people, who conceal their true identities and emotions beneath a facade, and their willingness to reveal the truth decreases due to their social circumstances; while other times, the refusal to accept reality can cause humanity to imagine elaborate fantasies that they strive to achieve.

In the novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Of Mice and Men’ F Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck respectively explore the complex perspective of the true outcome of the American Dream. Although set within different eras of American society, the extensive failure of dreams throughout both texts shows how the American Dream is destined for annihilation despite the intention of hope and happiness. In its original form the American Dream encapsulated the ideal that ‘equality of opportunity is available to any American allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved’. ’The Great Gatsby’ follows its protagonist Jay Gatsby who sets his life around his desire of reuniting Daisy Buchanan, the lost love of his life, through the eyes of Nick

The point of view in a corrupt society can thoroughly express the selfish people, the greedy individuals, and the uneasy thoughts brought among us. Well, the three excerpts The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, and Death of a Salesman could interpret this. The three excerpts have been shown to be a base for “the American Dream,” or basic “Alienation,” but to look deeper into the source at hand and their distinct features; the clear status of showing the reader how corrupt society can be. The way these three novels have set the stages for corruption and it 's ongoing timeline that leads to either death or being pushed into a mental hospital.

Personal gratification is commonplace in society, but the force to overcome it is not. In both Shakespeare’s King Lear, and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, man’s natural psychological id is displayed by key characters, who are all morally corrupt. King Lear has 2 distinct sides who represent the id and superego, battling over justice in a kingdom centered around a weathered king. In The Great Gatsby, a commonplace working man by the name of Nick Carraway surrounds himself with friends who indulge themselves in luxury, influenced by the psychological id embedded deep within everyone. When observing family dynamics, both King Lear and The Great Gatsby reveal family interactions are driven primarily by the id, which is further supported when considering the presence of oedipal dynamics in both novels. In terms of narrative events, The Great Gatsby’s events are heavily influenced by the id, with little to no superego expressed. In contrast, while the bulk of King Lear’s storyline is similarly driven by the id, the superego plays a larger role in resisting the id’s unlawful desires, and this is exemplified through the triumph of the superego at the story’s end. The Great Gatsby depicts how life is hopelessly overridden by human’s natural id while King Lear demonstrates how even the smallest source of superego can combat the aggressive nature of the id present in life.

In both The Great Gatsby and The Death of a Salesman, the pursuit of the American Dream is a destructive force that is evident throughout the texts because neither Gatsby nor Willy understand their own limitations. Willy Loman and Gatsby are characters fascinated and easily dominated by the American dream that destroys them. Their dreams come from an illusionary past and that are both based outside of their own selves. Gatsby wanted to rewind to his past, while Willy attempted to create a descent one. The lack of control for their dreams caused a huge downfall for Loman and Gatsby in their roles as characters in their respective stories. Almost everyone has dreams once in their lifetime to be successful and great. As it is almost human nature to have or be something that they are not.

In the book The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy Buchanan is a perplexing character. She is charming and pretty, yet her personality is almost robotic. Daisy has no sincere emotions; she only knows social graces and self-preservation. A materialistic society makes Daisy a jaded person who lacks any real depth.