The recurring theme of resistance appears in Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case” and F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby. Both Paul and Gatsby demonstrates resistance in order to achieve their dreams, but in different manners. Nevertheless, Paul is fully aware that his dream is unattainable, ultimately choosing death as his final way to resist the normal life he used to have. Gatsby resists his lower-class life with determination and action, however his approach is foolhardy. Even in his last moment, Gatsby does not realize the impossibility of his fantasy. Both Paul and Gatsby find ways to create path in life that they believe will make them content, only to find that their dream were just temporary and illusory fantasies, driving them to their
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Stealing money from his workplace seems audacious, but Paul knows what the aftermath will be when he makes the decision. Knowing that his misdeed will soon be found out, he buys a gun upon his arrival in New York and decides on death as his manner to run away from everything. To him, art and the wealthy life are all he needs. When his crime is discovered by his father, he knows that such precious things will be taken from him forever. His dream withers with the carnation: “The carnations in his coat were drooping with cold, he noticed; their red glory over” (Cather, 9). Having tasted the life he wants, he cannot endure the normal life that is approaching. Paul’s desperation, with his decision to resist until the end, drives him to jump in front of a running train. His suicide may be out of fear of taking responsibility of the crime he commits, but it may also be the only way left for him to resist the mundanity he lives in. Unlike Gatsby’s death, which is due to the failure of realizing that a dream unattainable, “Paul’s Case” is a representation of how the death can be the final way to …show more content…
Although Paul and Gatsby both chase a dream that cannot come true, Gatsby does not realize that his dream is unreachable even when he is killed. Believing that Daisy will eventually choose him, Gatsby waits in his mansion for her call. However, he does not know that Daisy has already run away with Tom, leaving Gatsby and all the mess behind. When he is killed by George Wilson, he still firmly believes that Daisy will come and find him, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that 's no matter – to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…” (Fitzgerald, 180). Although he discovers that Daisy’s voice is full of money, he does not want to acknowledge that Daisy has changed into a self-absorbed and materialistic person. He thinks that she is still the girl he met in Louisville. The failure to admit the reality that Daisy has changed is what leads to Gatsby’s
Stealing money from his workplace seems audacious, but Paul knows what the aftermath will be when he makes the decision. Knowing that his misdeed will soon be found out, he buys a gun upon his arrival in New York and decides on death as his manner to run away from everything. To him, art and the wealthy life are all he needs. When his crime is discovered by his father, he knows that such precious things will be taken from him forever. His dream withers with the carnation: “The carnations in his coat were drooping with cold, he noticed; their red glory over” (Cather, 9). Having tasted the life he wants, he cannot endure the normal life that is approaching. Paul’s desperation, with his decision to resist until the end, drives him to jump in front of a running train. His suicide may be out of fear of taking responsibility of the crime he commits, but it may also be the only way left for him to resist the mundanity he lives in. Unlike Gatsby’s death, which is due to the failure of realizing that a dream unattainable, “Paul’s Case” is a representation of how the death can be the final way to …show more content…
Although Paul and Gatsby both chase a dream that cannot come true, Gatsby does not realize that his dream is unreachable even when he is killed. Believing that Daisy will eventually choose him, Gatsby waits in his mansion for her call. However, he does not know that Daisy has already run away with Tom, leaving Gatsby and all the mess behind. When he is killed by George Wilson, he still firmly believes that Daisy will come and find him, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that 's no matter – to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…” (Fitzgerald, 180). Although he discovers that Daisy’s voice is full of money, he does not want to acknowledge that Daisy has changed into a self-absorbed and materialistic person. He thinks that she is still the girl he met in Louisville. The failure to admit the reality that Daisy has changed is what leads to Gatsby’s