Ceecret Cummings
Mrs. Trapp
English III
May 2016
Lessons Learned In the two stories, The Great Gatsby and A Lesson Before Dying, there are many things and concepts that could be taken from both of them. Even thought these are two different books with two different plots and topics, when looked deeper into, it can be seen that they have some of the same concepts. One thing is that they both have life lessons that should be learned from the situations that they were both put into. With these situations come some good and some horrible outcomes. Either way, Jefferson and Gatsby, could be people that we could very much learn from. They learned a lot throughout the story and one that was very big was knowing their worth and places. Jefferson …show more content…
The way that Daisy was brought up and the way that Gatsby was is an example of that. Daisy grew up in a rich environment and was raised and taught to go with wealthy people that could take care of her. We saw this take place when she instantly walked up to Gatsby, thinking that because he had on a uniform, that he was wealthy. There is a guarantee that she wouldn’t have even spoken to him if she knew that he was the complete opposite and Gatsby knew it too. That is why he worked as hard as he did so that he could be put into the same social and class positioning as she was. “Gatsby was a sacrificial lamb, consumed by a society trivialized by class distinctions and an egoism that yearns for those distinctions.” Even with everything that he had done for her, she still choose Tom, whom was high in power and money. Insensitivity at its best. Jefferson’s social positioning was one that had been going on since forever. With segregation requirements and unequal treatment of the African American people, Jefferson’s people and his people before that, were considered to be the lower class of them all. Even Tom didn’t want to help Jefferson because he felt like he was supposed to stick with his role and his role only. “I’m the teacher and I teach what the white folks around here tell me to teach-reading, writing, and arithmetic. They never told me how to keep a black boy out of a liquor store.” A black person had …show more content…
Nick also learned some life lessons from Gatsby’s situation with Daisy. Maybe even more that he did himself. Jefferson also died in the end but Jefferson died and actually learned his lessons. He also taught Grant some things along the way. Gatsby’s lessons, that he should of taken heed to, was that money cant buy you happiness and basing situations off of assumptions and love is not a good thing. Gatsby tried his best to impress Daisy with money and fancy items and, nevertheless, she still choose and went to Tom in the end. Gatsby was only focused on Daisy since he met her. Nick realized what Gatsby should have, which was that Daisy wasn’t going to stay with him out of love, which means that he wasted his time on her and only her and in the end it killed him. He never even got to live his life, explore, or be happy with his new money. Nick learns that Tom and Daisy are, “Careless people who smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money and vast carelessness and let other people clean up their mess. If anything, Nick learned more of a lesson than Gatsby did. He saw the truth in Daisy that Gatsby couldn’t. Gatsby, to Nick, “Was worth the whole bunch put together.” Jefferson learned and used the lessons that the people around him was helping him to understand. Jefferson learned that his past can be a
Mrs. Trapp
English III
May 2016
Lessons Learned In the two stories, The Great Gatsby and A Lesson Before Dying, there are many things and concepts that could be taken from both of them. Even thought these are two different books with two different plots and topics, when looked deeper into, it can be seen that they have some of the same concepts. One thing is that they both have life lessons that should be learned from the situations that they were both put into. With these situations come some good and some horrible outcomes. Either way, Jefferson and Gatsby, could be people that we could very much learn from. They learned a lot throughout the story and one that was very big was knowing their worth and places. Jefferson …show more content…
The way that Daisy was brought up and the way that Gatsby was is an example of that. Daisy grew up in a rich environment and was raised and taught to go with wealthy people that could take care of her. We saw this take place when she instantly walked up to Gatsby, thinking that because he had on a uniform, that he was wealthy. There is a guarantee that she wouldn’t have even spoken to him if she knew that he was the complete opposite and Gatsby knew it too. That is why he worked as hard as he did so that he could be put into the same social and class positioning as she was. “Gatsby was a sacrificial lamb, consumed by a society trivialized by class distinctions and an egoism that yearns for those distinctions.” Even with everything that he had done for her, she still choose Tom, whom was high in power and money. Insensitivity at its best. Jefferson’s social positioning was one that had been going on since forever. With segregation requirements and unequal treatment of the African American people, Jefferson’s people and his people before that, were considered to be the lower class of them all. Even Tom didn’t want to help Jefferson because he felt like he was supposed to stick with his role and his role only. “I’m the teacher and I teach what the white folks around here tell me to teach-reading, writing, and arithmetic. They never told me how to keep a black boy out of a liquor store.” A black person had …show more content…
Nick also learned some life lessons from Gatsby’s situation with Daisy. Maybe even more that he did himself. Jefferson also died in the end but Jefferson died and actually learned his lessons. He also taught Grant some things along the way. Gatsby’s lessons, that he should of taken heed to, was that money cant buy you happiness and basing situations off of assumptions and love is not a good thing. Gatsby tried his best to impress Daisy with money and fancy items and, nevertheless, she still choose and went to Tom in the end. Gatsby was only focused on Daisy since he met her. Nick realized what Gatsby should have, which was that Daisy wasn’t going to stay with him out of love, which means that he wasted his time on her and only her and in the end it killed him. He never even got to live his life, explore, or be happy with his new money. Nick learns that Tom and Daisy are, “Careless people who smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money and vast carelessness and let other people clean up their mess. If anything, Nick learned more of a lesson than Gatsby did. He saw the truth in Daisy that Gatsby couldn’t. Gatsby, to Nick, “Was worth the whole bunch put together.” Jefferson learned and used the lessons that the people around him was helping him to understand. Jefferson learned that his past can be a