Theme Of Death In The Great Gatsby

Nick Carraway as he appears in The Great Gatsby, dreams of a change that would erase his present social status and allowed him a fresh start in life. Throughout his development, the neutral character comes face to face with the experience of what society expects every man to do in order to be well accepted and the aftermath that follows. While Willy Loman in The Death of a Salesman tries to prevent the existence of death and begins to move towards his nightmare. Dreams come in every shape and form, they can last moments or a lifetime. Some even become reality and a definitive detail in that persons’ life. In the search for their true nature many things can be lost; this is reflected in the novel The Great Gatsby, the play Death of a Salesman …show more content…
These gatherings are the only place where society of the 20th century could imitate their desires. The drinks, sexual entertainment and the webs of lies form the material that all Gatsby’s guest wears. Making death seem less
Scary, less real, making it a nightmare they are willing to shake off the map. According to Ernest Becker in The Denial of Death, “The fear of death is natural and is present in everyone”. Everyone is bound to this fear to stay alive. Animals have the instinct to fight for their lives at any cost. With this comes the gift of life to grow, reproduce and finally keep a steady population. But humanity would become insane if the thought were to be kept in mind. Instead, humans as high intelligenced creates these cultural niches who become society’s frame which serves as a mask to hide the horror of a never ending sleep. Money is …show more content…
R.W. Stallman writes in his book titled the Gatsby and the Hole in Time “Gatsby incarnates the power of dream and illusion” Gatsby creates his own identity, he decides to make a mask to allowed him to seek the wealth not supported by the original American Dream in order to maintain his dream so that reality, or even fate will not defy it. The identity created by him is just a mask to make him sure he is segregated from the other guests who seem to be lost and can’t find the path to salvation, since the existence of a God and the divine “afterlife” is a fantasy only nourish in weaken minds of the poor. Ironically, he is walking through the same path he wishes not to walk along the side of the lost people who even though they can be god-like figure, are only a resemblance of sinners and worshippers of lust along with greediness who only increase the threat of eternal damnation and the mortal sin who attacks the integral principle within the human race. The need for the mundane benefits switches place with the will and pleasure that seizes the content heart, Holden on the other hand, instead of joining society and following the road to corruption accepts how life is and to let time take its course when his little sister Phoebe tries to reach the Golden Ring at the