NAME : CRYSTAL MORGAN
ID # : 620068655
TUTORIAL TIME : TUESDAY 9-10 AM
TUTOR’S NAME : DR. MICHAEL BUCKNOR
COURSE CODE : LITS 2301/E 23A
COURSE NAME : KEY ISSUES IN LITERARY CRITICISM
ASSIGNMENT : COURSE WORK #1
DUE : 18th SEPTEMBER, 2014
STATEMENT : #3
While their financial lifestyles were misguidedly extravagant, it is not only emotional ruin that these characters faced. The Great Gatsby also explores the concepts of economic, social, psychological and physical ruin, the last of which is echoed in the physical death of characters and the despondent house that Gatsby left behind. It can even be argued that characters face a moral death – for example Nick, in the first chapter, …show more content…
Wealth is a pervading theme, and money continually informs the thoughts, actions and identity of the characters. The protagonist, Nick Carraway, immediately establishes that for three generations his family “have been prominent, well-to-do people”, with roots in royalty or honorable military service. After talking to his father, he confesses that he adapted peculiar, upper class contempt. This narrow worldview causes him to distance himself from the ignorant unwashed, so to speak. In turn his significant social interactions, crucial to his emotional development, are severely limited. He focuses on visits with his wealthy cousin Daisy and her husband, Tom Buchanan (a man he professes to hate), and on Gatsby’s lavish parties. Soon he finds himself an accomplice to Gatsby’s desperate, long-term plan of stealing Daisy away, which hinges on dazzling her with his suspect wealth. Even Daisy’s compelling voice is romanticized as a “deathless song” (p. 93) that continually fuels Gatsby’s desire. He himself describes it as “full of money” (p. 115), comparing his obsession with her to the romantic idealization of money and the great and fruitless pursuit of …show more content…
Daisy’s voice is a motif for the deceptive dream of wealth, which – being life’s great lie – proves both cruelly elusive and casually destructive. He is not alone in this emotional upheaval. Nick suddenly finds his love snuffed out when he comes to the realization that wealth is, like Jordan, “a good illustration” (p. 168), leaving him confused, angry and bereft. Myrtle’s husband hounds Tom about selling his car, desiring this symbol of wealth and escape – from both poverty and his grey existence – which for him holds the answer to fixing his marriage, by taking his wife away. Daisy, having given up waiting for Gatsby years ago in favour of the easy life Tom’s wealth promised, is also upset about Tom’s indiscretions. In the first chapter she bitterly declares that everything is terrible and, projecting on her daughter, says that the best a girl could aspire to is “a beautiful little fool” (p. 22), scornfully mocking herself as she claims that yet she is ‘sophisticated’. She pursues an emotionally fulfilling affair with Gatsby, but when faced with the reality of leaving her husband, is thrown into turmoil when it is revealed that Gatsby lied about his station and that his wealth is
ID # : 620068655
TUTORIAL TIME : TUESDAY 9-10 AM
TUTOR’S NAME : DR. MICHAEL BUCKNOR
COURSE CODE : LITS 2301/E 23A
COURSE NAME : KEY ISSUES IN LITERARY CRITICISM
ASSIGNMENT : COURSE WORK #1
DUE : 18th SEPTEMBER, 2014
STATEMENT : #3
While their financial lifestyles were misguidedly extravagant, it is not only emotional ruin that these characters faced. The Great Gatsby also explores the concepts of economic, social, psychological and physical ruin, the last of which is echoed in the physical death of characters and the despondent house that Gatsby left behind. It can even be argued that characters face a moral death – for example Nick, in the first chapter, …show more content…
Wealth is a pervading theme, and money continually informs the thoughts, actions and identity of the characters. The protagonist, Nick Carraway, immediately establishes that for three generations his family “have been prominent, well-to-do people”, with roots in royalty or honorable military service. After talking to his father, he confesses that he adapted peculiar, upper class contempt. This narrow worldview causes him to distance himself from the ignorant unwashed, so to speak. In turn his significant social interactions, crucial to his emotional development, are severely limited. He focuses on visits with his wealthy cousin Daisy and her husband, Tom Buchanan (a man he professes to hate), and on Gatsby’s lavish parties. Soon he finds himself an accomplice to Gatsby’s desperate, long-term plan of stealing Daisy away, which hinges on dazzling her with his suspect wealth. Even Daisy’s compelling voice is romanticized as a “deathless song” (p. 93) that continually fuels Gatsby’s desire. He himself describes it as “full of money” (p. 115), comparing his obsession with her to the romantic idealization of money and the great and fruitless pursuit of …show more content…
Daisy’s voice is a motif for the deceptive dream of wealth, which – being life’s great lie – proves both cruelly elusive and casually destructive. He is not alone in this emotional upheaval. Nick suddenly finds his love snuffed out when he comes to the realization that wealth is, like Jordan, “a good illustration” (p. 168), leaving him confused, angry and bereft. Myrtle’s husband hounds Tom about selling his car, desiring this symbol of wealth and escape – from both poverty and his grey existence – which for him holds the answer to fixing his marriage, by taking his wife away. Daisy, having given up waiting for Gatsby years ago in favour of the easy life Tom’s wealth promised, is also upset about Tom’s indiscretions. In the first chapter she bitterly declares that everything is terrible and, projecting on her daughter, says that the best a girl could aspire to is “a beautiful little fool” (p. 22), scornfully mocking herself as she claims that yet she is ‘sophisticated’. She pursues an emotionally fulfilling affair with Gatsby, but when faced with the reality of leaving her husband, is thrown into turmoil when it is revealed that Gatsby lied about his station and that his wealth is