Respect: an amalgam of admiration, reverence, and regard that can validate people’s dreams and aspirations. Not surprisingly, people intensely desire respect. This intense longing, however, can be wrongly reduced to the fulfillment of a concrete task. For example, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby chronicles its eponymous character’s struggle to gain respect. Ralph Ellison’s Bildungsroman Invisible Man depicts a nameless, black narrator’s similar struggle to earn respect as he confronts entrenched racism during the 1930s. Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman illustrates the demise of a charismatic salesman as he recognizes his lack of respectability. Moreover, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying archives an indigent family’s journey
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He describes his rather shiftless sons as “rugged, well liked, all-around” boys (Miller 33). And, after being fired from his job, Willy begs Biff to go “to that lunch tomorrow morning” after a disastrous meeting with Oliver (Miller 83). In reality, Biff and Happy are spoiled, indolent men with no foreseeable path to fame, glory, or success, despite Willy’s hopes. Even as he kills himself, Willy optimistically imagines Biff “with 20,000 dollars in his pocket” (Miller 100). Willy, Anse, and Gatsby’s fixation upon earning respect through the achievement of one definable task blinds the three men to reality. Gatsby, whose dream is rooted “ceaselessly into the past,” mirrors Willy, whose moribund life is an endless blur between the past and present (Fitzgerald 184). Anse, seemingly blind to the ludicrosity of his journey and anosmic to the repugnant odor of the rotting corpse, also practices Willy’s and Gatsby’s denial of reality. Ironically, the single-mindedness of these men inhibits their overall …show more content…
Gatsby’s, Anse’s, and Willy’s fixations on achieving their respective goals yield obsessive behaviors in all three. Gatsby pursues Daisy for years “with a creative passion” (Fitzgerald chap 5), while Anse parades into town even though he “has not been in town in twelve years” (Faulkner 42). Both Gatsby and Anse dive far outside their initial comfort zones to fulfill their tasks, which they equate with respect. Disregarding the well-being of Cash and the safety of his family, Anse ventures on his journey with a confidence similar to Willy’s as he prepares to convince Biff’s teacher to “change that mark” to allow Biff to graduate (Miller 88). Furthermore, both Willy and Gatsby die unnaturally and pay “a high price for living too long” (Fitzgerald chp 8) with “the wrong dreams” (Miller 103). While all three characters fundamentally misanalyze their concrete goal that they see as a catalyst to being respected, Anse’s and Gatsby’s goals cause both of them to invest in fake objects — Anse covets fake teeth and Gatsby builds the facade of a highly educated Long Island gentleman, even buying books of which he “didn’t cut the pages” (Fitzgerald Chap 3). Willy’s “massive dreams” transcend his grasp of reality and time and exhibit the extent of his obsessiveness and mirrors Gatsby’s stagnation in the past (Miller 103). All three characters, in pursuit of their
He describes his rather shiftless sons as “rugged, well liked, all-around” boys (Miller 33). And, after being fired from his job, Willy begs Biff to go “to that lunch tomorrow morning” after a disastrous meeting with Oliver (Miller 83). In reality, Biff and Happy are spoiled, indolent men with no foreseeable path to fame, glory, or success, despite Willy’s hopes. Even as he kills himself, Willy optimistically imagines Biff “with 20,000 dollars in his pocket” (Miller 100). Willy, Anse, and Gatsby’s fixation upon earning respect through the achievement of one definable task blinds the three men to reality. Gatsby, whose dream is rooted “ceaselessly into the past,” mirrors Willy, whose moribund life is an endless blur between the past and present (Fitzgerald 184). Anse, seemingly blind to the ludicrosity of his journey and anosmic to the repugnant odor of the rotting corpse, also practices Willy’s and Gatsby’s denial of reality. Ironically, the single-mindedness of these men inhibits their overall …show more content…
Gatsby’s, Anse’s, and Willy’s fixations on achieving their respective goals yield obsessive behaviors in all three. Gatsby pursues Daisy for years “with a creative passion” (Fitzgerald chap 5), while Anse parades into town even though he “has not been in town in twelve years” (Faulkner 42). Both Gatsby and Anse dive far outside their initial comfort zones to fulfill their tasks, which they equate with respect. Disregarding the well-being of Cash and the safety of his family, Anse ventures on his journey with a confidence similar to Willy’s as he prepares to convince Biff’s teacher to “change that mark” to allow Biff to graduate (Miller 88). Furthermore, both Willy and Gatsby die unnaturally and pay “a high price for living too long” (Fitzgerald chp 8) with “the wrong dreams” (Miller 103). While all three characters fundamentally misanalyze their concrete goal that they see as a catalyst to being respected, Anse’s and Gatsby’s goals cause both of them to invest in fake objects — Anse covets fake teeth and Gatsby builds the facade of a highly educated Long Island gentleman, even buying books of which he “didn’t cut the pages” (Fitzgerald Chap 3). Willy’s “massive dreams” transcend his grasp of reality and time and exhibit the extent of his obsessiveness and mirrors Gatsby’s stagnation in the past (Miller 103). All three characters, in pursuit of their