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For centuries a man has been treated taking to the account his/ her role into a society, the role of class. And it is known that from the early times money (or whatever else), wealth played the main part in the process. The situation is always worsen during the times of instability in a society. In America it happened after the World War I.
In great works of Fitzgerald and Williams the problem is depicted concerning lives and hopes of ordinary Americans. Through their stories the authors showed the real fight between illusions and reality. So, lets examine key points of the works and follow the role of wealth in creating of human relationships. After the War America was in chaos and violence. The generation start to live extravagant and wild life. The conservatism of previous generation was changed into desire to make more money and to become popular.
Though from the first glance The Great Gatsby seems to be a story of love between a man and a woman, the theme is larger and deeper. It lies in the collapse of the American dream in an era of material excess and quick prosperity. During that time there were many people from lower social background, who made fortune. Though the American aristocracy with old wealth ignored the newly rich industrialists and speculators.
The both works The Great Gatsby and A street car named desire seem to be alike in theme, but are different the same. In the last one the main hero is a woman, and the story is depicted a position of a woman in postwar America. It goes without saying that a man always had greater opportunity to manage his life as a woman. She was always depended on him materially as well as morally.
So, comparing the main personages Jay Gatsby and Blanche, it is necessary to say that she had no chance to overcome her problems, because a woman is used to be blamed in all her sins, while Gatsby was presented as a person, who gained sympathy. From the very beginning we get to know The Great Gatsby through Nicks (one of the main characters) thoughts and perceptions. Gatsby is introduced as a person who is famous for the lavish parties, very rich and, as Nick views him, dishonest and vulgar. He idolizes wealth and luxury. There is no information where he comes from and how he made his fortune.
Gatsby is named great because of a power to transform his dreams into reality and his extraordinary optimism. Then we come to know that Gatsby is an innocent, hopeful young man. But he has a strong belief that everything even love can be buy. He is sure that life likes the winners and the riches. Gatsby stakes everything on his dreams to gain, win Daisy's love and that blinds him. But Daisy's feelings are not true and honest.
Nick emphasizes that Gatsby's relationships with Daisy is built on money and dishonesty. And Fitzgerald compares it with famous American dream of happiness and individualism, which was crushed in a rush for wealth. Americas powerful optimism served to the amoral pursuit of wealth. Jay Gatsby is shown as an emblem of the social trends. The various social circumstances and ambitions turn Gatsby into the greedy scramble for wealth.
His dream is ruined by the unworthiness of its object, as the American dream in the 1920 s. In the novel the struggle between old money and manifests itself. East Egg is a district for the established aristocracy and West Egg is for the self-made rich. As it was said Gatsby is a representative of new money. And Tom Buchanan belongs to the established aristocracy.
He is from a socially solid old family. But his social attitudes are based on racism and sexism. He does not take into account the moral standards and qualms, but demands others to follow them. Though he is rich and popular, he has lack in his hart. He is a type of selfish person who never stop for help and always win. Ironically, Gatsby's loyalty and love lead to his death.
There are other antipodes: Myrtle Wilson and Daisy Buchanan. There are quite different in their perception of life and love. Myrtle has no a high social status as Daisy has. She is Toms lover and believes that he is her way out. She looks for a way to improve her situation.
But for Tom she is only an object of his desire. Daisy is from another society, a society of the rich. Though she has what she wants, for Daisy everything is like a game. Nick says that she is a careless person. She does not really love Gatsby and in Chapter VII she shows her real nature. She chose Tom over Gatsby, and then betrayed and left him.
So, Fitzgerald depicts Daisy as a person with the amoral values of the aristocrat icy. Tennessee Williams in his work A Street car named Desire takes into account personal perception of a life value. He shows inability to overcome reality. The main part of the play acts in the two-room Kowalski apartment. The room is symbolized the inner world of the main personages.
And the author tries to make the boundary between exterior and interior. The characters enter and leave the rooms, bringing the problems they have from the larger environment. But very often a person cannot escape from the problems and has no strength to overcome them. As it was said from the beginning, the main character of the play is Blanche, a woman who is already fallen in society's eyes. She lost her husband and estate. Her last hope is to merry a wealthy man.
Blanche is shown as a dislocated individual who tries to escape the reality. She lives in a panic about her fading beauty and lies about her age. In her sisters house, Blanche pretends to be a woman who has never known indignity. But Stanley, her brother-in- law quickly guesses that she tries to hide something and looks for information about her past. Stanly is a representative of a new Americans. As he tells Stella in Scene Eight, he is a social leveler, and Blanche does not suit to the level.
She does not belong to this society. Stanley is a practical man who ignores Blanches fabrications. He lives in a world of reality, and relationships between him and Blanche is a struggle between illusions and reality. Though Blanche is shown as a personage who always attempts to fool others and makes them think that she is better then they, I think, she deserves sympathy. Being a woman, she greatly depends on male sexual admiration. And marriage is her only chance to escape poverty and her bad reputation.
But Stanley kills her last hopes and possibility of future happiness. Though he considers himself a self confident person and Blanche an un worthless one, at the end of the story Stanly is a down-to-earth character, who proves harmfully crude and brutish. He has lack of ideals and imagination. His ill-bred nature is shown first when he beats his wife, and becomes fully evident after he rapes his sister-in-law. We can wrongfully consider Stanly a master of life who always knows what to do and how to act in different situations, but he is really a bigger evil to the society then Blanche. But, ironically, he influences public decision to ostracize Blanche.
In both works the authors use symbols greatly. They help to create necessary surrounding and make feelings deeper. In The Great Gatsby it is the green light, which represents the mans hopes and dreams for the future. In chapter II the valley of ashes appears and then we see it at the last chapters. It symbolizes the moral and social decay which is a result of the uninhibited pursuit of wealth. the rich take care about nothing but their own pleasure.
In A Street car named Desire it is the light. In Scene Six, Blanche tells Mitch that her love to her husband, was like vivid light. And then throughout the play, Blanche avoids appearing in direct, bright light. It really means that she is afraid of her past; light symbolizes the reality of her past. Though in both the physical and the psychological point of view, the boundary between fantasy and reality is permeable, but it is evident that the era of dreaming Gatsbys dream, Blanches dream and the American dreams over. The time of practical perception of the reality has come.
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Research essay sample on Jay Gatsby Named Desire
