The Great Gatsby and The Wasteland Essay - 1229 Words

The Great Gatsby and The Wasteland Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby and Elliot’s The Wasteland are two stories that similarly express the modernist post-war disillusionment. Both stories comment pessimistically on the direction that our world is moving in from the post-war modernist perspective. Both men looked past the roaring twenties, and realized that this time period was actually a moral wasteland. The final paragraphs of The Great Gatsby sum up their mutual lack of faith in American culture to improve. Fitzgerald uses a number of both direct and indirect ways to comment on what has happened to America. The green light is a recurring symbol in this book that has many deep meanings. Beginning in the first chapter, when Nick compares†¦show more content†¦It shows that justifying this war is an act of futility. Elliot also presents a theme of regeneration and fertility, which symbolizes a longing for the past. In the opening of The Wasteland, April is shown as a time of revival after the bleak winter . Regeneration is portrayed as painful, because the new spring can’t measure up to the springs of the past. This is portrayed by Marie’s experiences from the past, which become painful when she considers that the time she lives in now is one of great political and cultural consequences. The final paragraph of The Great Gatsby and the final line in particular, effectively represent the views of Elliot and Fitzgerald. The final line, â€Å"so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past,† embodies the essence of both stories. It expresses a lack of confidence in our society’s current condition, and a longing for the simpler times of the past. The final page offers much of Fitzgerald’s perspective, and it is wonderfully summed up in the final sentence of the book. Most of the big shore places were closed now and there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat across the sound. And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes- a fresh, green breast of the newShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby Compared to the Wasteland1255 Words   |  6 PagesFitzgerald s Great Gatsby and Elliot s The Wasteland are two stories that similarly express the modernist post-war disillusionment. Both stories comment pessimistically on the direction that our world is moving in from the post-war modernist perspective. Both men looked past the roaring twenties, and realized that this time period was actually a moral wasteland. The final paragraphs of The Great Gatsby sum up their mutual lack of faith in American culture to improve. Fitzgerald uses a numberRead MoreMyrtle Wilson as the Wasteland Figure in the Great Gatsby1597 Words   |  7 PagesNovember 2007 Myrtle and Fitzgeralds Wasteland Myrtle Wilson is Fitzgeralds vessel for illustrating the modern wasteland. His conception of the wasteland as an unavoidable, vulgar part of the 1920s society is parallel to his characterization of Myrtle as an unavoidable, vulgar character that refuses to be ignored. He uses her to point out what he sees as the faults of modern society. Myrtle is materialistic, superficial, and stuck living in the physical wasteland referred to as the valley of ashesRead More The Great Gatsby and the Valley of Ashes Essay1149 Words   |  5 PagesThe Great Gatsby and the Valley of Ashes    Many times we hear of societys affect on people; society influencing the way people think and act.   Hardly mentioned is the reverse: peoples actions and lifestyles affecting society as a whole and how it is characterized.   Thus, society is a reflection of its inhabitants and in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is a wasteland described as the valley of ashes.   Since the characters of this novel make up this wasteland, arent they theRead More Failure and Destruction of a Romantic Ideal in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby1639 Words   |  7 PagesThe Great Gatsby and the Destruction of a Romantic Ideal      Ã‚   In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of a romantic ideal and its ultimate destruction by the inexorable rot and decay of modern life. The story is related by Nick Carraway, who has taken a modest rental house next door to Jay Gatsbys mansion. Jay Gatsby is a young millionaire who achieves fabulous wealth for the sole purpose of recapturing the love of his former sweetheart, Daisy Fay Buchanan. Five years priorRead MoreDiscussion of the Settings in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgeral1076 Words   |  4 PagesA Discussion of the Three Major Setting in The Great Gatsby Setting is an integral part of a novelists or playwright’s ability to communicate characters’ ideals and attitudes. One of the greatest American authors, Francis Scott Fitzgerald also employs these essential strategies when describing the three main setting of The Great Gatsby: West Egg, East Egg, and the Valley of the Ashes. Fitzgerald relates West Egg with the â€Å"less fashionable† side of Long Island and â€Å"new money†, relates East Egg toRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1352 Words   |  6 PagesSet in the early 1920’s, The Great Gatsby (1925) written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is narrated by Nick Carraway, a young man returning to Long Island, New York to seek his fortune as a bond salesman. The glamorous tale follows Jay Gatsby and his burning desire to be reunited with striking Daisy Buchanan, the love of his life. The various settings in The Great Gatsby (1925) primarily serve to provide the reader with an understanding of th e characters’ ideals and novel context. The profound contrast betweenRead More F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby as Criticism of American Society 1734 Words   |  7 Pages   Ã‚  Ã‚   In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald criticizes American society in the 1920?s for its tendencies to waste, advertise, form superficial relationships, and obsess over appearances. The work has been praised for both its brutal realism and its keen depiction of the age that The New York Times referred to as the era when, gin was the national drink and sex was the national obsession(Fitzgerald vii).   . . . indifference is presented as a moral failure - a failure of society, particularlyRead MoreThe Importance of the Settings in Novels1479 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"It’s pretty, isnt it, old sport?†(Fitzgerald 53), hollow words that describe an era precisely. The Great Gatsby is a wonderfully depressing novel about a man who literally made a name for himself and died in search of the American Dream. It was set in the Roaring Twenties, also known as the Jazz Age, a time about dynamic subcultures all around the world, and their grand art, social lives an d music. This book is set by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the North East of the United States, New York, and LongRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Waste Land Essay1714 Words   |  7 PagesEnvoking T.S. Eliot’s poem â€Å"The Waste Land†, the â€Å"Valley of Ashes† depicted in The Great Gatsby serves a multitude of symbolic functions. It primarily provides significant contrast to East and West Egg. This contrast is not simplistic, as Fitzgerald guides the reader into understanding that the areas are inextricably linked in terms of the American dream and moral corruption. Furthermore, the Valley of Ashes is a physical manifestation of the theme of death and mortality constantly being threadedRead MoreAnalysis Of F. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby 1665 Words   |  7 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Elliot, and George Bernard Shaw have all created literary works that marked the new and unorthodox ways of viewing and interacting with the world with the beginning of the twentieth century. The Great Gatsby, The Love Song of J. A. Prufrock, The Wasteland, and Pygmalion portrayed the rejection of principles for religion, tradition, and morality in order to progress into their ever changing societies as an unpleasant reaction to the preceding Victorian culture. These oppositions