Conflict In The Great Gatsby

There is no relationship without a conflict. Each relationship is unique and their conflicts would vary from one to another. This essay will examine the different causes, consequences and see whether the conflicts are resolved through analyzing Extremely loud and incredibly close, Othello, The Social Network and The Great Gatsby.

In Extremely loud and incredibly close, there is a conflict between Oskar and his mother. They have a tense relationship ever since Dad’s death. It is caused by Oskar's self-obsession with his own grief and his emotional immaturity. He thinks his mom is moving on too soon. He overlooks how his mom needs some comfort too. “Mom was with Ron in the living room, listening to music too loud and playing board
games. She wasn't missing dad,” shows how Oskar ignores the background how they met from the loss and grief support group and they both endured a very difficult time e.g. losing members of the family. Oskar holds himself to the past and also cannot accept his mom for moving on. “I would have been angry at her for dreaming something happy,” shows he rejects his mom from starting a happy life. They are getting distant. After Oskar has been repressed his the sadnesses, anger and dissension for a while, Oskar let out “if I could have chosen, I would have chosen you.” This hurts both of them.
The conflict between Oskar and his mom in Extremely loud and incredibly close resolves at the end because they both truly love each other deep inside. When they fight or have misunderstanding and hurt each other, they hurt themselves too. At the end, Oskar and his mom have a cathartic moment and reconcile. They talk about their feelings and secrets e.g. dad called both of them on that day. They are both now trying to move on and understand each other more as Oskar says “I promise I'm going to be better soon.” Oskar also realizes how Ron and his mom met each other and he accepts him “it's ok, if you fall in love again.”

In Othello, there is a conflict between a couple, Othello and Desdemona. The conflict initially starts by an envious man, Iago, not by the two lovers themselves conversely to Oskar and his mom. Iago is jealous of Othello for the reasons, he made Cassio his lieutenant instead of him and marrying Desdemona. Iago tries to ruin Othello’s life as he says “I follow him to serve my turn upon him.” Iago poisons Othello’s mind against Desdemona by bringing up how Desdemona deceived
her father marrying you therefore she is untrustworthy. He makes Othello suspect Desdemona having an affair with Cassio. Othello upsets Desdemona by called her a “whore” and hit her in the public. Desdemona’s love is not affected as she said “My love doth so approve him. That even his stubbornness, his cheeks, his frowns, have grace and favor in them.” This is similar to Extremely loud and Incredibly close, as Oskar still love his mother and want to protect her even they have an argument. Oskar wrote on his diary “because protecting her(his mom) is one of the most important raisons detre(reasons to live).” The consequence of conflict in Othello is much more serious and a disaster (Othello’s murder of Desdemona) whereas in Extremely loud and Incredibly close is just a big fight between Oskar and his mom. Othello never gives any chance for Desdemona explaining herself. He never tells Desdemona what his problem is or how he really feels. In contrast with Extremely loud and Incredibly close, Oskar says what he feels or think and ask his mother straight away when he is angry, upset or curious which gives his mom a chance to explain herself and reconcile. For example; Oskar thought his mom doesn’t love dad anymore because she seems happy and laugh then his mom explain to him “because I don’t want you to see me cry a lot,” and “because it isn’t fair to either of us.” The conflict between the two lovers in Othello is resolved only because they both end up dead whereas the conflict between Oskar and his mom is resolved happily. Othello and Extremely Loud and Incredibly close show in any kind of relationship when there is a conflict and ones feel upset, angry, mad or hate, the best solution is clear up, asking, explain and clarify what you feel and think. Most of the time, the conflict starts with misunderstanding about what is seen or heard like Desdemona's affair with Cassio and Oskar's mom moves on with Ron and does not love him or miss his dad anymore.

Mark and Erica’s conflict in The Social Network is quite different to Othello and Desdemona’s but there are some similarities to Oskar and his mom’s conflict. In comparison, the conflicts start with the self-obsession of Mark and Oskar and their words but Mark is more arrogant e.g. Mark focuses on getting in the Final Clubs and Oskar focuses on his own grief. Oskar's words hurt his mom because of the misunderstandings about Ron whereas Mark insults Erica because he thinks he is more superior than her as he underestimates her academic ability by saying “you don't have to study,” as she goes to an inferior university in his opinion than him and suggesting she's a second class person. But Othello's case is different as it is started by Iago. The conflicts in Othello, The Social Network and Extremely Loud and Incredibly close all lead to a break down in a key relationship. Oskar and his mom have an argument but the consequence are not as disastrous as in Othello where both are dead and in The Social Network, the two lovers have a terrible break up. In The Social Network , Erica stands up for herself and expresses her thoughts unlike Desdemona in Othello who blames herself for Othello’s outrage and her death, “Nobody, I myself.” Erica talks back to Mark and damps him, “You're gonna go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd. And I want you to know from the bottom of my heart that that won't be true. It'll be because you're an asshole.” The roles of women in society is different in Othello from The Social Network. The woman in Othello’s time were responsible for maintaining the honour of the family, so when Othello mistakes Desdemona and Cassio’s relationship, he has to get revenge by murdering her. Also, the woman then has to respect and obey her husband. Nowadays, women can now stand up for themselves as Erica does. The conflicts in Othello and The Social Network are not resolved like that between Oskar and his mom. Othello realises the truth about Desdemona too late as he already murdered her and Mark wrote a horrible blog post about Erica. Later when he tries to make up with her, she said, “The internet’s not written in pencil, Mark, it’s written in ink.” It’s too late to say sorry and for Erica to forgive him. Mark and Othello cannot change the past and have to live with the consequences they hastily made for themselves. This teaches us how we should think very carefully before we say or do something because it can hurt other people like Oskar hurt his mom and she says, “You can’t take something like that back,” or it hurts you yourself like Mark and Othello.

The relationship conflicts in The Great Gatsby, Othello and The Social Network are all different.
The conflict between Daisy and Tom is seen through the entire movie and is caused by their marriage based on the money and social status whereas in Othello the conflict is started by Iago and in The Social Network by Mark's arrogance. Tom and Daisy cheat on each other (Tom with Myrtle and Daisy with Gatsby.) Daisy knows about her husband's infidelity but still put up with him and acts obliviously e.g. Daisy ignores the fact that Myrtle calls Tom when she and Tom are at home. In contrast with Othello, he finds Desdemona’s supposed affair with Cassio intolerable whereas Daisy’s got to accept what’s going on between Tom and Myrtle. Similar to Daisy, Desdemona has to accept her husband’s action e.g. Othello murdered her, she says “Nobody, I myself.” Daisy and Desdemona has to accept whatever their husbands do. In Othello and The Great Gatsby time, “women were expected to tolerate what was going on around them and act like they don't know much,” as Nick says. In modern day, Erica stands up for herself and express her thought. Erica won’t put up with or submit to Mark’s attitude like Daisy and Desdemona. In comparison between Tom, Othello and Mark, they are not tolerable of the idea their wife or girlfriend having affairs with other ( Daisy with Gatsby, Desdemona with Cassio and Erica with Bobby, the doorman.) This shows the inequality of men and women’ rights. Daisy and Tom’s
relationship end up compatible as Daisy chooses Tom over Gatsby because Gatsby doesn’t have the background and security Tom can offer; Tom says Gatsby is "a common bootlegger.” Also Daisy scared to get in trouble for killing Myrtle. She conspires with Tom to make Gatsby the one who pays for the accident.They are both selfish. Their conflict resolves as they benefit from each other.

This essay has shown the different kind of conflict in each relationship from the four texts, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Othello, The Social Network and The Great Gatsby. In particular, the essay has shown the similarities and differences in causes, consequences and solutions for each conflict. The time period also has an effect on the conflict as the custom and society expectation may vary. But most of the conflicts start with the misunderstanding each other whether hundreds of years ago or now. Not all conflict can be solved and the solution varies.