Great Gatsby and Bell Jar Analysis Paper
Morgan Messenger
IB English
The Great Gatsby and The Bell Jar each portray two outlooks on the world through the use of different characters and the way that they see reality. Generally, no two people see the world in exactly the same way, but these two texts exaggerate two completely different realities in each. Authors implement this idea in order to create interest, controversy and tension between characters. Both F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sylvia Plath create two or more entirely different characters to contrast against each other and show just how different their outlooks on the world are. The Great Gatsby focuses around several characters, all of whom see reality in a different perspective. We are introduced to Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Daisy is characterized as a sort of air-headed woman who believes a woman’s looks are more important than their intelligence. She lives her life in a delusional fantasy in which there is no time frame for anything and nothing really has any substance. She is portrayed through the duration of the novel as being confused not really knowing what’s going on at all. Her reality seems to be nothing at all, shown by her spending days sitting on the couch with Jordan Baker, and not having any opinion as to where to go during the evening. Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, is a character that readers are introduced to as a pompous, selfish, arrogant man who does whatever he likes. He even has a mistress in the city, and finds nothing wrong with his “dual life”. Tom’s take on reality is blurred by his self-centered agenda. He even goes as far as making George Wilson, his mistresses’ husband, beg him to sell his car to George, knowing all the while that he is sleeping with his wife. This twisted act further shows just how altered Tom’s reality is in his mind. On the other side of the spectrum, Jay Gatsby is living in a world where a big house, lavish parties, and material objects will win over the only person he cares
IB English
The Great Gatsby and The Bell Jar each portray two outlooks on the world through the use of different characters and the way that they see reality. Generally, no two people see the world in exactly the same way, but these two texts exaggerate two completely different realities in each. Authors implement this idea in order to create interest, controversy and tension between characters. Both F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sylvia Plath create two or more entirely different characters to contrast against each other and show just how different their outlooks on the world are. The Great Gatsby focuses around several characters, all of whom see reality in a different perspective. We are introduced to Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Daisy is characterized as a sort of air-headed woman who believes a woman’s looks are more important than their intelligence. She lives her life in a delusional fantasy in which there is no time frame for anything and nothing really has any substance. She is portrayed through the duration of the novel as being confused not really knowing what’s going on at all. Her reality seems to be nothing at all, shown by her spending days sitting on the couch with Jordan Baker, and not having any opinion as to where to go during the evening. Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, is a character that readers are introduced to as a pompous, selfish, arrogant man who does whatever he likes. He even has a mistress in the city, and finds nothing wrong with his “dual life”. Tom’s take on reality is blurred by his self-centered agenda. He even goes as far as making George Wilson, his mistresses’ husband, beg him to sell his car to George, knowing all the while that he is sleeping with his wife. This twisted act further shows just how altered Tom’s reality is in his mind. On the other side of the spectrum, Jay Gatsby is living in a world where a big house, lavish parties, and material objects will win over the only person he cares