How do Fitzgerald and Miller present males in their texts
How do Fitzgerald and Miller present males in their texts?
A common theme that runs through both works is the idea of the American Dream, the idea that a man can earn his place through work and can attain the life he wants. These ideals are prominent in both texts and affect the characters in different ways yet it is often the success of men that determines how they are viewed by the world in both books.
Men are presented in a certain way that might not reflect modern day British society but Americans in pursuit of the American Dream and how it can cause people to change and their attitudes. The characters of Willy Loman and Jay Gatsby are similarly presented by the writers as examples of men chasing The American Dream. The portrayal of males in the texts changes as the narratives develop and personalities and motives become clear. If we consider the character of Willy Loman from Death of a Salesman, we can see that he considers himself a good man and well liked, in pursuit of the American dream. Yet we as readers know that this is not the case. We discover that Willy is a rather pathetic, unfaithful and confused old man who refuses to believe the American Dream and its ideals have faults. He has fallen by the wayside on his journey to the shining place he wants to reach, that he dreams of yet it is apparent to us as readers that though he is constantly urging his son on to be better, he himself has not achieved anything. This might be because he just believes what he is told about The American Dream but doesn’t really understand what it means to him, what he needs to do to achieve it which is confirmed when Biff says ‘he had the wrong dreams…he never knew who he was.’.
However, in the case of Jay Gatsby, he has already achieved the American Dream through bootlegging yet that seems to simply have been a means to an end, the end which he clearly wants that is Daisy. Here we can see our characters differ drastically as Gatsby is a dreamer in his own way but
A common theme that runs through both works is the idea of the American Dream, the idea that a man can earn his place through work and can attain the life he wants. These ideals are prominent in both texts and affect the characters in different ways yet it is often the success of men that determines how they are viewed by the world in both books.
Men are presented in a certain way that might not reflect modern day British society but Americans in pursuit of the American Dream and how it can cause people to change and their attitudes. The characters of Willy Loman and Jay Gatsby are similarly presented by the writers as examples of men chasing The American Dream. The portrayal of males in the texts changes as the narratives develop and personalities and motives become clear. If we consider the character of Willy Loman from Death of a Salesman, we can see that he considers himself a good man and well liked, in pursuit of the American dream. Yet we as readers know that this is not the case. We discover that Willy is a rather pathetic, unfaithful and confused old man who refuses to believe the American Dream and its ideals have faults. He has fallen by the wayside on his journey to the shining place he wants to reach, that he dreams of yet it is apparent to us as readers that though he is constantly urging his son on to be better, he himself has not achieved anything. This might be because he just believes what he is told about The American Dream but doesn’t really understand what it means to him, what he needs to do to achieve it which is confirmed when Biff says ‘he had the wrong dreams…he never knew who he was.’.
However, in the case of Jay Gatsby, he has already achieved the American Dream through bootlegging yet that seems to simply have been a means to an end, the end which he clearly wants that is Daisy. Here we can see our characters differ drastically as Gatsby is a dreamer in his own way but