Preview

How the human condition is portrayed through "The Great Gatsby", written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "Blade Runner", directed by Ridley Scott.

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
601 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How the human condition is portrayed through "The Great Gatsby", written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "Blade Runner", directed by Ridley Scott.
The human condition is the experience of existence and life as humans. This notion can be seen through the novel "The Great Gatsby", written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the film "Blade Runner", directed by Ridley Scott. These texts explore the themes of human judgment, the ambition involved in being human and human morals, which make up part of the human condition. This is shown through the actions, comments, and descriptions of the characters in the texts.

The quote "'They're a rotten crowd,' I shouted across the lawn. 'You're worth the whole damn bunch put together'" from the novel, The Great Gatsby, is a display of the judgmental characteristic of human beings. Human beings are very judgmental creatures, who base conclusions about others upon what they see or hear. The character, Daisy Buchanan shows her judgmental nature as she cries "they're such beautiful shirts" as she tours Gatsby's house. This demonstrates that her attitude toward Gatsby revolves around his possessions rather than his personal qualities. The film, Blade Runner also reveals this idea through the Voight-Kampff test, which is a test designed to measure emotional responses. The humans in the film use this test to determine whether or not the subject is a replicant purely based the conclusions of this test. We are shown that humans make quick judgments on others not by profound information but by shallow means such as a test.

Morals are an important part of every human life. They are responsible for the kind of life humans lead and also their actions. "The Great Gatsby" and "Blade Runner" both show the decline in human morals. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald suggests this decaying of human morals through the parties that Gatsby holds every week. It is a symbol of the carelessness of the time, where these 'guests', most of whom were not even invited, would party, eat and drink until the early hours of the morning without even meeting the host or even knowing who he was. The destruction of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald makes trouble now seem a little less worrisome. Gatsby, the main character, must deal with war, betrayal of love, and illegal acts. Nick Carraway, the narrator, takes the reader on a journey not only through the novel but also his own life. He starts by saying that his father taught him to never hold people to the personal standards of one's self in fear of misinterpreting the person as a whole. This advice is carried throughout the novel and is by far one of the most notable aspects within the story. The Great Gatsby is a delicately written story of a young man trying to fight his way through the 1920’s with the issues of prohibition, which lead into organized crime, and the forthcoming of the second industrial…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Roaring Twenties was a period of frivolous days and exciting nights. Times were prosperous and life was good for most. In The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald writes about the fictitious life of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire (Gross 1). The setting of the novel is New York in the twenties, a time, and place, where people were jovial and carefree. In New York, more than anywhere, people did not worry about life's downs, but focused on the highlife and partying. Prohibition made partying difficult, but it prevailed nonetheless. In the novel, Fitzgerald's description of humans was of an appalling nature. He shows them as careless, greedy, and inconsiderate; much like they truly were in this decade. Inevitably he would become involved in some type of lackadaisical ways. Fitzgerald's writing's were significantly influenced by these surroundings. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing was profoundly influenced by events in his life, the exciting times he lived in, and the people he knew.…

    • 1668 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ridge Scholarship Essay

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages

    On the surface, The Great Gatsby reads as a story of thwarted love between a man and a woman. The real theme of the novel, however, encompasses a highly symbolic meditation on 1920’s America as a whole, and, in particular, the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920’s as an era of decaying social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby himself hosts every Saturday night—resulted ultimately in the corruption of the…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Society tends to have a myriad of unspoken problems that plague its entirety as a whole. With numerous underlying issues that slowly fester from the center of the core to the outside, society constantly attempts to suppress and ignore the genuine problem. One of the ever present obstacles that seemingly will go unattended to is moral decay. Though many people may recognize the issue at hand, it’s become a pattern to let it be as it is, as opposed to fixing it from within. Throughout the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the decaying of social and moral values through his use of symbolism and characterization.…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” is a chronicle of its times. Times of prohibition, bootleggers and economical prosperity, but also the times of people still recalling the World War I, those who try to forget its horror and compensate all the harms suffered, with the life full of luxury. The period of 1920s, so called Roaring Twenties, is the time when the United States experienced cultural revolution. The lifestyle changed and the old values, such as morality disappeared, replaced by money and corruption. As the one who lived in that era, F. S. Fitzgerald became a strong critic of his contemporary’s lifestyles. One of the major themes of the novel is the criticism of the society for its trend to waste everything.…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses on the wealthy class that live in New York, and takes place during the “Roaring Twenties”, and era of economic prosper and recklessness after World War I. Fitzgerald highlights the irresponsibility and lack of morality that derives from wealth. Throughout the novel, there are a number of characters that abuse their wealth or power in a way to excuse their moral irresponsibility. Through Gatsby’s disputed accumulation of wealth and Tom’s unceasing trysts, Fitzgerald paints a vivid picture of two men who choose to use their wealth and objectives as an excuse for their immoral habits.…

    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How human beings behave in society is dictated by moral standards of conduct that are generally accepted as right or proper. This sense of morality can become perverse such that the lines between right and wrong are blurred. The person becomes depraved and their behavior eschews what is generally considered to be right. In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald the characters are portrayed in an immoral manner. F. Scott Fitzgerald displays the destruction of morals in society during the era of the “Jazz Age.” The main characters: Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby are categorized as morally corrupt; they lose their values in attempt to find their place in the social world. These…

    • 1170 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the notorious time of “The Jazz Age”, the American People continuously danced to swingy, joyful, voluptuous music. People all over America were living life to the fullest. Party after party, drink after drink people in the 1920’s didn’t care what the prohibition in tailed. People were buying everything upon everything, until the point where their funds ceased. The American people fell for consumerism. All people cared about was when the next big party was. At the beginning of the 1920’s, the American people valued parties over conservation, but once the Stock Market crashed in 1929 peoples morals changed. All of the sudden people valued conserving money over partying. Fitzgerald reflects these views onto Gatsby’s Character. Gatsby is able to live above the law because of his wealth, connections, and his views on the American dream.…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a short time period, hair and dresses became shorter, and more skin was being shown by women (1920’s). In chapter three, Gatsby hosts a large and fancy party, and “By midnight the hilarity had increased” (Fitzgerald, 51). People relax and enjoy themselves throughout the night, dancing, drinking, and some making a scene. “Laughter is easier, minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word” Fitzgerald, 44). The actions of the characters at Gatsby’s party show that the world of the novel isn’t founded on solid morals or attitudes. People do and say what they please, as well as begin to disregard traditional…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This example is a clear picture of just what people were like, they were careless in the way that they lived their lives, they had no regard for others, and they just wanted to party day in and day out. Fitzgerald, describing hypocrisy and carelessness in The Great Gatsby, exposed the American society for what it really was, something nobody had done up to this point in literature. As a result of this, Fitzgerald broke away from the norm and leapt over the boundary of being too afraid to try something different, making him the “Lost Generation” writer who had the strongest effect on American…

    • 1431 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    1920 Reforms

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Great Gatsby is an intellectual stimulating novel showing factious character’s responding to social conflict in ways that were similar to that age. Throughout this essay you will be exposed to the accounts in questions and the opinions of those behind the research. The purpose is to expose 1920’s society during the prohibition and compare the events of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby.” Through this essay the thoughts and morals of Fitzgerald’s characters will be evaluated and associated to different critical approach categories based of their own factious actions, remembering always to look back upon the history to find similar events. Historical content, events and characters have all been represented through Fitzgerald’s work and hold a higher importance in accurately displaying the life of an average 1920’s post-war society.…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, a rich millionaire who lives in the West Egg, longs for his one true love, Daisy Buchanan. Living so far away from his beautiful soulmate, Gatsby lures Daisy into his life by throwing huge parties in order to see her. However, his loneliness continues to swallow him up, no matter how hard Gatsby tries. Most of this emotion comes from Fitzgerald himself. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s own life contributes to the making of many of his novels, but The Great Gatsby shows the reader the party life Fitzgerald lived in his time, and how this lifestyle contributed to his writings and his career.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Is Gatsby Selfish

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages

    corruption of reality and the inherent consequences. Those who disregard right and wrong are destined for a life poisoned by the glamour of society. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby examines a group of high class citizens who are free of a moral compass. They fly through life using their riches to escape any obstacles they encounter, not to mention the consequences that entail. One can see by examining Tom, Daisy, and Myrtle that their selfishness is built on a lack of moral foundation, which is driven by greed and leads each of them to losing an essence of their life.…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It can be seen that "The Great Gatsby," by Scott Fitzgerald is one the greatest novels of all time. Its method to depict The American Dream has been attempted to be matched an uncountable amount of times. Other aspects used in "The Great Gatsby," by Scott Fitzgerald, have also been employed in many forms of media such as novel and movies. One that has done particularly well to employ them is the 1999 motion picture "The Talented Mr. Ripley," directed by Anthony Minghella. Similarities in both the book "The Great Gatsby," by Scott Fitzgerald and the motion picture "The Talented Mr. Ripley," directed by Anthony Minghella are so clear it can not be overlooked such as; the context and setting, the symbolism and motif, the use of visual imagery, the given talents to characters, and the use of confrontation in both novel and motion picture.…

    • 1699 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby Essay

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In American society, the way people act is quite an interesting, yet confusing subject to look at. If you were to look closely at the behavior and the thinking of the average American man in the modern day, you would see that he is not too different from a man that lived one hundred years ago in America. Obviously many things have changed in society that make a man different nowadays compared to one hundred years ago, but the point is that, in general, the mind of an American person has kept the same characteristics. A great way to understand how an American man 's mind has remained the same is by comparing The Great Gatsby with modern society in the United States. In this novel, which takes place in the 1920 's, we see that the major themes incorporated into it are hope in the American Dream, the idea that rich are always entitled and never responsible for their behavior, and that the common man will keep trying to achieve the American Dream to the fullest even though he is vaguely aware that he has higher morals than the person he is seeking to become.…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays