2 December 2008, 9:17 pm
Hi guys. i finished my essay about Gatsby and Willy loman. The essay was about who was the more Flawed character out of the two! can u guys give me suggestions on what to talk about? My Essay (im not a bright writer) Corruption of a Dream: The American dream often costs a high price to those who dream beyond. Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby and Willy Loman from Death of a Salesman are two flawed characters with similar a way of life, to accomplish their American dream. Although they carry a similar belief, they hold that belief tightly for different purposes: Gatsby strives to reunite with his love, where Willy just wants his family to live happier from success. Although both characters failed to accomplish their dreams in the end, Jay Gatsby, without a doubt, turned out to be the more flawed character. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby repeatedly looks upon the “green light” (Fitzgerald 21), at the end of the dock across the water, on behalf of his love, Daisy. The “green light” is always there, symbolically representing the “unreachable”. Later, when Gatsby finally reunites with Daisy, she is not the same person as before. He knew Daisy’s marriage kept her from coming back. He becomes disappointed, and the green light eventually becomes unreal like their relationship. Gatsby continues to reflect to the past, saying “Can’t repeat the past… Why of course you can!” (Fitzgerald 110). He doesn’t understand that nobody gets to live life backward. Looking ahead is where his future lies (Landers). Gatsby believes in the American Dream so greatly because he believes he can get everything (including Daisy). When I say everything, I’m talking about being rich, living in a Florida shore, with a beautiful house, car, and family. As Gatsby continues to pursue his dream, he loses himself and tries to do everything possible in order to get back together with Daisy. His actions, such as spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on Daisy, turn around and destroy him at the end. This happened when Gatsby suddenly lost control after he met Daisy, then started to spend more time with her, as well as spend more money. As a result of the long pursuing dream that Gatsby had, George Wilson shot and killed him at the end. Besides Wilson, Daisy takes part of the blame for Gatsby’s death, because if she wouldn’t have run over Myrtle in the first place, George wouldn’t have killed Gatsby. I state that Gatsby was a more flawed character for a reason; he did so much to accomplish a single dream, and ended up failing dramatically at the end. Gatsby tried to be someone he's not; he tried to reunite with Daisy by impressing her with money, which shows he’s not being himself. Gatsby didn’t understand the fact that you need to be yourself sometimes in order to get what you want. He was relentlessly pursuing a dream without considering the actual state of affairs; he simply failed to realize that Daisy’s marriage kept her from ever coming back. Although I do believe Daisy and Gatsby would’ve been a great couple, he put too much futile effort to reunite with her. Willy Loman from The Death of the Salesmen turned out to be a flawed character as well. But it’s hard to see Willy as the more flawed character, because he had a dream that looked after his family and all he wanted was money and to have a good reputation. Unlike Gatsby, Willy’s dream wouldn’t hurt or affect anybody else around him. I say this because if Gatsby would have achieved his dream, other character’s like Tom would’ve been hurt. Then later problems between Tom and Gatsby would have a great impact on Daisy, and so on. Gatsby’s appearance did cause various dilemmas. Before he showed up, everything was all right; Tom and Daisy seemed to be happy together. Nick was also doing fine. Ever since Gatsby showed up he tried the unthinkable and started nearly every conflict in the novel. Willy however, didn’t cause nearly as many problems as Gatsby, and if he did, most of those problems were towards himself, not to the people around him. You can also say Willy Loman didn’t succeed very well at the end. In some point of views I can see Willy as being the more flawed character, due to his behavior towards his family. Willy had many flaws in his personality; he became a miserable person due to the lack of money. His problems and miserable emotions made him suicidal at the end. But if you go deep into his feelings, many wouldn’t blame him for the person he was. Willy wasn’t perfect; you can’t expect him to be a generous person with all the problems he was facing. The lack of money, unstable family and reputation turned him into a miserable person. Believe it or not, if Willy had money since the beginning, he most likely would’ve achieved his dream. Although money isn’t exactly what an average person should pursue, Willy needed it. He needed the money for what he desired. As strange as it seems, money does buy happiness, everything you do that makes you hap... Read More »
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