Great Gatsby and the Reader
Gatsby and Reader Comparative Essay
The values of each age are reflected in the texts which are composed in them.
Both The Great Gatsby and The Reader are written with the values of each age in mind. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby examines the culture of the 1920s and the context that surrounded Fitzgerald whilst writing the novel. Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader is an investigation into the post World War II generation of Germany and the views from each generation. The Reader is written with the current era in mind, from the perspective of Michael Berg in the 1990s. When writing The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald judged the values of his own time, he looked at his surroundings and took in all the ideals of society. Fitzgerald discussed what values he had, what society had and what he believed was wrong. In particular there was a strong bond between people and their material possessions during the 1920s, they would aspire to have the latest and greatest, the most decadent of items. Fitzgerald reflects this nature (particularly in the upper class) in The Great Gatsby by his display of characters. Daisy and Myrtle seek out the right man, with the correct social standing in order to be happy in their lives. Myrtle could not settle for George Wilson as “he borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never told me about it…I lay down and cried…all afternoon.” Her inability to love someone based on the fact that he could not afford a nice suit is how Fitzgerald saw the world in the 1920s, shallow and materialistic. In a similar manner Daisy was not able to be with Gatsby unless he was of the proper social standing, as a poorer boy from the west in the army he was not what Daisy was looking for, so he changed his life to be right for her. Gatsby’s change is evident in the lifestyle he lives, the mansions, the cars, the parties and alcohol, all contributing factors for positioning himself in the same light as Daisy. Clearly what Fitzgerald is doing in The
The values of each age are reflected in the texts which are composed in them.
Both The Great Gatsby and The Reader are written with the values of each age in mind. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby examines the culture of the 1920s and the context that surrounded Fitzgerald whilst writing the novel. Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader is an investigation into the post World War II generation of Germany and the views from each generation. The Reader is written with the current era in mind, from the perspective of Michael Berg in the 1990s. When writing The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald judged the values of his own time, he looked at his surroundings and took in all the ideals of society. Fitzgerald discussed what values he had, what society had and what he believed was wrong. In particular there was a strong bond between people and their material possessions during the 1920s, they would aspire to have the latest and greatest, the most decadent of items. Fitzgerald reflects this nature (particularly in the upper class) in The Great Gatsby by his display of characters. Daisy and Myrtle seek out the right man, with the correct social standing in order to be happy in their lives. Myrtle could not settle for George Wilson as “he borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never told me about it…I lay down and cried…all afternoon.” Her inability to love someone based on the fact that he could not afford a nice suit is how Fitzgerald saw the world in the 1920s, shallow and materialistic. In a similar manner Daisy was not able to be with Gatsby unless he was of the proper social standing, as a poorer boy from the west in the army he was not what Daisy was looking for, so he changed his life to be right for her. Gatsby’s change is evident in the lifestyle he lives, the mansions, the cars, the parties and alcohol, all contributing factors for positioning himself in the same light as Daisy. Clearly what Fitzgerald is doing in The