Om and M

Compare and contrast the extent to which both novels comment and criticise on the societies which they are set in. We are introduced to both novels in the 1920s elite society where both authors; Waugh and Fitzgerald are from an upper class society. Fitzgerald cultivates the character Jay Gatsby who we perceive purely from Nick who is an onlooker throughout the novella. Readers interpret Gatsby’s social structure as a triangle and we learn to commiserate him whereas Waugh invents the character Paul Pennyfeather who is a naïve, passive character and is in the structure of a circle. The one factor that is apparent throughout the novels is that society determines their social structure.
YOUR INTRODUCTION HAS TO BASICALLY ANSWER THE QUESTION AND SUMMARIS WHAT YOUR ESSAY IS GOING TO BE ABOUT. DOES YOUR INTRO DO THAT AND DOES IT SPECIFICALLY STATE YOUR MAIN POINTS THAT U WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THROUGHOUT YOUR ESSAY. IF SO, MOVE ON. One of the main themes in Decline and Fall is social mobility and the constant struggle to obtain wealth and power, and it could be argued that Waugh himself is from an elite society yet he chooses to satirise it. This may be because although he was privileged, he struggled against those above him in the social hierarchy, which is mirrored in Paul’s character. ‘The civilised man of before the war… is the necessity and value of a society organised in distinct classes’ (1) this shows us that Waugh is bourgeoisie which could be linked to the novel in the sense that Paul is not a civilised man because he is too naïve and since he does not have the wealth to conceal his naivety it leads to him being taken advantage of in the novel. HOW?? EXPLAIN FURTHER. DOES SOCIETY PUSH HIM A OR IS SOCIETY TO BLAME FOR HIS ACTIONS? Waugh is criticising society in the aspect that those who are of upper class society scrutinize those below them, and at this time 20% of Britain was of upper class standard which may be why their culture is so judgemental