THE GREAT GATSBY

 

The Great Gatsby (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby)

Scott Fitzgerald (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald)

          The Great Gatsby is a tragical love story on the surface, but when we deeply go through it, it furnishes a pessimistic critique of the American dream. The term "American Dream" was first coined by James Adams in his book, "The Epic of America" written in 1931. At that time it was a dream of a land where life was better and richer for everyone else and it was based upon innocent, religious values. The reason why people wanted to work hard to prove themselves to God because they believed better people were in eyes of God. But with time passed they started to chase material wealth and it corrupted the people as well as the true value of the dream.

          This controversy formed the basis of the writings of many writers in the modern period. Among them, Scott Fitzgerald who was born in Minnesota USA in 1896 is one of the Great American novelists. He was influenced by his contemporary writer and artist Ernest Hemingway and Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby as his most famous and 3rd novel in 1925.

           Using New York City to the suburbs known as West and East egg, during Jazz Age the author interpreted the concept of American dream which shifts to social status as everything, through dazzling characters. However the story flows on first person limited point of view make use of sympathetic and Melancholic tone.

            Nowadays, there is nothing wrong with saying that social status and materialism are similar to the American dream. With that, we can say three types of characters belong to three statues in the novel. They are the old money class, new money and no money. With the short glance old money can be interpreted as Aristocrats who inherited the money. These people do not work hard and instead they attend to parties and have fun. Thus, they don't need to achieve the American dream in order to they were born with it. Daisy Buchannan the Mistress of the main character Gatsby, her spouse Tom Buchanan and Jordan Baker; the flapper woman all are belong to this status. Daisy is a wealthy woman and her expectation is to maintain her status. Therefore, she acquired it by marrying Tom who promised her a wealthy life, without getting a risk by marriage to Gatsby, though she promised to wait for him.

           Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of the novel who raised on a rural Farm in North Dakota and had a desire to become fabulously wealthy is a young man around 30 years and he represents new money. As well as he is the best character to read American Dream throughout the novel.

           With the passage of the eighteenth amendment in 1919, which banned the scale of alcohol, an undergone culture was designed in America. To illustrate this, the author has used Gatsby and few others who belong to new money and become wealthy  doing illegal things because all for attaining American Dream.

          When we consider about American Dream through Gatsby, Fitzgerald has connected his dream not onlu mainly to material wealth but with the love of his life: Daisy. She's just like a dream because being desirable, materialistic, careless, selfish, beguiling and haunting. Gatsby achieved fantastic amount of money by participating in organized crime in order to win Daisy back. Therefore, American dream is personified through Daisy.

"She was just eighteen, two years older than me, and most popular of all the young girls in Louisville.

She dressed in white and had a little white roadster. "

(White signifies purity as well as innocent.)

          American dream is beguiling. At first it is innocent like Daisy, when Gatsby saw her first time. Though she seems attractive at first time then leads him towards destruction, as American Dream.

          American Dream also be haunting, which lose the ways of people eventually. That is what happened on Gatsby too. He didn't give up love for Daisy, even took the responsibility for the murder from her. Then it caused to his death too. 

"He stretched out his arms towards the dark water..... I distinguished nothing except a single green light.............."

          Nick Carraway observes this. Green light is an important symbol in this novel and in one side traditionally green color associated with money and wealth and another side it represents Gatsby's inability to reach the dream.

The novel begins with an advice of the narrator's father.

"Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world hasn't had the advantages that you have had."

          It emphasizes that every people does not have same status. The narrator is Nick Carraway from Minnesota who moved to New York because his interest over the bond business. He stands for both old and new money. Once there was a conversation between Gatsby and Nick.

"Gatsby : Meyer Wolfsheimn? No, he's a gambler.

Nick : Why isn't he in jail?

Gatsby : They can't get him, old sport. He's a smart man."

          It shows how America has been corrupted with criminals who are going to achieve American Dream.

            More than that in 20th Century, automobiles were characterized the high class of America. Instead think about the car as a way of transportation they consider it as a way of the exhibit their Fortune to the society. Myrtle Wilson and her husband George Wilson who ran automobile shop are the people, representing no money. These people have least amount of money and survive through buying and selling. They try to achieve American Dream but though they work hard they are unable to get a chance for it.

"I married him because I thought he was a gentleman." 

            

          With the mistake of believing that George had good breeding, Myrtle married him. Then seek to better life than she has, she reaches for Tom Buchannan and died due to a car accident, with making the role of automobile as the failture  of American Dream. 

"He borrowed somebody's best suit to get married"

(To show status)

           Finally The Faded paint of the eyes of Eckleburg can be seen/ it symbolizes that Humanity has lost its connection to God, as they interpreted American Dream before. However, while some people born with the dream, some will never have the opportunity to achieve it.

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future year by year receds before us."

           Therefore, at the end of the novel Fitzgerald writes above lines and this description shows that the most important quality of American dream is its inaccessibility, it means a dream is not a reality.

                                                   By,

                               ❤️ Tharushi Fernando ❤️

PLATO

Plato

(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato)

    Plato (427 to 347 BC) was an influential ancient Greek philosopher who represented the classical age born at Athens to a noble family. He was one important disciple of Socrates and the great teacher of Aristotle. According to the "Benet's reader's encyclopedia" Plato was originally named Aristocles, later called "Plato" because of his wide forehead, robust physique, the quality of his writing or a variety of other explanations. He believed in equal education for all and made first Higher Learning Academy in the Western World. Plato was the innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy and has written 36 books including, Republic; the first Utopian  novel in the world, Apology, Phaedrus, Laws which provided uncountable contribution to the art of criticism.

          

          Plato was an ideal man who believed idea is primary and matter is secondary. The Renaissance classic painter Raphael's  the School of Athens Plato is walking beside his student Aristotle and he is pointing up. It further emphasizes Plato is an ideal man. He is also considered as the first person who enforced the value of decorum in Art. According to him there are two kinds of Arts. They are,

1. fine arts 

2. useful Arts 

          He said that there was a place only for those who are practicing useful art such as medicine and agriculture, but who were practicing fine art such as literature, painting, music, etc. should be banished. According to Penelope Murray's book, "Classical literary criticism," Plato had written poetry until he met his teacher Socrates and then after he became a philosopher. He divided poetry into two types.

1. Dithyrambic / purely lyrical

2. Mimetic / imitated

          To his perspective literature isn't pragmatic, it takes men away from reality rather than the move towards it. So the production of art corrupt individuals as well as the state. Further, poets are unable to deliver current details through poetry because this world is only the shadow of real. This Platonic real and Shadow concept has shown by his "Allegory of the cave."He suggested truth as the test of poetry and when he talked about the concept of mimetic he applied it not only for poetry but also for painting music and drama. In Republic it is shown; "A painted is like a person who picks up a mirror, carries it with him around." (596 d - e)

          With all these reasons Plato attacked poetry on three grounds. They are,

1. poetic inspiration 

2. the emotional appeal of poetry 

3. its non normal character

Without thinking long-time poets write many things by sudden inspiration. Therefore, those kind of sudden output cannot take place of philosophy. Then being a product of inspiration, it affects the emotions and heart rather than reason and intellect. And poetry exists with the lack of morality. Therefore, Plato's view of art was,

 1. art is useless it hasn't intellectual value

 2. art is potentially dangerous

          When he commented on drama, he stated that drama consists with actions which also imitate in real life. It has bad moral influence because, drama arouses baser Instincts by offering cheap pleasure to the audience.

So he talked about drama under these 3 categories,

 1. It appeals to base instincts 

 2. effects of impersonation 

 3. tragic and comic pleasure 

          However, his observations on the sources of tragic and comic pleasure were an important contribution to the drama and his continuous criticizing of poetry was the Plato's contribution toward the criticism. Because of with this reason, intelligent people used to think more and more about poetry and to look within different angles without accepting them at once.

 

                                          By

                         ❤️ Tharushi Fernando ❤️

ANIMAL FARM AS AN ALLEGORY

George Orwell

( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell )

Animal Farm

( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm )

          Most of the literary works of the Modern Age were influenced by the disillusionment that came after the World War 1. And authors used irony, allegory, satire and comparisons frequently to illustrate some points of society.

Among them Animal Farm is one of the brilliant satire and an allegory written by Eric Arthur Blair using pseudonym George Orwell published in 1945. Basically the story is based on Orwell's disgust towards Totalitarianism and Stalin's practices in Russia. It is a fable that animal characters in the allegory, can be regarded as symbolizing real life characters and situations in Stalinist Russia.

"Every line of serious work that I have written directly or indirectly against totalitarianism...."

In his article "Why I write" Orwell openly portrays his hated to the society which is dominated by totalitarianism. So now we can identify how the author composes Animal Farm as an allegory.

          Although the serfdom system was abolished in 1861, the lives of the rural people did not improve. Then with the recruitment of farmers to World War 1, the production of  food also declined. With such reasons on March 8, 1917 (according to Ruxuxssia: February 23) a protest took place on International women's day. The Communists or Bolshevik party helped to the peasants and this class of intelligetia was the backbone of the Revolution which literally begun. So the whole scenario can be compared with the novel.

          First of all the title of novel "Animal farm" and actual farm which open and ends with the name Manor Farm symbolizes Russia and the rules of Soviet Union under Communist party. As well as it is a completed internal structure of a nation with,

- a government (the pigs)

- police force or army (the dogs) 

- working class (the other animals)

- political entity with diplomatic concerns (neighboring farmers) 

- State holidays and rituals.

However the Story begins with a speech of white boar named Major, an allegorical combination of Karl Marx and VI Lenin; one of the creaters of Communism and the communist leader of the Russian Revolution.

  "There comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word.. Man. Man is the only creature that consumes without producing..."

The eyes of others were opened by Major showing the real situation. With that Mr. Jones who proceeded Animal Farm before the Rebellion had flee out though it was owned for three generations of Jones'. This scene is similar to the abdicate the throne which Tsar Nicholas II, the monarch of Russia's family had held for three centuries. Then three days after new awakening, old Major left the dream of utopian society for animals and died.

"Beats of England, beats of Ireland,

 Beats of every land and claim.

 Soon or later the day is coming

 Tyrant man shall be o'erthrown 

 Cows and horses, geese and turkeys

 All must toil for freedom's sake......."

          After that the responsibility passed upon another to pigs called Napolean and Snowball. Allegorically Napoleon represents the autocratic leader Joseph Stalin while Snowball represents Leon Trotsky. Napoleon is the villain of the novel and he uses Snowboll as a scapegoat for any misfortunes and his failings. He is a cruel, brutal, selfish and corrupted same as Stalin who didn't follow Marx's idea. In 1927 Trosky was expelled by Stalin from the party and in 1940 he was assassinated. It is emerged through the banned of Snowball by Napoleon using 9 puppies, in order to became a totalitarian leader.  

" It became necessary to elect a president. There was only candidate, Napolean." 

But snowball always needed to follow pure teachings of Communism which they named as animalism.

" those ribbons that you are so devoted to are the badge of slavery. Can you not understand the liberty is worth more than ribbons? "

Snowball tried to make free them all from slavery but had not chance to establish their society which Major imagined.

          Further more in every society we can see naive people who are worshipping politicians. These people are represented by Boxer; a loyal, kind, dedicated and hardworking horse.

" I will work harder, Napoleon is always right. "

As well as his character can be compared to Alexey Stakhanov. However Boxer and other gentle caring mare Clover represent working class people betrayed by Stalin who ignored and killed finally, similar to betrayed by Napoleon.

          The oldest and wisest animal in the farm is a donkey: Benjamin who is suspicious of Revolution. It thinks "nothing ever change" is right and portrays the characters of skeptical people in Russia and outside Russia who were not sure revolution would change anything.

" nodes his muzzle with the knowing air and seemed to understand, but would say nothing."

It reminds me one of the great sayings of Martin Luther King, 

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

          In addition to that there are so many characters allegorically run their roles and Squelar is showing the minister of propaganda: Vyacheslav Molotov who worked for Stalin to support his image. 

" The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white."

The author uses this pig to show how politicians manipulate language in mass media to change the mindsets of people.

" Do you know what would happen if we picks failed in our duty? ....

 Surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back ..."

          As well as Moses: the spy and tale - bearer who always talk about a Paradise called Sugar Candy Mountain represents religion. The sheeps who stupid and noisy can be compared to the ordinary people who do not understand what is happening all around them but blindly support the revolution. Molly as vain and selfish people in Russia and world. And also neighboring farmers Mr. Patrick and Mr. Pilkington  represent orderly untrustworthy neighbor to Russia: Hitler and capitalist government of England and the US and so on.

However finally we can understand how these things are presented successfully through a novel using allegory by the great writer George Orwell.

"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which."

                                                  By,

                     ❤️ Tharushi Fernando ❤️