Patrick

 Gatsby and Daisy Relationship

“The Great Gatsby” revolves around Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy through the eyes of Nick Caraway and involves __great aspects of imagery and symbolism to represent the relationship between them__. **generally, unless you identify the image or symbol, this sort of expression reads as padding. You are not saying anything the marker can reward. Better to use these terms when you are giving examples and showing effect.** While the book is not wholly and completely centred on this story it serves as a point of reference for what else Gatsby may be striving for. **this sentence could be clearer: if you are saying his pursuit of Daisy is underpinned by or represents something else (you'll have to say what, at some point) then that is a significant argument and should be front-and-center more**Throughout the story the green light at the other end of the bay serves as a constant symbol to what Gatsby has with Daisy. In chapter one while we still have little recognition of the connection between Gatsby and Daisy the green light is “minute and far away”. In that same paragraph Gatsby stretches his arm across the expanse of water towards the green light showing the symbolism of the green light representing Daisy. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayed the affair between Gatsby and Daisy as being Gatsby’s hope to “recreate the past” but this recreation has become warped within his mind and he no longer loves the person Daisy but the image that has manifested in his brain. **good point but expression reads as awkward** Gatsby shows clear affection for Daisy with his comment such as “she was the first nice girl he had ever met” and Jordan’s comment that “The officer (Gatsby) looked at Daisy... in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at.” These images of Daisy being the perfect girl are however somewhat diminished. “The colossal vitality of his (Gatsby’s) illusion” however “tumbled short of his dreams” and found at the end of the book that he couldn’t recreate the past with Daisy uttering the words to Tom “I never loved you” in the vain hope that this would have “obliterated four years” of their past. Daisy simply doesn’t live up to his dreams as part of no fault of her own but Gatsby’s lack of comprehension on why she couldn’t say those few words.**To me, this is a jumble. I can't get what your main point is. To go back to the thesis we want to construct our response around: different types of love, as expressed by the characters we choose. Gatsby's pursuit of an illusion is clearly important. But he doesn't come out too well when we find out about his courting of her towards the end - he deceived, misled her, 'had' her in that unscrupulous way (haven't got the quote handy)** Gatsby shows great stubbornness when Nick says to him “You can’t recreate the past” and Gatsby replies “Recreate the past... Why of course you can!” In the end the past does repeat all too well with Gatsby once again losing the girl of his dreams. However even as Gatsby does lose out in the end and is forced to acknowledge that he cannot recreate the past he still makes the sacrifice of accepting the blame for the death of Myrtle. While this sacrifice does lead to his death it shows that he still had a sense of connection and love for Daisy and that he would not see her in pain or that she would take the blame for the death of Myrtle. He attempted to win Daisy through the fickle hope that the American Dream would conquer even the love between Daisy and Tom. It may not have always been that he loved Daisy and that his meaning for life was sparked by the encounter with Dan Cody but he used the dreams and hopes of all people of America and pushed it towards capturing Daisy and recreating a past in which they were married and lived happily ever after.**Your idea is in here but not clear. Recreating the past is important, but we need to discuss or explain it in relation to Gatsby's experience or notion of love. Your last sentence contains good ideas but is very muddled. As your reader, I don't get your point.**

Much like Gatsby, Fitzgerald's life and relationship was convoluted with his traumatic relationship between him and Zelda and his financial difficulties which plagued him. **(I'd leave out the 1st 3 words - after all, Gatsby was filthy rich and Fitzgerald wasn't)** As with all writers Fitzgerald's novel was greatly affected by his context, that of the 20s. The 1920s or "Jazz Age" (a term coined by Fitzgerald) was a time when social values of the early 20th century degraded and the introduction of prohibition ironically created a whole new wave drinking. Many of these aspects are shown in "The Great Gatsby". **Yeah but this social context is pretty weak. We need to be able to explain the values in the novel with what we say was happening in America. Eg, new wealth led to extravagant materialism, weakening of traditional religious beliefs and a loosening of moral codes and behaviour. Also need to have a sentence about conflict between values of Old (associated with the East) and New (associated with the West) - we need that to be able to talk about the green light**.


 * Go back and rewrite the Browning work above. Polish that and get it right. Mr W**

Essay/Speech

Love is by no means is an easily defined emotion. It comes in many aspects and forms shown in the many portrayals in books, poetry and film throughout time. The authentic, deep and pure love is one where we see a true bond between people and where they experience physical passion, indecisiveness and vulnerability while the religious and spiritual aspect of love is something much less solid and is harder to describe in words. It is of an ethereal nature and leads love into becoming something more than what is shown on Earth. Finally texts will sometimes show the end and collapse of love, the love that was never meant to be with the characters fighting through and yet ending in tragedy. Both Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s // “Sonnets of the Portuguese" //  published in 1846 and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s  // “__The Great Gatsby__” //  written in 1926 show aspects of the common story of love.  //Both of these writers’ stories were highly influenced by their //**personal contexts and that of their world around them. Browning's sonnets were influenced by her secret courtship with Robert Browning and her father's resistance. Victorian values towards women, marriage and religion also shaped her poetry. Fitzgerald's novel was influenced by his tumultuous marriage to Zelda and the context of post-WW1 America, the Jazz Age **//. These contexts were times of great moral upheaval and social and economic revolution. The attitudes of both contexts heavily affected the multiple forms of love. //

Authentic love is something reminiscent of the clichéd “True Love” where the two lovers have deep and meaningful connections. While in essence it remains a two person relationship with differing personalities there is still a deep trust and sharing that occurs. Naturally this leads to a certain amount of vulnerability which can lead to apprehension as shown by a number of Browning’s sonnets. Browning’s emotions towards Robert are shown to be strong and swing from absolute devotion to fear and loss of faith. Browning had been sheltered by the patriarchal Victorian society and was given a traditional upbringing and sent to school where she studied different languages and culture. However Browning was also brought up by her strong Methodist father who wished never to see his children married. Women in Victorian society relied on either their husbands or the male members of their family to support them and Browning was forbidden to marry any man lest she be cut out of the family. She spent many years in invalid, staying at home as a recluse away from society. She wrote a number of poems in this time where she argued against child labour and slavery. She held views on politics and had great knowledge of foreign countries even though many of these attributes for women where frowned upon. Browning was 39 by the time she began her relationship (through letters) with Robert Browning. She was 6 years his junior and was ruled over by her father wishing to keep her away from men. Yet through her poems we see a true relationship developing.

Sonnet XIII is an example of where Browning’s faith falters and she seeks to keep her love a secret from the world proclaiming that “I cannot teach/ My hand to hold my spirit so far off...” **The sonnet itself **  appears to have been a time when Robert asked her to profess their love however using the extended metaphor of the “torch” she says “And hold the torch out, where the words are rough.” This refers to her fear of proclaiming their love in the open where she believes that the cultural indoctrinations of the Victorian era will frown upon it. **Marriage during the Victorian Era was more of a business affair than actual love and meaning between two couples. Elizabeth went against the social standards of the time by looking for true love. She was aware that this may receive ill judgement, especially from her father, and is convinced that there love would ruin them both. In the final sextet of the sonnet she refers to her “voiceless fortitude” and that she “stands unwon” fearing that “lest one touch of this heart, convey its grief”. Clearly she feels vulnerable at this point and touches on her past sadness and period of invalid where she feels that her sadness will only bring down Robert. Sonnet XIII proved to be ironic when the “Sonnets from the Portuguese” were released and came to a great amount of fame because of the experience of authentic love between Robert and Elizabeth Browning. **

**Elizabeth Browning’s feeling towards Robert swung often wildly during this time. In sonnet XIV we see a change in Browning’s approach to Robert, she appears to have accepted his love for her and is willing to accept him, however only that he should love her “... for love’s sake only.” The sonnet has the contextual reference in how she quotes the usual lines that men of the time come out with and how she wishes not for this and to stand out against the usual crowd. She simply wishes that Robert love her because of love its self. Browning does not go into full details with this as though she is acknowledging that true and authentic love is beyond description in words through its great power over humanity. Strong language such as “wrought” and “eternity” symbolise this power of love and how that should any false attempts at its greatness be simply “unwrought” and fall to pieces. **

**The idea of the collapse of love can be viewed strongly in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s __“The Great Gatsby”__. Gatsby was set in the then context of the roaring twenties or the Jazz age. It was the time of prohibition, bootlegging, gangsters and a general corruption of morals. The great boom after the war was spearing forth the American Dream and those with the money could be free to do as they wish while those below were often left behind. James Gatz, as Gatsby was originally known, was one of these poor souls left on the oyster fields alone and without money. It was by his chance meeting with Dan Cody and Daisy that his American Dream took form. **

**The relationship between Gatsby and Daisy had a number of parallels between Fitzgerald’s and his wife Zelda’s relationship. The two stories were by no means based on each other however the folly and collapse of the relationships are evidently linked. However the main reason for the collapse of Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship was that Gatsby was admiring an illusion of the past that nobody could live up to. This dream and illusion was symbolised by Fitzgerald in the green light. In the words of Nick Caraway; “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” These words embody the feelings that Gatsby held towards Daisy. He had not loved a person but an image of a person based on five years’ worth of separation. When Gatsby finally comes back into contact with daisy we see that “Daisy tumbled short of his dreams” for the “colossal vitality of his illusion” warped her into something she could never be. **

**The spiritual corruption in the twenties is also evident not so much in the mention of god a faith, but the lack of. The lack of morals from the Gatsby is an immediate connection with the crime, gangsters and speakeasies of the context. The 20’s were when the moral codes of the upper class aristocracy were thrown off (in part because of World War 1) and people began to feel free with their money and felt that nothing, not even god, could stop them.The only real reference to god in “The Gatsby” is through the great eyes of Dr T.J. Eckleburgh staring out over the Valley of the Ashes from the bill board. These eyes represent god watching over the moral corruption of Tom’s womanising, the drunken debauchery of Gatsby’s parties and the death of Myrtle. Spiritual love is lost in “The Gatsby” and inevitably leads to its tragic ending with Tom and Daisy “retreated back into their money”, and George Wilsons murder of Gatsby and suicide. **

**However Browning’s poetry is a story of success and how the spiritual bond between her and Robert lead to their prosperity in later life. Throughout her poetry there is the reference to souls and life after death. Sonnet XLIII is of Browning’s love which is the complete reversal of XIII. She talks of how she “love thee to the depth & breadth & height my soul can reach.” The repetition is used to give more meaning to her point with the reference of her soul alluding to a spiritual form of love. The sonnet also refers to “grace” and “Saints’ forming the picture of the Christian faith. The Victorians were highly religious and while their marriages were not of love, their weddings were in God’s house of the Christian church. In the final lines Browning writes “and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after my death.” This line shows the depth of Browning’s spiritual love for Robert and how she truly believes in an afterlife where they both can live in love forever. **

**The two contexts of the Victorian era and the Roaring 20s are very different. Between them The Great War gave rise to social change which shifted values and ideals. While today we see them as both having a corrupted view on what we believe love should be it was considered right. However through their eye’s it was only what seemed right and therefore, just as Nick Caraway was taught by his father, we must with hold harsh judgment for we know not what their exact circumstances were in and simply compare their view and ideals of love. ** 