That is a lot of responsibility for Rocky to bear, because the family is pinning all their hopes on him, and he has to deliver. The author makes Rocky sympathetic - he is not a bully even though he wields power, but there is something about him that seems like she disapproves of him somehow, too. She kills him in a nasty way, and she makes him seem cold and unemotional when he quickly takes on the white man's ways in order to get ahead in school. Tayo is incredibly guilty about Rocky's death, it is almost as if he thinks that it should have been him, instead, because Rocky had so much promise, and that is another disturbing thing about Rocky. He inspires guilt and anguish in the family, and they do not attempt to do anything about their own dreams, they seem to have died with Rocky.
In "Ceremony," Tayo is on a journey for himself and his people, so he has a purpose, even if he is not searching for the American Dream. In "Gatsby," Gatsby is not searching for himself or anything else except Daisy, and it is clear he cannot ever have her. The difference in the two novels is that Tayo does have hope for the future, hope it will rain again, and hope he will be well. Gatsby has no hope. Without hope, he can never attain the American Dream, because one has to have hope for it to occur. A dream is a form of hope, after all, and that is another strong reason that Gatsby will not attain the American Dream, even if it were attainable for him.
There is a big difference between the two protagonists in these novels. Gatsby seems to have it all, and he wants it all,...
Gatsby had built up this incredible illusion of what Daisy really was, and had gone off the deep end in throwing himself after her. Weinstein (p. 25) quotes from pages 102-103 of the novel: "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams -- not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion." It is typical of Fitzgerald to
He is so enraged by the way she died, with the driver not even stopping to try to help her, that he determines that God wants him to kill the driver. If this event had not happened, George would have known that murder for any reason was wrong. George, however, has been blinded by grief. In the end, all the characters have demonstrated moral ambiguity. Gatsby has made his money
Great Gatsby -- a Theoretical Analysis The Great Gatsby is one of the legendary novels written in the history of American literature. The novel intends to shed light on the failure of American dream that poor can attain whatever he wants and emphasizes on the hardships presented by the strong forces of social segregation. In order to understand this novel, there are various theories which tend to be helpful in order
Scott Fitzgerald and the Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald, born on the 24th of Sept 1896, was one of the greatest writers, who was well-known for being a writer of his own time. He lived in a room covered with clocks and calendars while the years ticket away his own career followed the pattern of the nation with his first fiction blooming in 1920s. "His fictions did more then report on
Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald intended to create in the title character a uniquely American figure, one whose relationship to love, wealth and success was complex and shot-through with irony. Despite the fact that Jay Gatsby is certainly flawed, he is in the end a character for whom we feel great sympathy, in no small part because we (as American readers) can understand the psychological balancing act that Gatsby
Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby examines the concept of the American Dream, understood by the protagonist Nick Carraway as the pursuit of success and individuality. The character of Gatsby is the embodiment of the Dream, and his death is symbolic of the death of the dream itself. Gatsby's death arose from his hollow pursuit of Daisy, and Carraway likens this to the death of the American dream as
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