The fulfillment of desire, that is, means the eradication of desire -- by its very definition, desire is gone once its object has been attained. This plays out differently for the two characters described above; Gatsby does briefly attain his desire -- i.e. Daisy -- but also learns that, through her own decision, he will never really possess her. This dual event of fulfillment and permanent rejection is symbolically paired with his death, and the complete randomness yet strange inevitability of the death as far as the storyline of the novel goes makes it all the more tragic. Blanche never really attains her desire, and in fact can be seen as destroying it utterly when Mitch leaves her, and this final rejection is enough to break her. Unable to attain her desires, Blanche suffers a complete break from reality that effectively destroys her, as well, yet she continues living in a tortured illusion of fulfillment.
The matter of pure lust -- that is, sexual desire -- is not actually best exemplified in the characters of Blanche Dubois and Jay Gatsby, but rather by Stanley and Stella Kowalski and Tom Buchanan in these respective works. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley and Stella find a strange form of happiness in their almost animalistic sex; Stella returns to Stanley time after time following his physical abuse, and it is suggested that this is primarily for her primal attraction for him -- and his for her. This lust consumes them, and they have no vision of the better life that Blanche, misguided though she may be, sustains throughout her increasing degradation. They are not destroyed by their lust as utterly as Blanche is by her desires, but the stagnation and brute ugliness of the lives they live, which is heightened...
In this book, then, desire and lust -- and their inability to be fulfilled in any meaningful way -- lead directly and explicitly to destruction, and even a desire for destruction which is itself thwarted and seemingly unattainable in this book. The ride on the sled does not kill Ethan and Mattie, but rather renders them incapable of desire (or acting on it0, and even changes the dynamic of
Lust Many authors have tried to capture, in print, the complex dynamics between men and women, male and female. This can be a very difficult process as it can be impossible to put into words exactly what happens when two people enter into a relationship. There have been fictional stories which capture all the various stages of romance and love that can affect two people. Some stories discuss marriage, others divorce,
The director makes this point very clearly in the scene where David and Dianna win some money. They tumble among the bills, consummating their love for money as much as, or more so than, their love for each other. The scene is quite remarkable even beyond the basic idea of sex literally on top of money. Lyne spends significant amounts of time exploring the cash-filled crevices of his stars. While
It was a love-hate situation, and he would be madly kissing her and letting her stir his carnal urges one moment, and the next he would loudly protest and pull away. So from that standpoint, Eben was changed after the death of the baby. He was not changed in a truly intelligent heart-felt way, but in a kind of acceptance that this is how it is (the current cliche,
African-American Literature In literature the relationship between the text and paratext is used to introduce the reader to the subject and setting of novel. As the paratext, is utilized to inform and influence their minds before they have started reading the actual book. In African-American literature before the Civil War, this was a standard way publishers used to provide some kind of insights about what people were reading. To fully understand
As we have already mentioned, the mood and tone for moral corruption in New York City was prime in the 1920s and while it may seem there are the rich and the poor, class distinction among the rich plays an important role in the novel. Gatsby's success will only carry him so far because of a dividing line that exists between the new wealth and the old wealth. This
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