The Great Gatsby and A Handful of Dust Essay Example

time in Louisville with Daisy - but is incapable of doing so.

When his dream crumbles, all that there is left for Gatsby to do is die; all Nick can do is move back to Minnesota, where American alues have not decayed. Chapter Five illustrates a matter of great personal meaning for Gatsby: the object of his hope, the green light toward which he reaches. "He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way. " Gatsby's love for Daisy is the source of his romantic hopefulness and his meaning of his yearning for the green light in chapter one. That light, so mysterious in the first chapter, becomes the symbol of Gatsby's dream, his love for Daisy and his attempt to make that love real.

The Green light is one of the most important symbols in 'The Great Gatsby'. Many critics have suggested that, in addition to representing Gatsby's love for Daisy, the green light represents the American dream itself, Gatsby's irresistible longing to achieve his dream, the connection of the dream to the pursuit of money and material success, the boundless optimism with which he goes about achieving his dream, and the sense of having created a new identity in a new place all reflect the materialism that Fitzgerald perceived as dominating 1920's American life.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us". It is easy to see how a man who has gone to such great lengths to achieve wealth and luxury would find Daisy so alluring: for her, the aura of wealth and luxury comes effortlessly. She is able to take her position

for granted, and she becomes, for Gatsby, the epitome of everything that he invented "Jay Gatsby" to achieve. As it is true throughout the book, Gatsby's power to make his dreams real is what makes him "great". In chapter six it becomes clear that his most powerfully realised dream is his own identity, his sense of self.

In addition, Gatsby's conception of Daisy is itself a dream. He thinks of her as a sweet girl ho loved him in Louisville, blinding himself to the reality that she would never desert her own class and background to be with him. Gatsby's decision to take the blame for Daisy demonstrates the deep love he feels for her and illustrates the basic nobility that defines his character. The image of a pitiful Gatsby keeping watch outside her house while she and Tom sit comfortably within in an unforgettable image that allows the reader to see just how much Gatsby loves Daisy.

Nicks parting from Gatsby at the end of chapter seven parallels his first sighting of Gatsby at the end of chapter one. In both cases, Gatsby stands alone in the moonlight pining for Daisy. In the earlier instance, he stretches his arms out towards the green light across the water, optimistic about the future. In this instance, he has made it past the green light, onto the lawn of Daisy's house, but his dream is gone forever. "So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight - watching over nothing". For Gatsby, losing Daisy is like losing his entire world.

He has longed to re-create his past with her and is now forced to talk to Nick

about it in a desperate attempt to keep it alive. Even after the confrontation with Tom, Gatsby is unable to accept that his dream is dead. Though Nick implicitly understands that Daisy is not going to leave Tom for Gatsby under any circumstance, Gatsby continues to insist that she will call him. Nick is the only character at all interested in Gatsby after his death. At the funeral "nobody came" until Owl-Eyes arrives. Gatsby experiences loneliness, even in death. He has truly become a tragic, piteous character, and has reached his tragic end.

After Gatsby's funeral, Nick ends his relationship with Jordan and moves back to Minnesota to escape the disgust he feels for the people surrounding Gatsby's life. Nick reflects that just as Gatsby's dream of Daisy was corrupted by money and dishonesty, the American dream of happiness has disintegrated into the pursuit of wealth. Though Gatsby's power to transform his dreams into reality is what makes him "great", Nick reflects that the era of dreaming - both Gatsby's dream and the American dream - is over, thus making Gatsby's end a tragic end.

I believe that the novel "A Handful Of Dust", written by Evelyn Waugh, has elements of comedy and farce, but can also been seen, like "The Great Gatsby", as a tragedy. The ction developed in the novel closely resembles the action of classical greek tragedy. There is the rising action: Brenda's growing disaffection for her husband; the climax, the accidental death of John Andrew and Brenda's subsequent desertion of Tony, Tony's voyage to South America, and finally, the catastrophe with Tony ending up in the hands on Mr Todd.

Like Gatsby in "The

Great Gatsby", Tony Last is a victim. However, he differs from Gatsby in that Tony is a victim of adultery. He is a cuckold, but as such, is neither tragic or farcical. He is not farcical because his rival, Beaver, is a rather wretched character and more farcical han Tony himself, and he is not tragic because the reader is not allowed to become emotionally involved in his predicament. Tony is very proud of his estate, Hetton Abbey. He is a well-mannered man, "You're a gentleman", and he believes in keeping his traditional values.

Tony represents a way of life which has been lost, while Gatsby represents the materialism to which it has been lost to. Like Gatsby, Tony is a romantic and is living in the past. They are both romantic heroes living in an imaginary world and always expecting someone to play a part in their imaginary worlds. Furthermore, Tony Last is comparable with Gatsby to the extent that they are both isolated figures who come to a tragic end which neither of them deserve. Despite its tragic elements, "A Handful of Dust" is in parts exceptionally funny.

The vicar of Tony's church had originally written his sermons while serving in India, and he mindlessly repeats them each Sunday at Hetton to hilarious effect; but his wordy speeches about the unity of the servants of a far-flung empire have a cruel bearing on the appalling isolation that is Tony's ultimate fate. At least as funny are the absurdities of Tony's supposedly dulterous weekend with Milly and her abominable daughter. The "Green Line rats" add a comical note, "I was driven out of my house by

mechanical green rats", and the final section is brilliantly facetious.

The text cuts between Tony's sufferings in the jungle and the loneliness of Brenda in London. Finally, in a fever-dream, Tony blends the worlds of London, the jungle and his dream city (a fantastically elaborate Hetton) only to wake in the hands of Mr Todd, and to the knowledge he has gained "in the forest where time is different. There is no City. " However, Tony's end at Mr Todd's is certainly not deserved in terms of ny defect or wrong on his part; it can only be seen in the context of the wider, ironic implications of the story. Like Gatsby in "The Great Gatsby", Tony does not deserve his tragic end.

Irony of character in "A Handful of Dust" can be used for a specific, satiric effect as in the case of the Reverend Tendrils sermon, where again there is an obvious contrast between the vicars self-congratulatory estimate of his preaching and its actual irrelevance, consequently attaching a farcical, droll sense to it. A satiric intention also underlies the ironic touches in he Brighton episode, where again expectations or values are reversed: Tony must not lose the detective (instead of the other way around) and the presence of a child sets "a nasty, respectable note".

When Tony travels to South America, he gets stronger minded and begins acting like a romantic again. He runs away from his problems instead of facing up to them. During his time in South America there is a lot of dreamlike, romantic imagery, "The sound of music rose from glittering walls", "Petals of almond and apple blossom were in the air".

Tony is reverting and transferring his romantic images from the past into the future. However, when he speaks to Mr Todd, he is in a state of delirium and has some sort of realisation.

He apprehends that he no longer has a romantic vision and that there is no longer room for courtesy, code of conduct or his traditional values. It is here that he gives up hope of finding refuge where his traditional values are accepted. Tony is a victim of himself and like all tragic figures, we respect him. He has a competent sense of right and wrong, but, like Gatsby, he has a tragic flaw. Like Gatsby in "The Great Gatsby", Tony Last is a victim of fate. In "The Great Gatsby", Myrtle Wilson accidentally gets run over, an act of fate which causes Gatsby to lose his life.

Both Gatsby and Tony come to a tragic end which they do not deserve. There is a significance in Tony's ending; he has ultimately gone from one imprisonment to another - from Hetton to South America. This ending is both tragic and farcical: it is tragic as Tony's traditional values have finally decayed, and it is farcical because Mr Todd makes Tony read him Dickens aloud. This is nonsensical, but at the same time, absurdly funny. Referring back to the question, I do agree with the evaluation that "The Great Gatsby" is a eeply tragic novel, but disagree that "A Handful of Dust" is a light-hearted, farcical comedy.

A Handful Of Dust" does have an underlining element of farce to it, however, the tragic elements exceed the farcical elements. Like Gatsby in "The Great Gatsby", Tony

Last is a victim; a victim of society, a victim of adultery and most significantly, a victim of himself. He has a tragic flaw, and readers can sympathise with him. He reaches a tragic end which he does not, by any means, deserve. From all of these points, I would conclude that "A Handful of Dust", like "The Great Gatsby" is a deeply tragic novel.