...Dreams and Schemes: How to Live Like a Californian Stephen King once said, “Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, but taste completely different.” In the case of The Postman Always Rings Twice, King is correct. The Postman Always Rings Twice, written by James M. Cain in 1934, once a racy and scandalous misadventure into a world of crime and deceit in the American West, paved the way for hundreds of other novelists, both international and American, to script their own versions of the ultimate combination of sex, lies, and death. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice proves to have its differences in comparison to Tay Garnett’s 1946 silver screen rendition of the novel featuring Lana Turner and John Garfield. While Cain’s novel is brisk, stiff and a bit harsh, Garnett’s Postman is brought to life with Turner and Garfield’s playful and witty banter, which makes the tale seem less gruesome than it actually is. In both art forms, the narrative revolves around Frank Chambers, a middle-aged drifter, who goes to work for a roadside restaurant proprietor, Nick, and his sultry wife, Cora: she will eventually seduce Frank into helping her kill her husband. A first murder attempt fails, but later the lovers drive their unknowing victim down from a cliff. A clever attorney tries hit best to push Frank into betraying Cora, but an even shrewder lawyer is on Frank and Cora's side. Nevertheless, a climate of mistrust surrounds Frank and Cora, and eventually they...
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...Through the use of symbols, Williams conveys the incessant confinement of the Wingfield’s by circumstance, while also demonstrating the damaging effect of the characters’ illusionary worlds. Williams’s description of the Wingfield’s apartment as a vast “hive-like conglomeration” of cellular living-units establishes a prison-like feel, compelling audiences to consider whether American lower-middle-class populations only function as one inter-fused mass of automatism. Moreover, the Wingfield’s confinement, highlighted through stage directions, is emphasised through the symbolic fire-escape which demonstrates the elusive prospect of the characters escape and is symbolic of “an entrance and exit” out of the characters illusionary worlds. William’s...
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...there. The valley of ashes symbolizes the poor and working class, and the influence of the wealthy disconnects the poor and puts them at a lower importance in society. West Egg is used in the story to disconnect the newly rich from the deceit of the people from the East and who live in East Egg. West Egg is where all the new money resides and shows the politeness of those who live in the West. The boastfulness of West Egg show off its money because once at Gatsby’s party “they conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with an amusement park” (Fitzgerald 41). People in West Egg show off their newly attained money and are loud and reckless, unlike those who live in East Egg. The symbolism of the West differs from the East because “The Western states, including the Midwest, represent decency and the basic ethical principles of honesty, while the East is full of deceit” (Napierkowski 73). The Western areas in The Great Gatsby symbolize moral principles and idealism. This stays true throughout the story because Nick and Gatsby never break morally and stay in character. West Egg symbolizes the decency in wealthy persons while East Egg symbolizes the corruptness of wealth. In Fitzgerald’s vision, corruptness and deceit live in the East, where all the old money resides. East Egg, along with East, is where the people who already were wealthy live and is corrupt. After Nick finishes dealing with Tom and Daisy, he describes them as “careless people, Tom...
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...To the unaware reader, “Winter Dreams” is a simple story about lost love and the coming of age. However, the message portrayed by author F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a lot deeper than what most perceive it as. “Winter Dreams” tells us the tale of a young man, Dexter, and his struggle to escape his middle-class life, and become one of the elites of society. One summer while working as a caddy, Dexter realizes his one real chance at becoming a man of influence. That key to success is the beautiful Judy Jones, and marriage to her would grant Dexter everything he has ever wanted. This journey to power and wealth follows the age-old concepts of the Marxist theory on American Dream, the ideology that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what...
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...The American Dream, fueled by ambition and hopes of success, can often be exposed as a nightmare in disguise. Set in the roaring twenties, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby demonstrates such a point, criticizing the American Dream as well as the dishonest values of characters attempting to achieve this dream. When Nick Carraway moves to Long Island's West Egg, home to the newly rich, he is not expecting to get dragged into an atmosphere of depravity and deceit. Next door lives the elusive Jay Gatsby, a self-proclaimed Oxford man who throws extravagant parties at his mansion with the sole intention of reuniting with Daisy Buchanan, his lost love and true desire. The American Dream was traditionally the belief that anyone, regardless of background, has the opportunity to be happy and successful through hard work, yet as America evolved, the dream did too. The once virtuous ideal modernized into a plot for materialistic power. By the end of the novel, Fitzgerald is trying to project the idea that the American Dream is not only an unattainable ideal, but in addition, corrupts those who seek to obtain it. Firstly, Gatsby's unrealistic dream of Daisy is used to portray the unattainability of the American Dream. In Gatsby’s mind, Daisy is perfect in every aspect and the object of his greatest desire. He becomes so engrossed with the image of Daisy from his memories, that even she herself cannot fulfill his expectations: "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy...
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...Adultery, bootlegging, lies, deceit, and murder make The Great Gatsby a very suspenseful and intriguing story. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel full of themes and literary devices such as irony, symbolism and the theme of the American Dream. Fitzgerald leaves his symbols and themes open for interpretation by the reader to show how one theme might show a different view of how a situation is, kind of like how the reader would interpret the eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleberg. Fitzgerald uses literary devices to show true character behind the masks the characters have on at first. Every one of the characters is revealed to have bad intentions or being not as good or delicate as YOU once thought them to be. The usage of literary devices...
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...The play Death of a Salesman greatly portrays a specific ideology in regards to values, dreams, goals, and success in our consumer-driven society. It helps showcase the American dream that society tends to strive for even in the early 1900’s (the play is set in the 1940’s). That dream of being a successful business person or vendor. As well as the theory that image and physical attributes are most important to gaining fruition. Willy Loman plays a man in his sixties who has strived for this American dream for over 30 years but realistically has failed miserably on his goal in life – a wealthy salesman like his idol Dave Singleman (a fellow who could make a fortune selling without even leaving his hotel room). He spends his entire life in fallacy starving for that success. Plenty of individuals in society search for this similar success in life and career. They may spend there whole lives trying to fall into the category of an “American Success” . This may lead them to never knowing what true happiness really feels like. When searching for something that was never intended to be leads to inevitable unhappiness. One can’t find something that was never really there. Near the end of the play Biff states “He had all the wrong dreams. All, all wrong; he never knew who he was”. This is a very true statement. Willy along with many other people in this world follow the wrong dreams just because they see fit as being successful. Willy quoted: “realized the selling was the greatest career...
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...Fariha Haque Block 5 LA LIT 3 Ms. Gladstone The American Reality The American Dream, a repetitious theme found in literary works dating as far back as the 1600s, was a common misconception. People have held on to these ideals that manipulate and deceive rather than open limitless possibilities. The American Dream prompted people to believe that America was a country that expressed liberty and freedom. The American Dream originated from the Declaration of Independence in which it claimed that “all mean are created equal.”(Academia) and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (Academia) While embedded into America’s charter, the American Dream makes the country seem more attractive to foreign lands. However, there were many perspectives on how people perceived the “optimal style of living.” Some believed everyone strived to be rich and were able to live in coexistence. These perspectives were further broken in down in “The Death of a Salesman.” Immigrants entered through the gates of Ellis Island throwing away their home country’s established social hierarchies and caste systems. With high hopes, they created schemas of the elite population versus the poor population. Though, through passing generations, they are only met with disappointment. They cling onto the possibility that life will become normal again and remain in a constant cycle of false hope. These multiple realities have...
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...Jay Gatsby, the main character in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby embodies the roaring twenties “American dream” in all its grit and glory. His ability to strive and preserver is a character quality that allows the reader to connect on a personal level, making him one of the world’s most cherished and memorable fictional characters. Gatsby is a mere image of Fitzgerald’s wildest dreams and imaginations. Fitzgerald longed for wealth and notoriety which he accomplished through his character. He also lives out his own inner complexity and confusions through Gatsby as he himself hates the shallow thoughts and actions of the rich while at the same time desperately desires to acquire a portion of their lifestyle. He uses Gatsby to convey his allure...
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...represent, and how does the symbol evolve over the course of the play? Examine the end of the play. Why is Mama returning for her plant the last action we see on stage ?Mamas plant represents her faith in her dreams. That regardless of their living arrangements and life’s struggles, but never to give up on anything. She took care of it every day it was a representation of her dreams to always live in a bigger and better house with a yard. It showed how strong she was throughout everything life gave her. That’s why she took the new plant to the new house to show that never giving up and keeping your faith her strength in believing in dreams that they come true. Struggle but to maintain your dignity. Dreams do come true. 2. How does the description of the Younger’s’ apartment contribute to the mood of the play? The apartment sets the mood because it sets the surroundings and the environment . It is a small apt with one window it gives the feeling of being cramped and trapped. It lets you know there in the ghetto and are poverty stricken. 3. How does the idea of assimilation become important? The family shows in the hope to succeed regardless of any obstacles. The struggles with their identity as with being African Americans. Beneatha with her academics to be a doctor to heal, and as well as her conflicts with Everyone. 4. Think about the role of money in the play. How does it affect different characters? It causes conflict within the...
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...THE GREAT GATSBY The Great Gatsby is a tale of luxury, lust, deceit, and murder. In Long Island, New York, Nick Carraway lives next door to the mysterious Jay Gatsby, the owner of a huge mansion and host of frequent and lavish parties. Although prohibition has made alcohol illegal, Gatsby always has a surplus available at his wild social gatherings. As Nick starts to spend more time with Gatsby, he begins to learn about Gatsby’s past, his strange profession, and his love for Nick’s cousin, Daisy. The story that unfolds truly highlights the scandalous and risky nature of the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald had encompassed many literary devices in order to make this novel effective and more appealing. He has used techniques such as imagery, similes and the strongest one is symbolism. Fitzgerald has very smartly constructed his novel. "And only let me leave it in the soap dish when she saw that it was coming to pieces like snow.”(page 76) is an example of simile used in the text. This sentence suggests that Daisy was holding onto that letter until there wasn't really anything left of it. The letter obviously meant a whole lot to her if she took a bath with it. A representative of imagery used in the novel is "Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes.” This sentence paints a picture in our heads of Gatsby feeling cold with his hands in his pockets, while standing in a puddle...
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...The Great Gatsby, a story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is one based on the American Dream or should I say the “demise” of the American Dream. This so called dream in the 20’s was portrayed by wickedness and greed. Week three of our lecture we were asked to discuss what the American Dream meant to us and my response was one based off freedom, discovery, and hard work. Immigrants, salves, lower class citizens, etc. were accustomed to earning their money through manual labor, not through family inheritance as seen by most of the characters from The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses this story and the characteristics and actions of these characters to say that the “American Dream” was based on a lie in the 1920’s. The carefree satisfaction of the Jazz Age, also seen as the Materialistic Era, led to the extortion of the American Dream. The Declaration of Independence states that “all man are created equal and that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.” F. Scott Fitzgerald created this story to reveal that people in the 20’s were in a pursuit of selfish delight, and the equality of people was based on their financial assets. The line that states all mean are created equal is broken in the scene where Tom is bashing Gatsby for how he became wealthy. He calls Gatsby a crook, and in this in turn leads to retaliation from Gatsby and a fight almost breaking out. Two mean that hold such high class and dignity, yelling and...
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...The Great Gatsby and the Ideal Self – Made Man In the same way that the all-embracing concept of the American Dream suffered certain degradation during the course of its historical development, so, too, the noble 19th century ideal of the self-made man was conveniently adapted to suit the moral climate of the 1920s. Referring to Fitzgerald's main character in his novel "The Great Gatsby", the young James Gatz is obviously modeled in this aspect of personality upon Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790), who is often quoted as the earliest example of this particular type of "homo americanus". As the youngster of a big family he soon went to work for his father, at the age of only ten after only two years of schooling. After his apprenticeship as a printer he concentrated on educating himself trough reading. In 1818 Franklin's "Autobiography" was published, which contains various enumerations of moral virtues he met with in his reading to arrive at moral perfection. His intention was to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, so he found it better not to distract his attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix on one of them at a time, and if he should be master of that, he would proceed to another, and so on, till he should have gone trough them. These names of virtues, with their precepts, were: Temperance Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. Silence Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. Order ...
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...Pursuing the American Dream The Great Gatsby, written by Scott F. Fitzgerald in 1925, follows the life of the various characters that lived in West Egg, a fictional town on Long Island. It is narrated by Nicholas “Nick” Caraway, a Yale graduate and one of the main characters. By the way the book is written, one can deduce that Nick lived through all the events, or wrote what others told him about the events he was not present in, and wrote the book by end of it all. Its main theme is the pursuit of the American Dream, and what characters have to do to reach it, and how it can all crumble down. Basically, in this essay I will show the different ‘American dreams’ that are strongly projected in this novel. The first dream, the one with the strongest portrayal, was the desire of escalating in the social status ladder. There were characters with a high social status for their family’s name, like Tom Buchanan who inherited his family fortune. He was described as the kind of person that thinks money allows him to treat people as the lowest scum; even though his mannerism and tastes were exquisite, his attitude towards those who were not on the same status as him was detestable. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” (Page 188, The Great Gastby) Tom counts as an example...
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...Neil and Lou. Goodbye to power Jewish American Writers Amanda Heck The Richard Stockton of New Jersey The seconds of life are carried away by the winds father time creates. With in each and everything second that passes, a person becomes more prone to an action or thought that can result in the birth of a new them. In the short stories Goodbye, Columbus and Epstein, Philip Roth, “the self hating Jew”, combines the use of time, multiple themes, and the main male characters to depict the journey in self-realization and the birth of two new people. Goodbye, Columbus revolves around the story of Neil’s journey to self-realization and growth through the major theme of power through the use of sex and money as well as the journey to achieve the American Dream. Philip Roth uses the old and new Jewish religion to show how much of a power grasp it has over Neil. To Neil, Brenda’s family is extremely different from his own because of their type of religion and standings in society’s eyes. Neil is apart of the Old Jewish religion while Brenda is apart of the New Jewish religion. The Old Jewish religion represents Neil’s life and family in the beginning of the novella. The use of Aunt Gladys’ “abundance of the other (fruit) jamming her refrigerator.”(Roth 1959 p.6) compared to Brenda’s which “fruit grew in their refrigerator” demonstrates their standings with in the American Jewish society and Neil’s displacement over his...
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