Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Jay Gatsby v. Charles Foster Kane
Most of us read The Great Gatsby in our sophomore Humanities class. Both Gatsby and Citizen Kane,produced about twenty years apart, focus on a man who some might say is the epitome of success. What similarities and differences do you see? Are these works celebrations or critiques of these men, or somewhere in between? Or something else? Do they tell us anything about the American Dream?
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The main similarities between Charles Foster Kane and Jay Gatsby revolve around the two men's success stories. Both Kane and Gatsby came from impoverishment until they were approached by a mentor: the drunk, rich Dan Cody for Gatsby; the banker Thatcher for Kane. Each of these mentors provided their apprentices with a new outlook on life that they would have missed otherwise. I believe that both works, Gatsby and Kane, are parodies of the whole idea of the American Dream along with the truth about "new money." Both Kane and Gatsby matured around the concept of new money and failed miserably, dedicating themselves to be in control of others lives. Their lives seemed splendorous and without trouble in the beginning until an interaction with a woman. With Gatsby, he tried desperately to convince Daisy to leave Tom to live with him and with Kane, he struggles to control and balance his personal and professional lives as seen with his first marriage and selling his business during the Great Depression. Some obvious things that Kane and Gatsby do differently are with their professional lives. Despite all the partying, Gatsby makes the majority of his wealth from bootlegging, illegal during the prohibition times. Kane, on the other hand, does not participate in unlawful activity, although his views on how journalism works is immoral. In the end, what these two men show is that no matter what they do to solve their problems (usually with money), their story is always tragic as both of them die in their finales, Kane from old age and Gatsby from homicide.
ReplyDeleteBoth The Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane describe the American Dream as a meaningless notion corrupted by wealth—not only is that a cliché, it is irresponsibly pessimistic. The film and the book both use dangerously narrow perspectives of two rich white males to construct the American Dream. The starting points of Jay Gatsby and Citizen Kane are both very high—they are born into the elite class and never even had to go through the struggle that most Americans experience, this alone discounts the fulfillment of hard work needed in the American Dream. The American Dream is something to be worked for with honestly and diligence, neither traits are possessed by Gatsby or Kane. Gatsby is involved in illegal drug dealing while Kane distorts the truth in the press. Moreover, the film and the book mock and degrade individuals who actually pursue the American Dream in the honest way. George Wilson, a small auto shop owner working hard to keep his wife Myrtle by him, is depicted as a submissive and mentally unstable man who falls victim to Gatsby’s disgusting lust for Myrtle. Similarly, Jedediah Leland was fired and despised by Kane for simply protecting the proper ethics of press, the same ideals of honesty and democracy in the American Dream. The message from both the book and the film is clear: those who cheat are going to succeed, those who are honest are going to fail. This inherently ignores the reality in which many individuals have changed their lives with their honest pursuit for the American Dream. More dangerously, it is encouraging people to cheat by discounting the hard work millions have put it for a better life. It discounts the American Dream fulfilled by my immigrant parents with their hard work. Moreover it condones an irresponsibly pessimistic message that it is natural for people like Trump to deny and corrupt the American Dream of hard working Americans.
ReplyDeleteThough Jay Gatsby and Charles Foster Kane of two great American classics—The Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane, respectively—differ in plot and conflict, they resemble each other through their ambiguous narration and portrayal of the corruption of the American Dream. Similar to Kane, Gatsby is a self-made millionaire who lives a luxurious and expensive life. He spends his life trying to repeat the past by chasing a hopeless romance. Kane is a successful newspaper publisher who also lives luxuriously and spends his life chasing his career and trying to find satisfaction in his relationships. Both of their stories are told from ambiguous perspectives: Nick Carraway and the newspaper business. The Great Gatsby is told from the point of view of Nick Carraway, a supposedly close friend and neighbor of Gatsby’s and cousin of his love interest, Daisy. Since our only source of information is Nick, we really have no idea what is true. Throughout the book there are certain contradictions that cause the reader to question the reliability of the narrator. Some blame Nick for Gatsby’s death, while other think of him as his only loyal friend. Citizen Kane is told from the perspective of numerous narrators, including newspaper articles. The same uncertainty that exists in Nick Carraway’s account of Gatsby’s life also exists in the newspaper’s account of Charles Foster Kane’s life. While the viewer can never quite be sure of the reliability of a news source, they must accept it as true because it is the only source of information they have. In both The Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane, the self-made millionaires end up dead and dissatisfied with their lives. This is in reference to the corruption of the American dream. Gatsby made his millions through the illegal distribution of alcohol in hopes to win Daisy’s love again and relive the time they spent together as young adults. However, Daisy does not reciprocate this love for him and Gatsby dies alone and never accomplishes his real goal. In Citizen Kane, Kane strives to become a powerful business mogul and achieves this goal by manipulating public opinion and marrying the president’s niece. Even with his success, Kane was unable to find true happiness and ruined his marriage through an affair with an amateur singer. Both Gatsby and Citizen Kane illustrate corruption in the American—success, wealth, and power—by showing wealthy, powerful men who never find true happiness in life and die wishing they had a chance to repeat the past.
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ReplyDeleteThese works are more of comments on these types of men then critiques or celebrations. Take Gatsby for example, super poor background then through bootlegging and high mobster friends amasses this massive fortune. The man owns a palace overlooking a waterfront and throws massive parties all throughout the summer. Despite all the riches he could ask for Gatsby is still not satisfied with life for he lacks close friends and people who love him. Kane is the exact same minus the illegal fortune. Kane comes from a poor family, but after amassing this colossal fortune he realizes that despite owning everything he could want he is still unhappy. Kane and Gatsby not only both look for love but they both fall in love with people based off their voice. Gatsby falls in love with Daisy because of her voice, and Kane falls for Susan after she sings for him. I am not suggesting that Susan is supposed to be a siren as Mr. Weiskopf would have you believe Daisy from Gatsby is. I am suggesting merely that Orson Wells might have taken inspiration from Fitzgerald, and made his main character also allured by a woman with a peculiar voice that will inevitably lead to him losing something that was important to him. Both works comment on the American Dream but not negatively or positively. Instead, it simply begs the question “Is the American Dream all it is cracked up to be?” Americans tend to associate the American Dream with working hard and becoming fiscally better off. The works attack the fiscal point suggesting that since there are ways to become rich without working hard this is not a good goal to have in place. Instead, people would be much happier and better off if they focus not only on making a better life for themselves, but to surround themselves with people they care about as well. These seem to be the fatal flaws in both Kane and Gatsby is they leave their family and become lonely. In their desperation for the warmth that a family brings both Kane and Gatsby are lured by the people that will eventually lead them to great loss or even death lure them in.
Citizen Kane and The Great Gatsby are both notable stories that share a similar plot and have similar characters. In both stories, the main character strikes success after coming from a lower class. Though they are both success stories, in the end, they are taken over by greed and lose control. In Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane starts in a lower class family, but ends up becoming one of the richest men in the World. Kane is not able to retain a relationship due to his ego and this causes him to lose control of his life. Everyone who tried to be close to him takes part in interviews that were compiled together in order to make this film. These interviews show that even though he had attained the American Dream, it was not enough. Just like in Citizen Kane, Gatsby was put in the same position. Gatsby comes from a poor family, but works hard in order to attain his fortune. Though he also achieves the American Dream, he would rather lose all his money and marry Daisy Buchanan. He forgets all he has and tries to take the one thing that is not his. In the end, both of these wealthy men are overtaken by greed, which causes them to lose control of their life. They both decided that no amount of money would be able to sustain happiness for them and were too greedy. This greed led to their inevitable downfall.
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