For years F. Scott Fitzgeralds <i>The Great Gatsby</i> has garnered attention from critics as having a relationship to American transcendentalist thought. While most acknowledge Jay Gatsbys corruption and materialism, they continue to hold on to a belief in his supposed idealism and difference from other characters in the novel. Even critics who note irony in the novel do not recant their arguments regarding Gatsbys romanticism. One cannot make a straightforward connection between transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau without noting how Gatsby is truly a perversion of transcendental ideals. Specifically, in examining Gatsby with Emersons concept of self-reliance in mind, it is clear that Fitzgerald could never see Gatsby as a self-reliant individual. Indeed, Gatsby fails in every test that can identify him as being a self-reliant man. He is materialistic; he breaks the law for no larger purpose; he loves an insignificant and vapid woman who is as materialistic as the rest of this corrupt society; he has no true identity; does not dispute the contention that the ideal of self-reliance is noble, it argues that such an ideal is unrealizable in the corrupt and materialistic society of the Jazz Age.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-11282003-133533 |
| Date | 01 December 2003 |
| Creators | Fjeldstrom Puff, Jennifer Joy |
| Contributors | Matheson, Terry |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-11282003-133533/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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