The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee explores the idea of ​​illusion and reality in people's lives. Fitzgerald's novel was written at the height of the Roaring Twenties in 1924, where people led lives filled with extravagance but also delusion as a way to recover from the damage of the First World War. Albee's play is set during the Cold War, a tense time when people often turned to illusion to forget what was currently happening around them. Both writers explore the question of whether it is appropriate to live one's life hiding behind a facade or whether one should face reality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay The idea of ​​a “perfect American family” as the key to successfully achieving “the American dream” is an idea that is closely linked to the texts Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Great Gatsby. In both texts, many characters are affected by this social pressure and it forms a significant part of many of their downfalls. In Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? George and Martha create a fictional child in hopes of meeting society's expectations and solving their own problems with each other. They base their lives around this illusion which ultimately does more harm than good, as we see when George and Martha use this child as a weapon against each other, for example when Martha accuses George of not being “completely sure it’s his own child.” By referring to their child as "that" in this sentence, they are foreshadowing confirmation that the child is not real. Albee himself said on The South Bank Show that the child "has become so real that he is corrupting their relationship." The idea that something George and Martha created in such detail, going so far as to describe even the smallest things as the "ancient cradle of Austria", shows how important children were to them as well as the pressure that society placed on them to form the perfect American family. The death of the child, the climax of the play, could also show how far George and Martha, especially Martha, had gone in their illusions and how they had to emerge from them if they were to live a life well lived and fully submerged. would not be dictated by society's false ideals of a perfect American family and the American dream. In The Great Gatsby, Tom and Daisy have perfected their family image but in reality their relationship is crippled. Tom is described as not being able to "stand the person he's married to" and they are rarely seen with their daughter, who is often looked after by staff. Daisy describes her daughter as "a beautiful little idiot", which says a lot about her character and how important it is to her that her daughter fits society's expectations of a woman (docile and submissive) who helps them perpetuate the image of a perfect American family. The difference between The Great Gatsby and WAOVW? is that Tom and Daisy return to their old ways after the events of the book, deciding to rely even more on their illusion that they are the perfect American family, while George and Martha realize that this is not a realistic ideal and realize that they need to change. American Dream promises happiness and wealth in exchange for dedication and passion. However, for many characters in The Great Gatsby and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? this is not reality. In Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? George and Martha had high hopesas a young couple to go far in life. George was expected to “take over the history department,” and then even “take over the college.” George became head of the history department during the war, but Martha's father decided he "didn't have it in him." George seems dedicated and passionate about his work and yet, he gets nothing back. Instead, he has the burden of being a failure in the eyes of society, the same society that reveres these promises. George is the only person who seems happy with his position at work, he believes that the most important part of his job is educating young people and not the status of it, and yet Martha resents him for not having succeeded as she and society wanted. This is a much bigger theme in the play than George's own content which I believe perfectly reflects the true nature of the American dream. The Great Gatsby also shows Gatsby as a victim of the American dream. Nick mentions "whatever came after Gatsby" as the reason for his horrible end. The word "prey" makes Gatsby seem small and helpless, which contrasts with how we see him in much of the book. Critic Matthew J. Bruccoli describes him as someone who was "betrayed by the promises of America." I agree with this because Gatsby, who dedicated his life to becoming rich and successful, suffered one of the most tragic fates in the book. He embodies the American dream by demonstrating his passion and resilience to achieve his goal of success and wealth (Nick describes him as having "the ingenuity of movement that is so quintessentially American") and, as a result, is betrayed by it. I believe this quote also applies to George Wilson. We first learn about George in the Valley of Ashes, a place that represents the moral decadence and corruption of a capitalist, materialistic society (a result of the American dream). This tells us a lot about George's position in society. Although George has ambition, he does not come from the right class or background to succeed in the American dream. Albee decided to name George and Martha after the first president and first lady of the United States. For this reason, the public may have imagined them as representative of typically American values ​​such as optimism or hope. Except George and Martha are the opposite of that. They're loud, abrasive, and argumentative, like when Martha yells "Fuck you!" to George as Nick and Honey arrive, but they still represent America, but in a different, more realistic light, where America's representative ideals like unrealistic success, wealth, and even happiness are unsustainable . In The Great Gatsby, the setting is used to show this unsustainable lifestyle. The contrast between East Egg and West Egg and the Valley of Ashes represents this false idealism. The name “ashes” has connotations of death and creates an extremely solemn setting. Other descriptions such as "grotesque gardens" and "dump" further emphasize this fact. It shows the consequences of an unsustainable lifestyle caused by the American dream. “The Eyes of Doctor TJ Eckleburg” gazes upon the Valley of Ashes in the form of a billboard, monitoring the consequences of the new America. It may have been in the form of advertising to also represent the new America, where advertisements were becoming more and more popular. Both texts present the American dream as unsustainable and an illusion. Marriage in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is portrayed in a pessimistic light. Nick and Honey, who are initially introduced as the perfect couple, don't seem to have such a loving marriage. Nick reveals that the only reasonThe reason he married Honey was "because she was pregnant." At that time, couples often married if the woman became pregnant so as not to be rejected by society. Since that was the situation Nick and Honey found themselves in, they used marriage to solve their problem. Nick also explains that there has never been any "special passion" between them and so it makes it seem like they are stuck in their marriage. We see the marriage deteriorate as the play progresses, with Nick committing infidelity and also the revelation of Honey's lack of desire to have children and Nick marrying her for money, but we do not let's never really see. No real consequences will result from this. They return to what they were, pretending to be a perfect couple to the rest of society. In TGG, we also see this illusion of marriage with George and Myrtle. Although they are certainly not presented as a loving couple like Nick and Honey, Myrtle married George because she thought he was rich, one of the reasons she thought it was because George " had borrowed someone's best suit to get married." Myrtle desperately wants to escape her social class, which is evident through the use of her "overcrowded" apartment which she attempts to make into a place of luxury with "furniture entirely too big for that", but instead does the opposite and makes it chaotic and overcrowded, symbolizing that she can never escape her social class. She thought marrying George would solve this problem before finding out the truth. This may be why she began her affair with Tom, because when she first sees him, he is wearing "a suit and patent leather shoes" - clothes that are highly suggestive of wealth. To Myrtle, Tom represents promises of wealth and a new life. Both writers present marriage as imperfect behind closed doors. In TGG, Tom and Daisy mess up during the book and they do it with little guilt. Despite the obvious signs of a flawed and imperfect marriage, they still care about each other. After Myrtle's death, Nick sees them "conspiring together" with an "incomparable air of natural intimacy." This shows that even through everything they have been through, they still care deeply for each other, the phrase "natural intimacy" shows this because it shows how even though their marriage may not be not as perfect as they pretend, they still have a deep sense of intimacy. connection. Another example of this is the fact that Daisy couldn't say that she "never loved" Tom because that wasn't true. Albee presents marriage in the same way through George and Martha. They are seen arguing continually throughout the play, which could be considered an example of the Theater of the Absurd. A central element of it was taking a tragic theme, in this case a seemingly failed marriage, and making it comical, such as Martha very childishly saying "Poor Georgie-porgie" in a condescending way in the middle of 'an argument. This is a far cry from what audiences might have expected a typical American couple to be depicted on stage, which adds to the effect. However, just like Tom and Daisy, they experience moments of love between them. At the end of the play, George comforts Martha by placing “gently his hand on her shoulder.” After the chaos that ensued and knowing the secrets we didn't know at the start of the play, it's arguably more heartfelt than any of Tom and Daisy's interactions because we know they don't have no ulterior motives (Tom and Daisy had stability and social relationships). status to consider) while George and Martha havehit rock bottom together, they can only get back up with each other's help. The tender gestures we see between George and Martha, and Tom and Daisy, make us lose hope that the illusion they hide behind can become reality. In TGG, it's obvious from the start that Tom and Daisy don't have a stable relationship, even though they'd like everyone, even themselves, to think so. This is evident when Tom's "wife in New York" calls. This seems to be popular gossip and Daisy is aware of Tom's infidelity, but she chooses to pretend it isn't because she doesn't want to face the harsh truth and reality. This leads her to feel trapped in the marriage, creating even more tension. Another example of their toxic relationship is when Tom is accused by Daisy of hurting his knuckles and he doesn't deny it. In Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? George and Martha also have a lot of tension in their marriage, but that's built up over time, at this point they seem to tolerate each other more than anything. This is easy to see by the way they treat and order each other about, especially Martha, such as when she says "Go answer the door." At the beginning of the play, they have not yet recognized him directly. It's when George exclaims that he "can't stand it" that they first seem to address the issue, as it leads to one of their biggest downfalls as a couple. The two couples don't seem happy together, but instead of facing reality, they choose to ignore the problem. Both Albee and Fitzgerald raise questions regarding the morality of experiencing life as an illusion. One of them is: Is it okay to ignore reality and live in an illusion? Albee told the South Bank Show that "people who waste this are wasting their conscience" wasting "one of the most precious things anyone can have". Albee makes this clear through the destruction of his characters as they live their lives in illusion. George is the one most ready to lose the illusion and is the driving force of the play that initiates the "raising baby" game. He realizes that it is not right to live like them and that it is important to change before it is too late. Gatsby, however, does not realize this in time and meets a tragic end. I believe that Fitzgerald was also communicating the idea that it is not acceptable to live like this, otherwise the same fate would await them as a result. Both texts explore another important question regarding morality and living in illusion rather than truth: is there any hope that people can change their lives? ? The end of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? has a small but significant element of hope near the end. Martha's final line saying "I am" to the title question "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" demonstrates that Martha is taking a step forward in her life to improve it and live life to the fullest. In the 1966 film adaptation, George turns off all the lamps in their house and the couple turns to face the window. This symbolizes how they erase all false or artificial truths from their lives and turn to the real world. This provides a glimmer of hope that is essential to conveying to the public the message that it is possible to change, that it is possible for the public to change. Albee had existentialist beliefs and hoped to use theater to improve people's lives, so an optimistic ending would be a key way to achieve this. However, TGG explores this question from a much more pessimistic perspective. As a modernist novel, the ending contains many tragic or unjustified endings, demonstrating that if you change too late, your fate is inevitable. He aims more.