THEMES

THEMES

THE GREAT GATSBY

* A cautionary tale of the decadent downside of the American dream.

* The inevitably hopeless lower class aspirations to rise above the station(s) of their birth.

* The excesses of the rich, and recklessness of youth.

* A story underlying permanence of class differences.

* A story about change and those who resist it. The nouveau riche.

* Societal gender expectations

 

Comments

* Gatsby's failure to realize the American dream demonstrates that it no longer exists except in the minds of those as materialistic as Gatsby. The American dream pursued by Gatsby "is, in reality, a nightmare", bringing nothing but discontent and disillusionment to those who chase it as they realize its unsustainability (1) and ultimately its unattainability (2).

(1) that cannot be maintained. (2) impossible to achieve

* Later critical writings on The Great Gatsby, following the novel's revival, focus in particular on Fitzgerald's disillusionment with the American Dream — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – in the context of the hedonistic Jazz Age.

*  As an upper-class, white woman living in East Egg during this time period in America, Daisy must adhere to certain societal expectations, including but certainly not limited to actively filling the role of dutiful wife, mother, keeper of the house, and charming socialite.

* The tragedy of the plot and misery for all those involved, can be at least partly attributed to her prescribed role as a "beautiful little fool" who is completely reliant on her husband for financial and societal security.

* Daisy's ultimate decision to remain with her husband despite her feelings for Gatsby can be attributed to the status, security, and comfort that her marriage to Tom Buchanan provide

* Additionally, the theme of the female familial role within The Great Gatsby goes hand in hand with that of the ideal family unit associated with the great American dream- a dream that goes unrealized for Gatsby and Daisy in Fitzgerald's prose

 

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a 1984 novel by Milan Kundera, about two women, two men, a dog and their lives in the 1968 Prague Spring period of Czechoslovak history



 

* The lightness of love and sex.

* An interpretation of the German adage Einmal ist keinmal ("one occurrence is not significant"), namely an "all-or-nothing" cognitive distortion.

* Lightness vs heaviness.

* The idea of eternal return: to think that everything recurs as we once experienced it and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum! Do we really want the eternal return of the past?

 

The "unbearable lightness" in the title also refers to the lightness of love and sex, which are themes of the novel. Kundera portrays love as fleeting, haphazard and possibly based upon endless strings of coincidences, despite holding much significance for humans.

In the novel, Nietzsche's concept is attached to an interpretation of the German adage Einmal ist keinmal ("one occurrence is not significant"), namely an "all-or-nothing" cognitive distortion (1) that Tomáš must overcome in his hero's journey. He initially believes "If we only have one life to live, we might as well not have lived at all," and specifically (with respect to committing to Tereza) "There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison." The novel resolves this question decisively that such a commitment is in fact possible and desirable.

(1) A cognitive distortion is an automatic way of repeatedly interpreting a situation that causes us to not consider other ways of thinking about it.

 

Lightness vs. Heaviness

“The idea of eternal return is a mysterious one, and Nietzsche has often perplexed other philosophers with it: to think that everything recurs as we once experienced it and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum! What does this mad myth signify?” This is how Kundera begins his masterpiece, ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’, the eternal return of what we have had before, be it wars, kingdoms, revolutions, life and of course existence. The eternal return is what seems to have preoccupied human beings in different times in history. Do we really want the eternal return of the past?

In reality, nothing that has happened before will ever recur again. Existence is also among the many other things that cannot be regained, once one is deprived of it. This might, however, seem to be very grim and agonizing, but isn’t there a gateway to this?

“If French Revolution were to recur eternally, French historians would be less proud of Robespierre. But because they deal with something that will not return, the bloody years of the revolution have turned into mere words, theories, and discussions, have become lighter than feathers, frightening no one.”

So is the existence. Once one loses a loved one, he tries to save her love by simply remembering her. Memory strives to immortalize the loved ones. The existence of our beloved, however, grows to be paler, more light-toned and dimmer like a shadow. We endeavor to remember all, afraid of losing what we have and try to hold on tight to them, though we only remember the things which are proportionate to our mood and our being. This is how the existence becomes loose, unbound, and as Kundera says, LIGHT.

A kind of lightness that hurts and mortifies; a lightness that becomes unendurable and unbearable. And maybe for the first time in our lives, we resolve to favor the noun ‘heaviness’ over ‘lightness’.

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Crime and punishment: Crime doesn't pay.

Good and evil - the coexistence of good and evil on earth

Judgment - balance between justice and judgement

Race relations - learned racism

Suffering - suffering as a natural part of human experience

Generation gap - experience versus youthful strength