Comparsion of the great gatsby and death of a salesman
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The relationship between an individual and his or her society is quite a complex one, because it works both ways, and is responsible for some of the sacrifices one decides to make. However, it is evident from Miller's play, Death of a Salesman and Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby that other factors, such as the type of people who live in the society, can also have a profound impact on the sacrifices one makes. Because the two texts are composed in different genres, they use varying narrative techniques but also share some common ones.
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the1920's as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music epitomized in the novel by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night - resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American Dream. Meanwhile, Death of a Salesman is set in twentieth-century industrial society, complete with apartment blocks, financial difficulties and pressures to succeed. It was a time when money defined success - people were judged by the amount they acquired, and the amount of success was closely linked with the amount of money you had. These societies corrupted Gatsby and particularly Willy, and conditioned them to become something they couldn't and when they couldn't, they suffered, by forcing them to make extraordinary sacrifices.
Willy is not typical of society he feels he has to be within it, yet looks back to a golden age when life was simpler. His very name is meant to emphasize his "low" position in society...