The Great Gatsby And A Street Car Named Desire

Both "The Great Gatsby" and "A Streetcar Named Desire" deal with the idea of having aspirations and living the American Dream. The American Dream is defined as the desire and hope of becoming successful and happy financially as well as spiritually. Both Blanche and Gatsby are in search of this so called "American Dream." The birth of the American dream came from the Declaration of Independence speech, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness." This extract from the Declaration of Independence speech may have lead to the discovery of the American Dream, although aspirations and the desire of being successful have always existed, this could have been seen as the very foundation of the dream. It promised the citizens of America the potential of unlimited advancements regardless of their backgrounds or financial state; in other words it promised a better life. This can be linked to Gatsby as he also was trying to pursue his happiness by getting Daisy. However his failure suggests that it is almost impossible to re-capture the past, this can be linked with the Declaration of Independence and how the Americans were trying to leave behind the past (their British rule). We can also link the idea of leaving behind the past and moving forward with Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire, as Blanche also is trying to separate from her horrible past just like the Americans were setting free from their European roots. However both "The Great Gatsby" and "A Streetcar Named Desire" end in a tragedy and both Blanche and Gatsby are unable to complete their dreams, this suggests that the American dream may not exist and even if it did it only sets out false aspirations which are evidently unachievable.

Love is a common theme in both "The Great Gatsby" and "A Streetcar Named Desire". Daisy can be portrayed as just another aspect of Gatsby's dream. She resembles a statue or an idol as Gatsby admires her and wants her just to complete his dream. "Her hand was wet with glistening drops" This quote describes daisy as being this goddess like character as she is always described using words such as "Graceful, bright, exhilarating." It is this idea of Daisy being portrayed as this almost perfect woman that leads to Gatsby wanting her even more as everyman desired the perfect woman. Daisy is part of Gatsby's dream; we could say that this is another reason as to why he is unable to reach her; because she is just a dream and nothing more. His constant struggle to reach the unreachable results in his death and so he is unable to get Daisy. This is familiar to Blanche as she once had a happy married life with Alan, this could connote that she may have in some way reached half her aspirations as she was emotionally happy until Alan killed himself "He stuck the revolver in his mouth and fired." Although Blanche was so close to reaching her dream it was taken away from her. Alan's death had haunted Blanche ever since until she met Mitch; he is portrayed as being everything that Blanche desired however Mitch would never be able to replace Alan. Therefore it's as if Blanche is just making do with Mitch and just wants someone to love her. We could describe Mitch as a almost materialistic like possession; Blanche does not love Mitch but only desires him to fulfil her fantasy of having wealth, love and a successful lifestyle. We see both Gatsby and Blanche let go of materialistic objects in search of love, even though Gatsby has a wealth and successful life style he still is not emotionally stable. Blanche on the other hand had everything but she lost it all. This similarity between Gatsby and Blanche suggests that the American Dream is unreachable.

Music is used to represent Gatsby as a victim of his own dream. "The grey windows disappeared as the house glowed full of light." This quote is in chapter four when Gatsby turns the lights on before Mr. Klipspringer is about to play music. The concept of "Glowing light" can be related to artificial light, this can further be linked to the music as it is also artificial and is used by Gatsby as a way of escaping the harsh realities of life. Although he may have everything he wants he still doesn't have happiness as "money can't buy happiness." Therefore he uses music as a way of escaping. This suggests that he is a victim of his own dream as he is unable to reach his goals and must use materialistic objects as a way of gaining happiness. Music is also used in "A Streetcar Named Desire", however it not used as a way of escaping like in "The Great Gatsby" but as a way of remembering and reliving Blanche's horrible past. "The polka music sounds", "We danced the Varsouviana!" The polka music was used to highlight Alan's death unlike Gatsby the music does not allow Blanche to escape but drags her further into the past and she is almost unable to escape it. Music is also used in "A Streetcar Named Desire" to show the viewers Blanche's madness slowly starting to occur, "its music rising with sinister rapidity" The Varsouviana Polka suggest that Blanche's past is haunting her and this constant reminder of Alan's death through music is driving her to insanity. Both texts present Gatsby and Blache as victims of their own dream through the use of music.

Blanche is seen as being very concerned with the lifestyle and husband that Stella has chosen. "He acts like an animal", this suggests that Blanche may be talking from her past experience with men. We can connote that maybe Stella is a imperfect image of Blanche. This can be linked to Plato's theory about imperfection and how Blanche can see Stella following her footsteps, she sees Stella trying to be a idealised version of herself in her younger years. Plato's theory also suggest that you can never become a idealised version of yourself therefore we can imply that because Stella is living a idealised life that Blanche once lived, However this means things are bound to go wrong as you cannot become a idealised version of yourself. This is similarly found in "The Great Gatsby" as we see Gatsby as an idealised version of "Dan Cody", the man that brought him into this lifestyle that he is living. This can be linked once again to Plato's theory as Plato suggests that you can never become a idealised version of yourself therefore this implies that both Gatsby and Stella are presented as victims of the American Dream.

Setting also plays a significant part in the exploration of dreams. "My Neighbours mansion", Gatsby was presented as being wealth and lived in a luxurious mansion, but a mansion could connote emptiness and loneliness as Gatsby lives alone in the mansion with just his workers. Although a mansion could represent the American dream it is unable to represent any means of emotion. This means that although Gatsby has this lavish lifestyle and lives in a mansion, he still does not have the things that make a house a home. For example we see Gatsby living in this huge mansion by himself , he doesn't have any real friends or anyone that loves him, he feels deprived of love and he begins to feel isolated and lonely within his own home. The mansion almost becomes like a barrier between Gatsby's dream world (The American Dream) and the real world outside. It is like he is living in a bubble.

On the other hand in "A Street Car Named Desire" the setting has different connotations. "Primarily a kitchen but contains a folding bed used by Blanche. The room beyond this is a bedroom. Off this room is a narrow door to a bathroom." This stage direction describing Stanley and Stella's apartment gives us the impression that it is fairly small. It tells us that the apartment only consists of one bedroom, this could foreshadow that Blanche is unwelcome. By using a small and enclosed setting we can see more tension being created between characters and as a result we see the family begin to fall apart. Also we can imply that Blanche has failed to achieve her dream as she once lived in a big house in "Belle Reve" and now she is living in a small cramped apartment with her sister. This also leads us to see that Stanley and Stella's apartment also aids us in believing that Blanche is a victim of her own dream as she was unable to keep hold of the house in "Belle Reve."

Light is used throughout "A Streetcar Named Desire" to reflect Blanche's appearance and character. "She moves out of the yellow streak of light." This suggests that Blanche does not like to be seen in bright light as she does not want people to see that she is aging, she wants to remain youthful and beautiful. This could be linked to the fact that Blanche is struggling to leave behind her past and is in some ways still living in the past, therefore she wants to remain young just like she used to be before. Blanche is always shows in dim or dull lighting this could imply that there is more to Blanche than meets the eyes, she has a darker and more mysterious side to her that can be linked to her horrible past experience with men and the death of her lover Alan. The light is described as being "Yellow" this gives us the impression of artificial light and faker, we can connote that Blanche is putting on a facade and is not as innocent and pure as she seems to be. This idea of artificial light linking to fakery and surrealism can be related to "The Great Gatsby." Fitzgerald uses the colour yellow to create the sense of artificialness "Yellow car" , it is Gatsby's yellow car that leads to Myrtle's death. Yellow can also be the symbolic colour of hazards, this could mean that the "Yellow car" was discreetly warning or foreshadowing the death of a character. Yellow also has connotations of decay, for example when something begins to rot/ decay it turns brown/yellow, this decay can be seen in higher class societies; knows as social decay. At that time society was beginning to rebel and so was falling apart. This could suggest that all things materialistic can be harmful. The American Dream creates the idea of wanting and desire which results in lust and selfish behaviour, therefore the materialistic objects surrounding Gatsby are seen as cruel and surreal as they have been gained through greed rather than happiness. This suggests that dreams can cause people to put on a fake image of who they are in order to get what they want. This is seen in both Blanche and Gatsby. Gatsby's character can be described as a tragic hero. In this case Gatsby's Holy Grail is Daisy and the American Dream. However Aristotle's theory implies that every hero has a flaw that leads him to struggle in achieving his holy grail. We see that Gatsby's flaws are his obsession with Daisy and his constant chase after the dream, this portrays him as a victim of his dream as his holy grail is a personal one. Also a Holy Grail is something that was meant benefit the society as well as yourself but Gatsby's Holy Grail is selfish and only about benefiting himself, This also the case with Blanche; whose holy grail is to leave behind her past and find someone that she can spend her life with, this also like Gatsby is a Selfish holy grail. This selfishness may also be another reason for the downfall of both characters being unable to succeed in reaching their dream, and so they are described as being Tragic Heroes.

Overall both Blanche from "A Streetcar Named Desire" and Gatsby from "The Great Gatsby" are presented as failures as they both are unable to reach their dreams and aspirations. I agree that both texts are an exploration of dreams, however in my opinion the dream that Gatsby and Blanche are after is "The American Dream" which may not even exist. It gave them false hope and desire to reach for something that was unachievable. Gatsby and Blanche both became so concerned with wealth and a materialistic lifestyle that they ended up losing out on what they needed most which was to be emotionally stable. This lack of love and friendship from people around then lead to their downfall in reaching their dreams.