“For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.”
Compare the ways the writers present appearance and reality. Say to what extent they seem to support the statement.
The Great Gatsby by Scott F. Fitzgerald and Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? By Edward Albee are… (critical quotes)
Both writers explore how illusions can be dangerous in some way. In the Great Gatsby, the eyes of Dr. T. J Eckleburg function as an illusion to Wilson. In Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Albee creates a son for George and Martha in order to sustain their marriage. Soon after Wilson discovers Myrtle’s infidelity, she is torn to pieces on…show more content… In Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? George is the one who is “running the show”. His attempt to assume the role of the creative force is an essential part of the truth and illusion situation because his statements attain ambiguity through his constant fluctuation between detachment and involvement. In The Great Gatsby, it is Nick’s unreliability as a narrator which makes him the director of illusion and reality. As a first person narrator, Nick creates a complex point of view which involves us, as readers, in acts of interpretation that extend to making judgements about the events of the novel. Fitzgerald makes it so Gatsby’s character has to be filtered through Nick’s narration at a good pace and with enough emphasis to sustain our interest without ruining any mystery elements involved. For instance, when Nick describes the key moment in which Gatsby falls in love with Daisy, he goes from “One autumn night, five years before, they had been walking down the street…” (71) to “out of the corner of his eye, Gatsby saw that the blocks of the sidewalks really formed a ladder and mounted the secret place above the trees (...) he could suck the pap of life, gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder”, Fitzgerald purposely fluctuates between facts and complex metaphors in order to blur the line between fact and fiction. One is forced to wonder what the facts are and what has happened for sure, and Nick’s narrative only makes this more difficult. Contextually, in classic American novels such as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry, you find characters who are unable to settle and feel the need to keep moving on. You also find comparable characters in the American film genre ‘road movie’ as it’s all about the restless state of mind or stream of consciousness, which is the way in which Fitzgerald writes. Contrastingly in Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? George assumes control directly through
