American literature often paints a picture of a world without hope

Point 1

Both writers craft a world where characters are displayed who crave hope in order to free them of the constraints of their restrictive lives, reflecting that even if it doesn’t exist, the ambition for it is evident

Point 1 - Gatsby

AO1 - Myrtle & George are both depicted as clinging onto hope of a better life free from the hardships they are both forced to endure - Myrtle hopes she can build a new life away from him & George remains hopeful he can salvage the breakdown of their marriage

AO2 - ‘She really ought to get away from him’ ‘It’s just a crazy old thing…I just slip it on sometimes when I don’t care what I look like’ ‘She's going to stay there till the day after tomorrow, and then we're going to move away.’

AO3 - their joint hope reflects the only symbol they had left to cling onto in the exploitative, harsh realities of the 1920s - hope for a life free from the society perhaps = necessary to maintain sanity

AO5 - Marxist - can argue they are drawn into false class consciousness as they don’t recognise there is no hope for them & they are unable to escape - their hope is a product of ruling class exploitation - Bradbury - ‘The dream fails…it is counteracted by the underlying sterility of twentieth century American life and the destruction inherent in the system.’

Point 1 - Passing

AO1 - reflected through Brian’s hope maintained throughout that he will be able to escape racist discrimination - his hope remains despite constantly being faced with the harsh realities of the destruction facing the black community. Also can link to Clare - remains hopeful her fragile life will be maintained

AO2 - ‘fantastic notion of Brian’s of going off to Brazil’ ‘his dissatisfaction had continued’ ‘rush off to that remote place of his heart’s desire’ ‘Brian spoke bitterly of a lynching he’d been reading about’

AO3 - he reflects the restlessness of the black community in order to find a place where they can truly be free - even movements like the GM & HR still had many limitations, suggesting they could never really embrace their true selves in American society

AO5 - his hope reiterates the deep oppression faced by the black community & the ever growing itch to escape it - Naylor - ‘the richest black was not equal of the poorest white’ ‘whiteness conferred earned a universal advantage’ ‘Brian’s desire to leave for Brazil reveals his desire to escape the American colour line’

Point 2

Both writers use depictions of a world with hope to show the damage that it can cause when it becomes too heavily relied on.

Point 2 - Gatsby

AO1 - Gatsby’s everlasting hope that he will achieve a life with Daisy blinds him to reality & ultimately causes his downfall - his hope never wavers up until his death but it creates fatal consequences

AO2 - ‘She never loved you, do you hear me…she only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me’ ‘Oh you want too much’ ‘only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away’ ‘Paid a high price for living too long with a single dream’

AO3 - reiterates the dangers/dark side of the AD that destroyed many American’s lives throughout the 1920s - possibly even Fitzgerald’s himself

AO5 - Cowley - ‘(Fitzgerald focused on) locating happiness in the search for sensation rather than its realisation.’ - Churchwell - ‘dramatise the lie at the heart of the AD’

Point 2 - Passing

AO1 - Clare remains hope throughout that she can simultaneously achieve freedom within her life through her marriage & passing along with re integration back into the black community - her reckless attempts to see the flaws in this result in her death

AO2 - ‘stepping always on the edge of danger’ “The trouble with Clare was, not only that she wanted to have her cake and eat it too, but that she wanted to nibble at the cakes of other folk as well.” ‘Why, to get the things I want badly enough, I’d do anything, hurt anybody, throw anything away.’ ‘a faint smile on her full, red lips’

AO3 - lack of opportunities for black women in society. Impact of double consciousness & hope to live as two different identities

AO5 - Bernard - ‘ It (the novel) reveals the power of desire to transform and unhinge us, and the lengths to which we willl go to get what we want.’

Point 3

Both writers convey the question of whether a world without hope is in fact a safer, more comfortable environment to live in, free from the recklessness and danger it provides

Point 3 - Gatsby

AO1 - Nick desires only to remain in his current social position & simply to observe from the side lines - he doesn’t fall victim or become blinded by hope allowing him to maintain a stable life & to be able to take a step back when he views Gatsby’s actions driven by hope as going too far

AO2 - ‘So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight - watching over nothing’ ‘I’d be damned if i go in; I’d had enough of all of them for one day’ 'Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone... just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.'

AO3 - he reflects a common attitude in American society in amongst those who were blindsided by hope - the attitude of simply trying to maintain a good life for yourself in amongst the ever changing norms of the 1920s

AO5 - can be argued he doesn’t need a desire for hope in contrast to Gatsby as he has lived a good, comfortable and well sustained life throughout - his decisions to observe from the side lines can be viewed as a luxury many in society weren’t awarded - link to last quote.

Point 3 - Passing

AO1 - Irene maintains no hope of achieving a better life throughout, she simply aims to keep the life she currently has in full fruition - anything that could represent hope of a freer/better life or a threat to her she disposes of (Clare, Brian’s dreams etc) - her attitudes cause her survival & return to social norms

AO2 - ‘if Clare should die’ ‘it would die’ ‘she only had to direct and guide her man, to keep him going in the right direction’ ‘she wanted only to be tranquil’

AO3 - once again, her attitudes reflect those of the masses of black Americans - including NL - who simply aimed to achieve a successful, stable life within American society, free of the dangers and damage hope could bring to their identities - not possible for them to have hope in an oppressive society

AO5 - Tate - ‘a site of bourgeois self-fashioning’ - Bernstein - ‘(Irene) acknowledges that her greatest concern is for security, for the avoidance of danger,