PRELIM ESSAY SCAFFOLD

Question: To what extent do your prescribed texts suggest that the collapse of dominant beliefs and values encourages people to search for meaning and connection?

Para 1:

Fitzgerald portrays the collapse of traditional moral and religious values as creating a spiritually barren society that compels individuals to search for alternative sources of meaning and connection. 

• “Fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat”

  • Paradoxical juxtaposition between the fertility of “wheat” and “farms” and the decay and death of “ash”

  • Acts as a symbol of America during the early 20th century, with a facade of extreme wealth and abundance, but a complete moral and spiritual disintegration

• The eyes of Dr T. J. Eckleburg

  • The motif highlight the lack of sources of meaning and moral guidance during this period

  • The eyes also symbolise the loss of religion in favour of wealth and materialism, highlighting the conformity to new values based around consumerism 

• “God sees everything” - Wilson

  • The dramatic irony of the religious allusion of “God” being an advertisement billboard highlights society’s desperate search for moral guidance and spiritual meaning in a disconnected world

• “Careless people” - Nick

  • The characterisation of Tom and Daisy suggests a moral irresponsibility of the wealthy and elite, as there is little focus on building meaningful relationships. 

Para 2:

Eliot suggests that in this modern world, people are disconnected from themselves as well as others, creating isolation and emptiness

• “The burnt-out ends of smokey days”

  • The immediate visual imagery highlights a bleak, polluted urban landscape reflective of society’s own emotions of fatigue and corruption, following WW1 in England

• “The thousand sordid images”

  • The negative connotations of “sordid” create a setting that is based around neglect and shameful moral behaviour, reflecting society’s moral degradation, combined with hyperbolic language to demonstrate the modern world's overwhelming monotony of daily life 

• “Stretched tight across the skies”

  •  The metaphorical visual imagery of the phrase highlights society’s immense desire for spiritual transcendence, away from the intense strain of daily life 

Para 3:

Fitzgerald presents Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy as a misguided attempt to construct meaning in the absence of traditional values as Gatsby acts a mirror for society.

• “Her voice is full of money” - Nick

  • The metaphorical language creates an inextricable connection between Daisy and immense wealth and high societal standings, and suggests her voice highlights this, rather than individuality or personality.  

• “Committed himself to the grail”

  •  The religious allusion suggests that Gatsby is attempting to obtain or earn Daisy, thus objectifying her as something that could be ‘earnt’ by his own actions, and symbolises society’s intense search for meaning 

• “Gatsby believed in the green light” - Nick

  •  The motif of the green light throughout the novel acts a beacon of hope and spiritual aspirations of society for fulfilment

  • “Borne back ceaselessly into the past”

    • The metaphor explores the contrast between aspiration and reality, highlighting society’s ultimate inability to escape monotony and nostalgia for a premodern life. 

Para 4:

Unlike Fitzgerald’s pessimistic outlook, Eliot initially shows that humans are trapped and empty spiritually, in the The Hollow Men, but, through Journey of the Magi, ultimately suggests that the collapse of old beliefs acts as a catalyst for spiritual renewal and authentic connection.

• “We are the Hollow Men”

  •  The first person inclusive language of “we” indicates Eliot is representing all of society, suggesting that society as a whole is spiritually and emotionally empty and disconnected

• “Between the idea / And the reality”

  • The juxtaposition highlights the gap between aspirations and and reality, emphasising the spiritual paralysis experienced 

• “A cold coming we had of it”

  • The pathetic fallacy of the Magi’s journey symbolises the uncertainty and difficulty of spiritual conversion and rebirth

• “The very dead of winter”

  •  The seasonal imagery suggests that society is currently facing the most difficult point of their spirituality, with spiritual desolation and death of an old world view, which must be endured in order to experience ‘spring’, or spiritual rebirth and hope 

• “I should be glad of another death”

  •  The paradoxical language suggests that, though the symbolism, the “death” of outdated world views, society will benefit society