Great Gatsby Dialectical Journal

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When one thinks to compare the beautiful marvel that is ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘Fight Club’ would seem barbaric, however it’s the message where we see the ‘updated Great Gatsby’ that Palahniuk describes. Fitzgerald unmasks the façade of a 1920’s America, revealing the deluded generation entranced by the possibilities of a consumerist world, and 70 years on the same warning remains. Palahniuk’s cataclysmic metanarrative shows the societal breakdown of human emotions, and the extremes one must go to find something real in the dystopia the world has become. He is very much of the opinion that there must be annihilation in order to rebuild a world where something as simple as morality is easily found. Both fictitious novels present the ironic realism…show more content…
Fitzgerald and Palahniuk use other characters to symbolise society as a whole, worshipping materialism. Fitzgerald represents this through Doctor T.J. Eckleburg who Wilson refers to as ‘God.’ Palahniuk almost mocks this symbolism. Project mayhem creates a ‘face’ on the tower whose ‘empty eyes seemed to watch everyone in the street-’ advertising their message of annihilation. From the 1920’s till the 1990’s and even in today’s world people are being choked on subliminal messages hinting that in order to reach the top of society, they must obtain material wealth, even if they are just a pair of glasses. This links to the theory of epistemology developed by James Ferrier as, through forms of advertisements, the message of grandeur and wealth, or joining a rebellion is presented, yet this knowledge is being forced upon them. Ferrier said we must question whether this is the truth, and Fitzgerald and Palahniuk both agree that materialism is not a necessity but a luxury, yet it is being forced upon those as a necessity to happiness. The people are being told to worship it, but they do not have a choice. The theory of epistemology also applies to the narrators. As a reader we automatically believe what they tell us, yet how do we know it’s the truth? This forces us to question their reliability since we are aware they are apostles to their hero therefore their accounts must be

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