Comparative Perspectives (DP IB English A: Language and Literature: HL): Revision Note

• Gatsby’s desire to win Daisy’s love leads not only to a superficial façade, but to his eventual death

• His immense wealth and extravagant parties do not help him achieve his dreams

• Okonkwo rails against changes in his Igbo village

• He fights to maintain cultural traditions against British imperialism:

  • He believes it is his duty to resist colonial influence

• The novel illustrates the importance of heritage and social class in 1920s America

• Fitzgerald explores the tension between those born into wealth (old money) and those who acquire it later (new money) 

• Achebe examines a traditional Nigerian society with patriarchal values and gender roles

• At the same time, the novel explores the pressures on the individual resulting from British colonialism and the expansion of Christianity

• Despite the shift in gender roles and a newfound female economic independence post- World War I, only a small minority of women worked outside of the home

• The novel’s Daisy Buchanan embodies the traditional role that was still expected of upper-class women

• Masculine ideals prioritise physical strength, agricultural skills and wealth:

  • Status is determined by a man having several wives

• Females are generally restricted to domestic roles and continuing the oral storytelling traditions

• Gatsby dreams of winning Daisy’s love reflect the illusory nature of the American Dream, using illegal wealth to manufacture legitimacy

• Despite his accumulation of wealth, he is unfulfilled:

  • Conflicts with Tom Buchanan lead to his demise

• Okonkwo’s rigid beliefs in his cultural heritage are tested

• His inflexibility creates conflicts with his own community and family and he loses his son

• His struggles to accept colonial power leads to his death 

• Gatsby challenges the rigid social class system by creating a new life of wealth and fabricating a reputation

• Gatsby’s aspirational dreams resist the cynicism of the wealthy elite

• Okonkwo’s resistance to advice from the elders comes from his extreme beliefs in Igbo tradition

• He resorts to violence to defy British colonialists and missionaries 

Things Fall Apart

• The protagonist’s love for an upper-class woman lead him to a dubious and artificial life of wealth and status

• The protagonist’s judgement on his father leads to extreme beliefs in a bid to be what he perceives as the perfect Igbo man

• Fitzgerald suggests that the pursuit of the American Dream can lead to ethical compromise and a loss of moral values

• The Great Gatsby exposes the moral corruption of the upper class, represented by characters like Tom Buchanan and the lifestyle in East Egg

• Achebe depicts the collapse of the Igbo culture as a result of colonial influence

• The novel warns of rigid attitudes that create conflict

• Achebe draws attention to the tensions between Igbo belief systems and Christianity

• The novel was received by some critics as a glamorous story about the Jazz Age

• Although it did not sell well upon publication, the novel has become a classic

• Its critique of the American Dream and rampant consumerism remains relevant in contemporary societies

• Things Fall Apart was a departure from novels about Africa written from European and Western perspectives 

• Many critics praised Achebe's writing style

• Others were unsettled by his portrayal of missionaries and British colonialism

• The novel achieved global acclaim and remains a seminal work in universities and schools worldwide

• The reader experiences events through Nick Carraway’s unreliable narration 

• Suspicions about Gatsby’s past are delivered via gossip at his parties

• Simultaneously, dialogue between Nick, Gatsby, and Daisy present the complex pressures of society on the individual 

• Achebe’s omniscient narrator reflects African oral tradition

• Through the neutral narrator, readers learn about Okonkwo’s concerns as well as the reactions of family and community

• Narration presents the significance of proverbs in Igbo communication

• The narrator offers the British district commissioner’s response to the Igbo people, offering alternative perspectives

• The setting of East and West Egg, Queens, and downtown New York depicts the wealth divide of 1920s America

• Gatsby’s mansion and “blue” gardens are symbolic of a façade built to conform and win Daisy’s acceptance

• He is exposed in the “Plaza Hotel” in New York, where he is separated from his artificial life in West Egg

• Umuofia is the novel’s fictional village in Nigeria

• Achebe details the significance of farming in the rural agricultural village

• Achebe illustrates the importance of Igbo ancestry:

  • Villages are defined by parental lineage (as either “fatherland” or “motherland”) 

• Okonkwo’s exile to his motherland illustrates Igbo justice 

• Gatsby’s lavish parties illustrate his desire for social mobility

• His language, such as the repetitive "old sport", is an attempt at elitism

• The antagonist Tom Buchanan, in contrast, is physically aggressive, characterised as a frustrated sportsman

• Dialogue between characters, such as the elders and Okonkwo, depicts the conflicts created by Okonkwo’s rigid beliefs and attitudes

• Dialogue between Okonkwo and his wives and children illustrates his perception of masculine ideals 

• Female characters tell fables to the children, presenting the domestic role of women and the importance of oral tradition

• Fitzgerald alludes to the extravagance of French nobility: Gatsby’s mansion has “Marie Antoinette music-rooms”

• Allusions to prohibition, bootleggers, and “the man who fixed the World’s Series back in 1919” reflect Gatsby’s criminal associations

• Allusions to the Queen of England and Christianity reflect colonial influence in Nigeria

• Allusions to locusts present the British invasion as a plague

• The “green light” is symbolic of the distance between Gatsby and Daisy

• Stars symbolise his dreams and doomed fate

• References to eyes and blindness represent the illusory world of East and West Egg:

  • The eyes of “Doctor T. J. Eckleburg” symbolise the idea of turning a blind eye 

• Blood symbolises Okonkwo’s attitude to masculinity and its connection to violence:

  • He tells the boys “land-masculine stories of violence and Bloodshed” which Nwoye does not like

• Animal symbolism is used to present Okonkwo as a traditional yet aggressive character:

  • He is described as “if he was going to pounce on somebody. And he did pounce on people quite often”

• Fitzgerald captures the relentless nature of the pursuit of the American Dream: “There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired”

• Nick Carraway describes the elite as “careless people” who “smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money”

• The novel ends referring to Gatsby’s struggle to escape his past: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past”

• The narrator illustrates cultural value systems in descriptions of Okonkwo’s successes: “He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives”

• Okonkwo believes the village’s responses to the British is too passive (“womanly”), which loses him his son and his clan’s respect

• Okonkwo’s self-pity and lack of personal accountability leads to exile and, ultimately, his dishonourable death:

  • He believes he has been “cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry, sandy beach, panting, clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things”

• Jay Gatsby’s humble origins in an agricultural state in America lead to his crisis of identity

• He desires status and wealth in order to be accepted by the New York elite and win the love of Daisy Buchanan 

• Othello, previously a slave, achieves a high-ranking position in the Venetian military 

• His struggle to overcome preconceptions about his identity as a Moor contribute to a need for acceptance and a naïve trust in Iago

• Fitzgerald deviates from a strictly chronological structure:

  • Flashbacks slowly reveal Gatsby’s past

  • Gossip reveals the suspicion with which he is met by upper-class East Egg

• In the climax, Gatsby is exposed and his previously controlled characterisation falls apart

• Gatsby’s fate is revealed in the tragic resolution:

  • His desire to be accepted leads to his death

• The play, typical of tragedies, follows a five-part structure

• In thе exposition, thе tragic hero Othello is introduced as an outsider who is met with suspicion and prejudice 

• In thе rising action, Shakespeare reveals the tragic hero Othello’s hamartia: his naïve trust in Iago

• In thе denouement, Othello’s insecurities as a man and his desire to be accepted, leads to his doomed fate 

• Fitzgerald’s protagonist is obsessed with the pursuit of wealth and status to integrate with upper-class society

• His identity as a self-made man, a member of the nouveau riche, fails to earn him social acceptance or fulfil his dreams

• Shakespeare’s Othello desires acceptance and reputation

• His insecurities stem from his identity as a Moor, and as an outsider (the “Other”)

• Othello loses his identity as a rational and loving husband as he turns to jealous pride and submits to violence

• Fitzgerald examines prejudicial attitudes in 1920s America

• His portrayal of classism and class division suggest that social mobility promised by the American Dream is illusory

• Shakespeare exposes the discriminatory and corrupt social structures of 17th-century Venice

• He illustrates the impact on individuals resulting from masculine ideals in a patriarchal society

• At the time of publication, the novel did not sell well:

  • Fitzgerald believed his portrayal of Gatsby was misunderstood 

• By 1945, The Great Gatsby had achieved acclaim as a Great American Novel that critiqued the cynicism of the upper-class elite during the Jazz Age

• As a Renaissance play, audiences are presented with the complexity of human morality, still relevant today:

  • Some critics found issue with Shakespeare’s Moor protagonist

• In thе 17th cеntury, Othello was primarily viewed as a rеvеngе tragеdy:

  • The audience bears witness to Othello’s vengeful acts as a result of complex emotions

• Nick Carraway’s narration and dialogue reflects attitudes to Gatsby as an outsider

• Simultaneously, Gatsby’s dialogue with Nick and Daisy reveal his insecurities

• Othello’s dialogue reveals his pride and his obsession with reputation

• Othello’s soliloquies depict an individual struggling to maintain his integrity

• The setting of East and West Egg, Queens, and downtown New York depicts the wealth divide of 1920s America:

  • Gatsby is an outsider from a rural, agricultural state 

• His mansion and “blue” gardens are symbolic of a façade built to conform and win Daisy’s acceptance

• The setting illustrates corruption in 17th-century Venice:

  • Othello’s race and heritage makes him an outsider in a wealthy, merchant-class European society

• The final scene in Desdemona’s bedroom depicts Othello’s failure to overcome his pride and past insecurities

• Gatsby’s mysterious nature is presented via his distance and isolation during his parties and other characters’ gossip 

• He is portrayed sympathetically through his nervous interactions with Daisy, reflecting his insecurities

• Dialogue presents Brabantio and Iago’s discriminatory attitudes

• Othello’s articulate dialogue presents his desire for acceptance 

• His early dialogue reveals his initial humility and a desire to overcome his past

• Nick Carraway’s reference to Gatsby as “Trimalchio” alludes to his poor origins and unethical accumulation of wealth

• Historical allusions to World War I, such as the “Kaiser Wilhelm” and “Von Hindenburg”, highlight suspicion about Gatsby as an outsider

• To elevate his speech, Othello refers to the Odyssey and Greek heroes

• Allusions to the devil present discriminatory attitudes to Othello’s race:

  • Iago tells Brabantio: “the devil will make a grandsire of you”

  • He questions Desdemona’s love for Othello: “what delight shall she have to look on the devil?

• Gatsby’s ostentatious mansion symbolises his status as a nouveau riche, self-made man

• His “blue” gardens are symbolic of his melancholy and loneliness  

• Animal symbolism (directed towards Othello) highlights discriminatory attitudes to the “Other”

  • Iago presents him as lesser than a human

  • He is referred to as a "Barbary horse" and “old black ram”

• Gatsby’s aspirations are described by Nick Carraway: he holds “some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life”

• His place as an outsider sees him looking up to an "unfamiliar" sky

• Gatsby’s insecurities lead to his façade: “He hurried the phrase ‘educated at Oxford’, or swallowed it, or choked on it, as though it had bothered him now”

• Othello is portrayed as humble while eloquent: “Rude am I in my speech, and little blessed with the soft phrase of peace"

• Othello reveals his troubled past and a desire to legitimatise his relationship with Desdemona: “She loved me for the dangers I had passed, / And I loved her that she did pity them”

The conflict between the individual and their environment

A Streetcar Named Desire

Both protagonists rail against class conflicts in their societies 

While Gatsby aspires to wealth to fit in, Blanche’s aristocratic past is derided

Fitzgerald critiques the moral decay and corruption of 1920s elite America

Hamlet

Both writers challenge societies that are corrupted and immoral 

While Fitzgerald illustrates cynicism resulting from wealth, Shakespeare critiques political cynicism and treachery

Fitzgerald’s settings reflect contemporary concerns 

The Handmaid’s Tale

Both writers use setting to offer social commentary

Fitzgerald uses rich, sensory imagery to describe 1920s elitist America, while Atwood uses simplistic descriptions to describe a dystopian society

The Great Gatsby received acclaim as a Great American Novel 

1984 

Both texts are considered key commentaries on time and place 

The Great Gatsby a keystone of modernist fiction that describes the Jazz Age, while Orwell’s audiences consider 1984 an instructional, dystopian novel for a post-truth future world