They Didn't Live Happily Ever After

In every story I have read as a child, whether it was a fairytale or piece of realistic fiction, the characters always ended up accomplishing their dreams or living happily ever after. While these beautiful endings may be satisfying to the readers, they ignore the harsh realities behind the sugarcoated facade. In the end, achieving an item or a material or even a person does not guarantee happiness no matter how much you idolize it or strive for it.

Such is true in the case of the Youngers. All of them have their own individual dreams. Walter wishes to to be successful and rich and respected by the people around him. Ruth just wants to have a stable family with a good loving environment. Mama's dream is to live in a nice house and neighborhood. Beneatha wants to make an impact in the world by becoming a female doctor and accepting her culture. In the end, all of them achieve some semblance of their dreams: Ruth and Mama both end up living in a nice house with a good environment and Walter ends up making his investment while Beneatha learns to love her African roots. However their dreams are shattered and they are brought back to reality when Walter is scammed and his money is stolen. Additionally the threat of the so called welcoming committee and how "[people's hearts] just can't be [changed]" along with the never-ending racism and segregation. Although everyone strives toward their dream, the final result is total a nightmare. They lose the insurance money and along with it the hard work and life of Walter Sr. They receive the house but also take in the racism and terror that the white community may hurt them.

Materialism in the Flapper Era

In the Great Gatsby and The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, the depiction of women as objects is reflective of the viewpoints of the 1920s and the flapper era. The flapper era marked a time period in which women were viewed as sexual objects and a wave of demand for women's rights resulted.

In both of Fitzgerald's pieces through the depiction of its female characters, the image of a woman in the flapper era is illustrated as one of selfishness and greed; the women are viewed like porcelain dolls in display cases: they are to be admired and confined into their display cases. In The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, Kisamine is shown to have fallen in love with John even though she knows that he is going “to be put away” in the end. She is then described as selfish when it is discovered that “[she’d] rather [have him] be put away than ever kiss another girl.” In addition, Kisamine is illustrated as “the most beautiful person he had ever seen… and the incarnation of physical perfection.” John is attracted and mesmerized by her physical beauty and her appearance, and his attraction to her appearance further demonstrates his view of her as a desired sexual object. He views her as an object to be admired or to be fought for, but not as an equal partner.

This is shown in The Great Gatsby also. Daisy is described as "the king's daughter [who lives] high in a white palace" and as a "golden girl". Daisy is described as an object that is locked away with no power of her own. Also, the manipulative nature of Daisy is frequently revealed through her obsession with monetary value. She had never inquired about Jay Gatsby or James Gatz until she found out about Gatsby’s wealth and reputation.

This is evident when Gatsby claims that "'her voice is full of money"'. Daisy herself is connected with money and wealth, which allows the reader to see Gatsby’s desire for her as his desire for wealth, money, and status. While Daisy is materialistic and is drawn to Gatsby due to his wealth and high status in society, it is shown that Gatsby also is drawn to Daisy physically as well as to the monetary value that she represents.

The Suffocating Valley of Ashes

While reading The Great Gatsby, one passage really stood out to me. It was the description of the so called Valley of Ashes and its inhabitants. Nick's viewpoint and vivid description stuck in my mind. The passage begins on page 23, the opening page and note of 2.

"About half way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes-a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight.
But above the gray land and spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleberg."

This passage gives a grave description of the Valley of Ashes, a place inhabited by the poor who are described as ashes. The valley of ashes is a filthy, polluted, and tarnished home that will never seem clean and alive; it is a toxic environment and it chokes its inhabitants. The people are described as "dim" and "crumbling". Even the cars are described as "crawling" and "ghastly", depicting the enormous effect of the suffocating cloud of ashes. Everyone and everything are clearly broken beyond repair and are getting eaten alive by the ashes, the effect of commercialism.

But the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleberg rise above everything else, acting as a beacon of hope and a goal to strive for, surviving above all the people and the ashes. These eyes symbolize the fruitless efforts of the people to achieve a goal that will never come true.