Themes Of Trauma In The Great Gatsby - 1849 Words

Art often represents the challenges overcome by individuals as they search for life meaning. Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting, released on12 March 1998, follows the story of protagonist Will Hunting, played by Matt Damon, who has Attachment Disorder. Abused as a child, he has trouble developing meaningful and appropriate relationships with adults and women. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s â€Å"The Great Gatsby†, published on 10 April 1925, is a story told by involved narrator Nick Carraway, who was once Jay Gatsby s neighbour. Over the course of a summer on Long Island, Carraway reflects on the incidents of the roaring 20’s. Fitzgerald’s famous romantic tale explores, Jay Gatsby, a financially successful man motivated by his obsession to recapture his†¦show more content†¦This abuse has left him defensive which explains his, at times, mean and hurtful demeanour. The composers explore the idea of shame to interpret and consider the difficulties of living up to the social ideal. Fitzgerald illustrates Gatsby’s pursuit to self actualisation through recurrent symbolism of green light and the eyes. Van Sant uses his scenes to develop and reveal the ideas of where Will’s initial shame originates. Gatsby’s shame reveals he feels something wrong or damaged within himself. From this shame Gatsby creates a persona, changing his name, and moulds himself against his poor upbringing in a lavish display of wealth and ostentation. The drive of this stems from the loss of Daisy. The eyes are powerful symbol, which Fitzgerald explores in demonstrating the notion of who is watching?, who is listening? The characters in his novel are typically guilt free with their actions, however they are afraid of being seen and the negatives of being seen. Similarly Will, feels shame about his upbringing when he retells his childhood stories saying; â €Å"He used to just put a belt, a stick, and a wrench on the kitchen table and say, â€Å"Choose.†Ã¢â‚¬ . The director highlights the abuse suffered by Will through graphic imagery. The camera fixates, for an extended period, on forensic photos showing Will’s physical abuse as a cumulative tool of image and dialogue. Through these formative experiences Will learned to physically fightShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1567 Words   |  7 PagesScott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, and Ernest Hemingway’s, The Sun Also Rises, act as an exploration of Americans’ shift in values, post-World War One (WWI). These authors do so by commenting on the excessive partying and drinking, the falsification of relationships, and the lost generation of the veterans who fought in the Great War. In their novels, Fitzgerald and Hemingway discuss the timeless parties and superfluous drinking in society post-WWI. The Great Gatsby is characterized by JamesRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1636 Words   |  7 PagesThe 1920s: Two Perspectives, One Story F. 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