Comparing ?The Rich Boy,? ?The Bidal Party,? And The Essay, Research Paper

The 1920?s market a booming America economy, making

evident transition between social classes. People

become very optimistic, and sometimes began living

their lives as if they had already obtained the

American dream. Dreamers usually create illusions to

avoid the cruel realities of life. F. Scott Fitzgerald

exemplifies three overly enthusiastic believers in

?The Rich Boy? with Anson Hunter, ?The Bridal Party?

with Michael Curly, and The Great Gatsby with Jay

Gatsby. Fitzgerald easily builds these characters into

?the man of imagination? and the ?the man of action.?

They live an illusion by dwelling on the past, feeling

that money can buy what they want, yet reality

shatters their fantasy world; thus Fitzgerald depicts

how each character evolves in romanticism and realism.

All three characters experience a sense of living

illusions in which Fitzgerald includes romanticism in

them. In ?Rich boy,? Paula Legendre is Anson Hunter?s

unattainable love due to his behaviour. As he grows

older and finally wants to commit, he discovers that

she is to marry another man. When Anson hears the

news, he relive the past wanting Paula more only

because now he understand tah he cannot have her. From

that moment he continues to have hopes and drams of

being with her, ?still hoped that they would some day

marry? No matter who he dated, Paula remained in his

head.

Michael Curly in ?The Birdal Party? has a strong love

for Caroline Dandy, where she too, is to marry another

man. In addition, she grows even stronger in Michael?s

heart. Michael tries hard to conquer Caroline?s heart,

explaining that he loves here and believes he feels

more right to marry her. He shows his hope when he

says ?Well I won?t give up till the last moment?one

takes what one can get, up to the limit of one?s

strength, and if I can?t have her, at least she?ll go

into the marriage with some of me in her hart.?

In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby has a vision by believing

he can relive the past with Daisy. Gatsby?s dream

leads him to commit only to Daisy for the rest of his

life, assuming that Daisy will wait for him, too.

Although Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan, he

continues to live an illusion, thinking he still has a

chance. Gatsby also disregards Tom and Daisy?s having

a child together and keep this denial in his head

until he actually sees the little girl. His face shows

this surprised, ?Afterward he kept looking at the

child with great surprise. I [Nick Carraway] don?t

think he had ever really believed in its existence

before.? Althuugh seeing the child should bring

Gatsby to face the reality, he chooses to remain in an

illusion.

Fitzgerald also depicts each character as believing

that their favorable financial status can help them in

achieving what they want, their loves. Anson Hunter, a

self-confident, well-off, prominent young man believes

that he can attain anyone and anything in life. He

feels certain that his position in life could keep

Paula hanging on throughout the years because she is

attracted to his lifestyle, ??Paula and her mother

accompanied him [Anson] North, she was impressed with

the standing of his family in New York and with the

scale on which they lived in.? Even so Paula could

tolerate only so much of waiting for Anson which gave

her no choice but to move on even if Anson was sure

she would not, ?Anson was too acute to wonder. When he

saw a man?s name in her letter he felt more sure of

her and little disdainful-he was always superior to

such things.?

Bibliography

F. Scott Fitzgerald, ?The Rich Boy,? Jazz Age Tales

(Naples: Loffredo, 1996) 126.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, ?The Bridal Party,? Jazz Age

Tales (Naples: Loffredo, 1996) 168.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (New York:

Simon and Schuster, 1992) 123.

F. Scott Fitzgerald ?The Rich Boy,? Jazz Age Tales

(Naples: Loffredo, 1996) 121.

F. Scott Fitzgerald ?The Rich Boy,? Jazz Age Tales

(Naples: Loffredo, 1996) 126.