Themes of Obsession in American Literature
Fitzgerald, Williams, and Miller help us identify the consequences of living in a world of fantasy away from reality while blindly oblivious of our current place in the present and future through the failures of their respective protagonists Jay Gatsby, Amanda Wingfield, and Willy Loman in their respective works The Great Gatsby, The Glass Menagerie, and Death of a Salesman.
Fitzgerald identifies through his protagonist Jay Gatsby in his novel The Great Gatsby that living in the past can cause us to lose a sense of reality and fall into a cycle of delusion that is hard to unwind. Gatsby is introduced as a self-made man who climbed the social ladder over the years and brought himself up to a status of wealth from humble beginnings. He is described to be a focused, dedicated romantic and idealist who will do nearly anything to achieve his goals. Such traits are not necessarily considered negative as one needs a committed driving force to get anywhere far in life.
However, Gatsby possesses one major flawed attribute that brings about his downfall: he is a man who is too narrow-minded and is incorrigibly lost in the past. This is a flaw that is made obvious in an incident where the plausibility of his dream to repeat the past is questioned and Gatsby replies incredulously, “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!” (Fitzgerald 110). This example plainly demonstrates his blindness and ignorance regarding the reality of his situation. He is clearly oblivious of his place and as Fitzgerald reveals later in the novel, he is ultimately bound for failure and tragedy.
The theme of fixation of the past coupling with disaster is apparent also throughout The Great Gatsby as Gatsby chases his past, unattainable sweetheart Daisy despite horribly discouraging odds. In the novel, it seems as if his whole life revolves around Daisy and thus he is lost in a personal fantasy and fails to realize the impossibility of the his pursuit of his dream. As Nick the narrator pointed out, “He had committed himself to the following of the grail.” (Fitzgerald 149). The allusion to the search for the holy-grail is a well-known example of how failure is ultimately the only possible end for attempting a feat that is clearly impossible and is thus analogous to Gatsby’s plight as he is setting himself up for failure.
To further worsen the situation, the sum of the dedicated mentality of Gatsby and his commitment to a singular dream also yields a force so powerful in fact that it sometimes catches others in its wake. In one example, Daisy too is momentarily lost in Gatsby’s generated illusion. “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams-not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.” (Fitzgerald 95). Gatsby is a calculated man and had gone through great lengths to reconstruct and attempt to relive a dream that he had really had lost years before. However, unfortunately Gatsby fails to realize the implausibility of his dream yet consistently tries harder and harder every time he fails and consequentially meets a tragic end in result.
Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter-to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms fartherâÂ?¦.And one fine morning-
So we beat on boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. (Fitzgerald 180).
The lesson to be learned is that perhaps if Gatsby had been more open minded and flexible in the pursuit of his dreams he could have focused his attention on something more possible and constructive and averted his own demise. To keep striving for an impossible dream is foolish and as Fitzgerald demonstrated, will bring nothing but failure and defeat.
Secondly, William’s The Glass Menagerie too elucidates to the reader the theme of consequence for living in the past. Amanda Wingfield, one of the main characters of William’s The Glass Menagerie, is one example. She is a spirited middle-aged woman who often recalls her past successes and youthful beauty to reminisce and to impose her ideals upon her children. This is evident through her daily discourse with her children.
Laura [rising]: Mother let me clear the table.
Amanda: No, dear, you go in front and study your type-writer chart. Or practice your shorthand a little. Stay fresh and pretty!-It’s about time for our gentlemen callers to start arriving. (Williams Sc.1).
She wants her children to be successful, be like her, and not make all the mistakes she did in the past. Unlike Fitzgerald’s Gatsby, however, Amanda does not quite try to live the past directly. Instead, she looks more to the future and success of her children, the next generation, and in a sense she indirectly lives through her children. However, their ideas conflict occasionally as Amanda’s expectations of her children conflict with their own personal thoughts and expectations of themselves.
Laura [alone in the dining room]: I don’t believe we’re going to receive any [gentleman callers], mother.
Amanda [reappearing, airily]: What? No one-not one? You must be joking! âÂ?¦. Not one gentleman caller? It can’t be true! There must be a flood, there must have been a tornado!”
Laura: It isn’t a flood, it’s not a tornado, Mother. I’m just not popular like you were in Blue MountainâÂ?¦ (Williams Sc. 1)
This quotation demonstrates the conflicting of thoughts beliefs between Amanda and her daughter Laura as Laura does not feel that she can meet Amanda’s high expectations to have her take in her footsteps. In a more extreme case, such conflictions of ideals sometimes escalate into heated arguments and Amanda finds herself in trouble and disagreement.
“Amanda [sobbingly]: My devotion has made me a witch and I make myself hateful to my children!” (Williams Sc. 4). It seems, despite her efforts, things don’t always go her way and this frustrates Amanda as she has devoted her life to her children. “Amanda: I’ve had to put up a solitary battle all these years. âÂ?¦ Don’t fall down, don’t fail!” (Williams Sc. 4). Along with her devotion to her children, she too like Gatsby becomes delusional through her expectations and occasionally her thoughts foil with her children’s.
Amanda: When [the gentleman caller] sees how lovely and sweet and pretty [Laura] is, he’ll thank his lucky stars he was asked to dinner.”
Tom: Mother, you mustn’t expect too much of Laura .âÂ?¦We don’t even notice she’s crippled any moreâÂ?¦in the eyes of others-strangers-she’s terribly shy and lives in a world of her own and those things make her seem a little peculiar to people outside the house. (Williams Sc. 5).
This quotation illustrates that Amanda deceives herself with her high expectations of her children. As Tom shows us, in the eyes of others, in reality, Laura is different that how Amanda describes her to be. Amanda is absorbed in her children and devotes herself to the sole purpose of trying to create successful children. However, in combination to her delusions of reality and singular dream through her children, Amanda brings about her own undoing through her insistent imposing disposition over her children. In a final climatic argument, her son Tom, the bread-winner of the house, abandons Amanda and Laura. Apparently Amanda’s insistent imposing of her ideals upon her children is repulsive and repelled success from her grasps. She became too absorbed in her dreams for the future and inconsiderate for the thoughts of others that she eventually drove Tom away thus bringing about for herself tragedy.
Lastly, Miller’s Death of a Salesman perhaps demonstrates the consequence of living in the past clearest and most acutely. Miller’s protagonist Willy Loman has a psychological disorder that causes him to relapse into happier flashbacks of the past when he is in unpleasant situations. Quite literally, Willy Loman relives the past amidst the present. He constantly finds himself in a state of reminiscence. Sometimes, this confusion of whether he is in the present or the past can be dangerous. In the excerpt below, Willy is describing to Linda how he almost had another car accident.
Willy: I opened the windshield and just let the warm air bath over me. And then all of the sudden I’m going off the road! I’m tellin’ ya, I absolutely forgot I was driving. If I’d’ve gone the other way over the white line I might’ve killed somebody. (Miller Act 1. pg 14)
In that situation, Willy forgets that he is driving and almost gets himself killed. This goes to show that his flashbacks may come at pretty much any moment and are a great distraction to him. He finds himself in vivid flashbacks that are so real and potent that he confuses past memories with present reality. “Willy: I was thinking of the Chevvy. Slight pause. Nineteen twenty-eightâÂ?¦when I had that red Chevvy-Breaks off. That funny? I coulda sworn I was driving that Chevvy today.” (Miller Act 1. pg 19)
In addition to this these schizophrenic experiences add confusion to his life and he finds himself living a life of delusion and illusion. He starts living his fantasies and integrating his dreams with reality. His condition is also far worse than Gatsby’s constant attempt at reconstructing the past. Gatsby recalls things that were factual and does not deceive himself about his status in life. Willy confuses even himself by creating a dream perspective of life that never existed. For example, Willy Loman keeps thinking he’s a hotshot salesman who has buyers begging to buy his product. “Willy: âÂ?¦I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. ‘Willy Loman is here!’ That’s all they have to know, and I go right through.” (Miller Act 1. pg 33) However, this is not the case as Willy in reality barely receives a salary and seems incapable of selling anything really.
But, Willy is insistent in the illusion he creates for himself and his family. “Willy: âÂ?¦And when I bring you fellas up, there’ll be open sesame for all of us, ’cause one thing, boys: I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England, and the cops protect it like their own.” (Miller Act 1. pg 31) People that aren’t that close to Willy have perspectives that foil with Willy’s perspective as they see the truth that Willy does not. For example, the excerpt below is from when his neighbor Charley offers Willy a job after he got laid off.
Charley, sitting down on the table: Willy, what’re you doin’? What the hell is goin’ on in your head? âÂ?¦I offered you a job. You can make fifty dollars a weekâÂ?¦
Willy: I’ve got a job.
Charley: Without pay? What kind of job is a job without pay? (Miller Act 2 pg 96).
Willy refuses to acknowledge the truth despite it being blatantly in front of him. He is caught up in his own illusion and still believes he works and earns top-dollar. This resistance to accept reality hinders his ability to progress through life. It’s as if Willy met a huge wall in the road of life and couldn’t find a way to break it down.
The illusions of Willy span to others around him as well. He’s made a routine about lying about himself that others start believing him. For example, Howard doesn’t feel guilty for firing Willy because he thinks that Willy has two great boys to back him up if he’s unemployed. “Howard: This is no time for false pride, Willy. You go to your sons and tell them that you’re tired. You’ve got two great boys, haven’t you?” (Miller Act 2 pg 83) Willy insists that his boys are busy and productive, but in reality this is not the case as they are restless and unemployed. Howard’s statement contains irony because Willy doesn’t really have the great boys as he says he does. Howard isn’t the only who is deceived; his family is caught up in the illusions as well, and some of them are not readily aware of it. This is evident when Biff goes to see Oliver for a job thinking that they were on good terms and that he worked for him before but suddenly realizes that he never had any of those things.
Biff: How the hell did I ever get the idea I was a salesman there? I even believed myself that I’d been a salesman for him! And he gave me one look and-I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been! We’ve been talking in a dream for fifteen years. (Miller Act 2 pg 105)
Even his own sons are led on to believe his lies and when they come to realize that everything they’ve believed is false their epiphany of realization causes them great distress and frustration. In the end, Willy commits suicide in consequence to his delusions. Again the thesis relating to the theme of consequence of living in the past is validated because Willy lived in the past, failed to recognize other aspects of life, and met a tragic end.
In conclusion, we must acknowledge all aspects of our lives to remain functional and succeed in life. Just focusing on one particular perspective such as the past will ultimately only lead us to failure and dysfunction. There is an Irish Proverb that may help us identify the fundamental elements that are indispensable to our success in life. It wisely instructs, “May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, the foresight to know where you’re going, and the insight to know when you’ve gone too far.” Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby, William’s Laura Wingfield, and Miller’s Willy Loman all met tragic ends because they failed to live flexibly in reality and instead fixated their attention and goals on unrealistic obsessions. Consequentially, isolating aspects of the past lead to the failures of both the present and future.
