Love and the ensuing commitment has been a timeless and recurrent theme in literature. And yet, throughout history, commitment has been portrayed in a variety of lights, relative to context. Two distinct portrayals of commitment can be seen in Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby,s and Barret Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese, where love, and commitment take two very unique forms.
Fitzgerald’s 1920’s America craved opulence and material possessions. This can be seen in Gatsby’s obsessive commitment of Daisy, based in his idealised dream. As Nick poetically describes, Gatsby “believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” The green light represents the life Gatsby craves for himself, one where Daisy lives with him in his mansion, creating the ideal 1920’s couple. And yet despite Gatsby’s apparent love and commitment to Daisy, he appears more committed to this “green light” and the image he has created for his future. Daisy admits that Gatsby “wants too much” begging that it be enough that she loves him now, admitting she can’t escape her past. But Gatsby reveals himself to be more …show more content…
Fitzgerald uses the symbol of the great eyes of doctor TJ Eckleburg to represent the judgement of god in a godless society. The eyes sit over the valley of ashes, “brood[ing] on over the solemn dumping ground”. And yet the inhibitors of new York appear oblivious to any judgement of god, leading morally corrupt lives, absent of commitment. Tom has his two flowers, Daisy, his wife and Myrtle his mistress. Whilst Daisy happily spends many days with Gatsby, cheating herself. Jordan notes that she “thought everybody knew”, regarding Toms’ affair, Fitzgerald using the instance to highlight the total acceptance of a lack of commitment by the entire society. Commitment, in The Great Gatsby, is so often not present in relationships were it naturally should