Paul’s hatred for his middle class lifestyle is so strong, that he feels it is necessary to ‘artificially enhance’ his life by lying and stealing. Even though Cordelia street is a respectable neighbourhood, Paul views it as a poor and ugly area, because it lacks the extravagence that represents wealth and to him beauty. In Paul’s world, “the natural nearly always wears the guide of ugliness, that a certain element of artificiality seemed necessary in beauty.” (Paul’s Case, pg. 7). Paul despises his common life so much that he feels he must hid it from his peers through lies.
Browning contrasts the Duke’s representation of the duchess with the factual representation emphasising the Duke’s manic state and causing the audience to strongly oppose the duke as a person. Men feel the need to retain their pride in relationships which reflects the social attitudes and patriarchal values of the Victorian Era. The Victorian Era was a time of a changing social attitudes and people felt insecure and questioned their dominance with an increased male ego. This is evident in Browning’s portrayal of the Duke in “My Last Duchess”. Browning contrasts the happiness of the duchess with by providing imagery of nature, “Bough of cherries” and “orchard” with the dark, manic mind of the duke.
This arrogance shown by Birling portrays the upper class in a bad way and creates the dislike for Mr Birling. In the play priestly makes the audience perceive birling as foolish and arrogant, this portrays the upper class as bad and the audience of 1946 start to see that maybe the upper class isn’t so great and that they might be wrong “the Germans don’t want war” and “absolutely unsinkable” these show how wrong birling’s views and ideas were and how the upper class are wrong. This use of showing Birling as arrogant makes the audience side with the audience. Birling denies major future events and priestly uses dramatic irony to show the arrogance of Birling and the denial he is in. this arrogance by Birling is shown through his lack of care for his family and his priories are climbing the social ladder and stopping a public scandal.
As the novel proceeds, it is quickly revealed that the reality they live differs from their appearance to their fellow high society members. Firstly, Gatsby’s wealth is not genuine because he does illegal activities to distinguish himself from the poor. Secondly, Daisy is not an ideal wealthy housewife because she is deceiving and unfaithful. Lastly, Tom wants to have the perfect image of a happy family but his lust prevents him from actually having one. Humankind want to be something they are not so which causes reality to be an
Holden explores the concept of relationships through the similar attitudes displayed towards popular society and his repulsion of their values. Holden is seen throughout the novel to have difficulty accepting people due to their pretentious nature and expresses this through the constant use of the word “phony.” “…very phony, Ivy League voices, one of those very tried, snobby voices” this quote by Holden displays his criticism of middle to upper class America. Holden’s relationship with his own parents is one that he deems
For whereas American democracy is based on the idea of equality among people, the truth is that social discrimination still exists and the divisions among the classes cannot be overcome. Myrtle's attempt to break into the group to which the Buchanans belong is doomed to fail. Taking advantage of her vivacity, her lively nature, she seeks to escape from her own class. She enters into an affair with Tom and takes on his way of living. But she only becomes vulgar and corrupt like the rich.
In A Christmas Carol, Dickens deliberately and defiantly comments on the society which was 19thCentury England. As his own life gives context to his commentary, Dickens discusses what he sees as the moral and social imperatives of the time. As the two are inextricably bound both are addressed in an attempt to bring about the change he argues is necessary of an empathetic and just society. The inequity between the rich and the poor and societies ignorance in sight of this lack of social justice is central to this novella. The novella starts with Scrooge being a cold hearted, bitter old man, that has no care what so ever with the poor.
Comparing chapter one (act one) of ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Death of a Salesman’ Both ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Death of a Salesman’ explore the idea of the American dream. Also, they both show the difference between society’s living standards and the classes; old money and new money are significant with this. Fitzgerald strongly emphasizes that Nick Carraway is infatuated with Jay Gatsby and his wealth. He describes Gatsby as being “some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life” connoting that he is living the life of the ideal American dream. This differentiates from the characters Linda and Willy in ‘Death of a Salesman” where they are living in a “small, fragile-seeming home” and the in detail yet minimal use of furniture.
The Great Gatsby may appear to be a simple tragic romance, however this may not have been the case had the aspect of social status not come into play. Social status, or class, played a large role in corrupting the original idea of the American Dream in the story of The Great Gatsby. With the goal to gain the attention from Daisy Buchanan and the East, Jay Gatsby experiences love, tragedy and moral struggle throughout the novel, resulting in the harsh reality that social class is distinguished by more than just wealth. The Great Gatsby teaches a fine lesson on how money cannot buy happiness and therefore, cannot buy love. In the beginning, very little is known about the life of Gatsby but the reader is quickly introduced to his goal of gaining the attention and ultimate love from the woman which he claims to be
The novella ‘A Christmas Carol’ written by Charles Dickens depicts a fictitious tale, exploring the personal views and messages of the authors point. Social inequality is a major theme which Dickens clearly points out to readers across many generations. This demonstrates how societies during Victorian era in Britain became too greedy and egotistical. Readers are alerted of the variation between the rich and the poor by the transformation of the protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge. Ebenezer Scrooge changes from a money-oriented man to a much more kind-hearted person, owing his change to guilt and compassion.