Compare and contrast the ways in which love is presented in The Great Gatsby and The Whitsun Weddings

In The Great Gatsby, love is presented as an unattainable ideal which the eponymous character fruitlessly chases in his pursuit of Daisy. He romanticises his past with her without realising that the past is irretrievable. Similarly, in the poem "Sunny Prestatyn", Larkin highlights the unrealistic expectations love can give us by describing the poster girl as the 'perfect' woman until she is graffitied on and the poster is taken down, emphasising how mortality is the only thing in life which is certain.

AC

Related English A Level answers

All answers ▸

Explore how the “victims” are created and used by the authors of both texts, in Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” and Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”


What context and analysis can I use to support my reading of the poem the Lammas Hierling?


How does the poetic form of the poem Aunt Julia, by Norman MacCaig, present the idea of a happy home?


How does Mary Shelley present the Creature in 'Frankenstein'?