GVV – Brooklyn, The Great Gatsby, The Playboy of the Western World for Leaving Cert English #625Lab

Significant events and the impact they have on us help to clarify the general vision and viewpoint of the texts. Do you agree?

#625Lab. Corrected by an experienced examiner, graded as 46/70 with feedback on how to improve below. You may also like: Leaving Cert English Complete Guide (€). 

From my study of my three comparative texts, I must completely agree with the statement that significant events and the impact they have on us, the readers, help to clarify the general vision and viewpoint of the texts. Throughout my comparative texts, ‘Brooklyn’, ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The Playboy of the Western World’, we see numerous events that show us the general vision and viewpoint of the text and these are all significant events in the text, that impact the reader. While not all three texts have the same background, as ‘Brooklyn’ is set in an optimistic, non-patriarchal society in contrast to both ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ set in patriarchal societies, all three have very similar general visions and viewpoints at the beginning.

In my opinion, in all three texts, the openings contain very significant events that impact the readers to clarify the general vision and viewpoint of the texts. The opening stages of all three texts are essentially hopeful as in ‘Brooklyn’ there is optimism and hope for Eilis’s new life in America, in ‘The Great Gatsby’ there is a sense of hopefulness for Nick as he starts his new life in Long Island and in ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ there is hope of escape for Christy Mahon as he leaves home for a better life.

A significant event in the opening of ‘Brooklyn’ that I believe classifies(as what) the general vision and viewpoint of the text is when Miss Kelly admonishes a shopper to give preference to the wealthy Mrs Brady. I think this is an important event of extreme significance as it shows us, the readers, that in their society wealth is prioritised, as it is in ‘The Great Gatsby’ also. Another reason why I believe it is an extremely significant event is because Miss Kelly represents the director’s more pessimistic vision and viewpoint of the world, in much the same way as Tom Buchanan represents Scott Fitzgerald’s pessimistic view of the world, whos (L)abruptness and racist remarks impacts the reader’s, making them feel uncomfortable. “It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things“(Avoid ending a paragraph on a quote. I am unsure whether the opening of Brooklyn shows a positive or negative GV&V.)

Another significant event in the opening of ‘Brooklyn’ that I believe classifies(If you use classify then it needs to be labelled, positive/negative) the general vision and viewpoint of the text is when Eilis boards the ship to America and meets Georgina. Georgina is a savvy, witty Irish woman who has been living in America for years. Georgina plays a significant part in the general vision and viewpoint of the text as she is a woman taking control and helping Eilis. This gives us a vision and insight into the non-patriarchal society they are living in. Georgina’s words ‘’To think like an American, you have to act like an American’’ define the director’s general vision and viewpoint for the rest of the film, indicating the rest of the film will be hopeful and optimistic.(How does this impact the reader?)

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Eilis’s departure had a sense of order and coherence to it, and she is welcome at home any time. The opposite is seen in both ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’ as Christy Mahon leaves home in a hurry and Gatsby leaves home in search of a new identity.

In the film ‘Brooklyn’, the director’s treatment of love and relationships reveals a romantic and optimistic vision and viewpoint. The opposite is seen in ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ as a loving relationship is seen as compulsory whether it is personally wanted or not, (Is there a key moment to show this and how does this impact the reader?)and again in ‘The Great Gatsby’ where a relationship is simply measured by material wealth. (Is there a key moment and how does it impact the reader?)The contrast of the general vision and viewpoint on relationships in each text is clearly evident throughout.

In ‘Brooklyn’ the director shows his vision of love in its purest sense. This impacts the reader’s by showing them that real and true love is only for those who are sincere and honest in its pursuit. A significant event in the film when this is portrayed is when Tony Fiorello, a young Italian-American, approaches Eilis at a dance because he ‘’really likes Irish girls’’. The director, John Crowley, uses Tony as a figure of representation throughout the film to express a romantic vision and viewpoint of the world and to impact the reader’s outlook on love and relationships. In direct contrast to this, in ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ and in ‘The Great Gatsby’, the two most prominent male characters, Christy Mahon and Jay Gatsby, are the complete opposite to Tony. Tony is honest, natural and authentic while Christy and Jay are secretive, obscure and dishonest. Tony and Eilis’s relationship offers the film its truly optimistic vision and viewpoint while Christy and Pegeen’s and Gatsby and Daisy’s relationships are the falldown(L) of the text’s, clearly emphasising that their relationships are simply the negative vision and viewpoint of the world.(have you dealt with the reaction of the reader?)

In ‘Brooklyn’, their relationship is open and honest while in ‘The Great Gatsby’ from the very beginning of the novel Tom is deceitful as he carries out his affair without any distress. However I believe that the most significant event in the novel that portrays the vision and viewpoint of love and relationships is simply when the portrayal of love emphasises the essential shallowness of the world that Fitzgerald describes highlighting the vulnerability of Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is part of the world of people who value possessions over feelings and the reader’s also see that Daisy is similarly enchanted by the inanimate objects. This shows us again this vision and viewpoint of love and relationships, it lacks the essential quality of any loving relationship. It is based not on the reality of shared experience but on the myth of the individual fantasy.(More depth in the analysis of the key moment and its impact)

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In both texts of ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’, violence is very much part of the worlds in which the texts are set. ‘Brooklyn’ has no scenes of violence, as opposed to the other two in which (L)violence permeates through the lives of the characters. Both Synge and Fitzgerald acknowledge that a world contains violence, it is innate in humans and their interactions. This is not a very positive vision and viewpoint on both worlds. There is(M) numerous significant events in both texts that depict this and impact the reader’s thoughts on it. (Too general, be specific)Some examples of this in ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ are when Christy thinks he has murdered his father and he tells the story to raise his heroic levels. More of examples (Avoid this type of loose phrasing.)of this are when Christy bites Seán’s leg, Pegeen burns Christy, when Christy tries to murder his father again and when the locals turn on Christy after they discover he has been lying. (What is the impact?)

Examples of violent significant events in ‘The Great Gatsby’ that portray a negative and violent vision and viewpoint, and that impact the reader’s (Deal with the impact, engage)are when Tom hits Myrtle, when Myrtle gets run over, Gatsby’s murder and George Wilson’s suicide. There is also an undercurrent of a violent and corrupt world throughout the text as the readers are given an insight into Wolfshiem and the world he lives in.

In my opinion(L) it is the final scenes and endings in the texts that have the most significant events that have an impact on the readers and help to clarify the general vision and viewpoint of the textst. (M)Crowley’s reassuringly optimistic vision and viewpoint is shown again at the end of ‘Brooklyn’ as it ends on a much more positive note than the other two texts. In my opinion, a significant and important event at the end of ‘Brooklyn’ is when Miss Kelly reveals to Eilis that she knows she is married. Miss Kelly’s mean and nasty approach to it has a massive effect on the vision and viewpoint of the text as it represents a more pessimistic vision of Ireland. This significant scene triggers Eilis to stand up for herself and allows Crowley to reiterate an optimistic and hopeful vision and viewpoint as Eilis returns to her new happy life in America. By the end of the film, Eilis has not changed but her life has changed immensely. A completely different situation is seen in ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ and in ‘The Great Gatsby’ as Pegeen and Daisy have changed but their lives have not as they return to their previous lives with no sense of hope unlike Eilis.(Use the text) This impacts the reader’s as they realise the amount of change that has happened within each character’s own individual lives throughout the texts.(Develop the engagement)

Throughout all of my three comparative texts there is many significant events and I think the impact they have on us, the readers, definitely help to clarify the general vision and viewpoint of all three texts.

You are comparing the texts, there is a focus on GV&V. However, the question must be central throughout the answer. Develop your use of Key Moments in Playboy and Gatsby. Engage with the texts, if a significant event is pessimistic then a reader should react negatively, shocked, appalled, upset… Avoid stating there was an impact and describe what the impact was. Expression is very good, clear and flows well. Don’t use loose general phrases – for example.

21-P-14

21-C-13

21-L13

7-M-6

46/70