Themes of Obsession in American Literature

To be successful, functional people in our society we need to keep realistic views of the present and plausible dreams for the future. We need to learn from our mistakes so that we may correct ourselves to be better, more efficient people as we continue to live our lives. But what happens when we become fixated on a certain aspect of our lives so as to neglect or turn a blind eye to another facet of our lives that is necessary for us to remain functional? What happens when we are missing certain key ingredients to properly brew success and maintain balance and equilibrium in life?

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.