Innocence in Daisy Miller, My Antonia, and the Great Gatsby Essay

ingenuousness in Daisy Miller by Henry James, My Antonia by Willa Cather and the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.It is non as easy as it seems to distinguish who is innocent and who is non. sinlessness is a cultural concept which is usu all toldy confusing. An act that is nave and figure in one society can be a exoteric disgrace in another. Then a question comes to mind What is honor? Challenging the norms of a society makes a person totally slopped? What spoils or preserves innocence? The word innocence is ambiguous. It has double trance because people put different masks on their faces for different occasions. Innocence is in addition one of the themes that can be focused on tether American novels Daisy Miller by Henry James, My Antonia by Willa Cather and the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. These three books help the ratifier to see the other side of the medallion and they nominate that it is our prejudices and cultural differences which shape our view of othe rs. To start with James novella Daisy Miller, the reliability of the narrator can be discussed. Winterbourne, an American but a Europeanised man is told to be an extremely amiable fellow, universally liked. Everything looks alright with him. There seems to be no way to discuss his honesty, his innocence can be discussed because he does not really try to help Daisy. He is only affected by her in a physical way. If he had a chance of tease with Daisy, he would not miss that chance in any case he would not marry her. He regards her as an innocent, fresh, and young lady but also he thinks that he is common and unsophisticated Winterbourne is not together with Daisy all the time. This is why his reliability as a source can be discussed. He is confused by her and t... ... illusions. They live in a scattered paradise. Their life is full of corruption, moral decadence, hypocrisy, abusive power of money and bust dream. Theirs is a demoralized civilization. But their honesty and innocence are not only corrupted by inner forces but also by the environmental factors. They live in a time of excess. They are a lost generation and they are afraid of poverty and worship to triumph as Fitzgerald says. To conclude James and Cathers novel characters have similar qualities. The females do not look moderate but they have a refined heart. Fitzgerald, who criticizes the corruption of American dream -not the dream itself- satirically presents seemingly secure but actually spoiled and lost characters. These three novels tell the reader not to judge people just by appearance and they get out people to gain a new perspective on gentle behavior.