The hope of attaining something is an optimistic state of mind that is based upon the matter of unwavering perseverance. Hope is the illusion we have for ourselves to fit that last piece of the puzzle to our not so completed life. “In the end, we were all just humans… drunk on the idea that love, only love could heal our brokenness” Celebrated author F.scott Fitzgerlad critiques the nature of society through his idea of trying to attain something you can’t really have. Throughout his pieces of writing, he expresses the illusion humanity has on expectations. These elements are present in his short stories, The Great Gatsby, Winter Dreams, A Diamond as Big as the Ritz and David Fincher’s film ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ inspired by Fitzgerlad short story which is all driven by male protagonist’s. Throughout these stories, the audience becomes very aware of the dangerous reality of chasing the hope of attaining something to make them lives complete.

The idea of chasing a hope to have something or someone to feel complete is clearly shown in The Great Gatsby’s main character Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatz was born into a mediocre family with the intentions of growing up and living a normal life, but Jay had different plans for himself. When Gatsby releases Daisy will never accept because of difference in wealth and fame, he starts to construct an entire existence “and this conception he was faithful to the end.” He knew if he built himself up, this new life would attract Daisy, to make himself worthy of her and the dream – because to have her, is to have the dream, she is the Golden Girl and he would chase her relentlessly until the end. He creates a dream of status and money, and a hope of being handed an invitation into Daisy’s exclusive ‘secret society’ to which- unbeknown to him- he could never be apart of. When he moves to long island, he sets out to attract Daisy to his new beautiful life, and expects their attraction and love for each other will be the same as five years ago “‘Can’t repeat the past ?… Why of course you can !’”. By Gatsby saying this to Nick, it shows us as the reader that Gatsby is blindfolded by this illusion because time changes everything and in reality, nothing will ever be the way it was. Instantly Daisy is drawn to his newly created wealth and status this draws the two closer, for a moment Gatsby truly thought he had attained his forever lasting dream but the reality caught up to him. The differences in both social hierarchies drew the two apart, Daisys elite “old money society” never truly accepts Gatsby and West Egg as in their eyes they have made their money illegally making them cheat the game. The importance of wealth for Daisy has always been much stronger than the passion for love, making her choose a life that will make her look good over a life where she will truly find happiness. Gatsby could never see the reality for what it was, giving him even more of an urge to keep chasing Daisy, he was “breathing dreams like air” for so long that once this conception to which he had created drifted away, he found himself struggling to gasp for breath in the real world. With the crumble of his dream, Gatsby drifted away alongside it leading him into a downward spiral to his death. With the sudden death of Gatsby, it was very easily shown to the audience the dangerous morality of living a life of hope not a life of actuality, it’s a constant reminder that a dream can posses and blindfold you from the truth that really lies underneath.

Dexter green is your average young boy from Minosinda, much like Jay Gatsby he shares a striking likeness to the outlook of living a glamorous life filled with wealth and perfection from a very young age. Dexter grows up working as a caddie for the filthy rich at Cherry Island golf course during the summer months, with the exposure to this wealth he grew a strong interest to the glamorous life these people live. While working at the green he comes across a striking young woman called Judy Jones, little did he know from that moment on Judy would change his life forever. In Dexter’s eyes Judy is “arrestingly beautiful,” she everything he ever wanted and more, she’s his “Dream” girl. Much like Gatsby and Daisy, he found himself being forced away from Judy by the reality of his life, he wasn’t wealthy nor did he come from a wealthy background he was just your average poor caddie, a person Judy could never settle for. This driving force of separation made Dexter’s ambitions even bolder, he grew older graduated from a prestigious college and built foundations for himself, foundations that would give him an invitation to wealth, but most importantly an invitation to gain the interest of Judy Jones. The driving force to become wealthier, attractive man is present in both Gatsby and Dexter, as these men are continuous chasing the eye of the women they desire, in order to complete the puzzle of there everlasting dreams. Dexters love for Judy is described as “He loved her, he would love her until the day he was too old for loving- but he could not have her”, but maybe he didn’t need to grow too old to stop loving her, much like Gatsby all he needed to do was wake up from this dream and his love might vanish just like the fantasy in his head. The problem was waking up wasn’t so easy, because Dexter had lived his life in this dream for so long, he didn’t really know how to live in reality. In both F.scott Fitzgerlad short stories Winter Dreams and the novel The Great Gatsby, the idea is very clear that both Dexter and Gatsby are chasing the hope of attaining their dream girl that they start to lose touch on the normality of life around them. The lie of these women possesses them creating them to live a fantasy in their heads driving them into a declining spiral of disaster.

Unlike the characters in the previous stories, John T. Unger, from Diamond as Big as the Ritz attends a high-class boarding school. This is where “the fathers of all the boys are money-kings”, but John sees the value money has, he is nor rich yet not poor making him appreciate the life he has at this school. Over the summer he is invited to the secret home of a school friend who he yet to find out has a very wealthy father who owns the world’s biggest diamond, he quotes “He must be very rich,” said John simply. “I’m glad. I like very rich people. The richer a fella is, the better I like him.” because John had never had a wealthy childhood like Percey, he adores the idea that he will spend the summer with the wealthiest man in the world. He immerses himself with such utter wealth, he starts to grow a strong ambition to it much like Dexter Green and Gatsby this ambition makes him hopeful to become consumed by a hope for something better than what he has. Like Dexter, John establishes an immense hope for attaining this glory; for the impossible diamonds, the status and Percy’s younger sister he see as the ideal golden girl. Over the summer he falls more and more in love with Kismine, who like in ‘Winter Dreams’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’, symbolizes the entire illusion of perfect wealth and prosperity, letting him fall into the underlying trap of a made-up illusion. The fantasy that this summer creates in John’s mind, is a fantasy of perfection for John. He hopes on marriage and a future with this girl and the diamonds and wealth that came along with it, but we soon realise that fantasy does only exist in ones creative mind. Fitzgerald builds our aspirations for their future until we, like John are hoping with desperate anticipation for the happy ending that can’t be. Like Jay Gatsby for a slight moment John had it all, he was inches away from being able to have a future with Kismine along with the wealth that came with it much like Gatsby was with Daisy, but reality hit him allowing him to finally see that this “fantasy” he was creating in his mind and just like that his dreams would crumble and he would have to go back to his ordinary life as he describes as “Hell”. By describing John’s home as “Hell”, Fitzgerald reinforces the idea that after dreaming with such passion of this perfect life, returning to reality, where actually, his life had been happy, was something to dread. Through the ambitious hopes and disappointments of John and Dexter, Fitzgeralds presents the dangers of falling for the illusion of perfection. He emphasizes the true nature of ‘perfection’ with the perfect house and life vanishing into nothingness. As nothing comes from nothing, this illustrates how perfection really is an illusion, it cannot exist.

Another character that gets lured into the fantasy of hoping for a life of perfection, is Benjamin Button. Born in the body of an old man, he lives his life in reverse making him grow young instead of the average human growing old. Benjamin automatically Is destined for an unconventional life, making him experience those average milestones the opposite way round. Early on in his life he meets his golden girl, Daisy although aware of the inevitability of time and what it means for his unique life, is constantly seeking normalcy. Like John he keeps reaching for conventionality, to live the perfect life with the perfect family, but in reality, he can’t really have this as always he will be running in the opposite direction to the rest of society. When Benjamin reaches his middle age, along with Daisy their lives finally seem normal and for just for a moment nothing was pulling them apart, this moment is present in both The Great Gatsby, Winder Dreams and Diamond as Big as the Ritz. He and Daisy finally start enjoying their perfect window of time, just as John and Dexter do with their golden girls along with their golden dreams. Filled with joy and excitement, this new era of his life starts to finally seem normal, Daisy becomes pregnant and the audience becomes wrapped up in the idea that this beautiful life could finally all work out. During this moment in the film, Benjamin feels is “one of the happiest times of my life” Despite this he is still “thinking how nothing lasts. and what a shame that is”, because in reality like Benjamin’s fantasy it doesn’t last forever. Eventually, Daisy grows old as Benjamin grows young where Daisy “couldn’t have been raising both of [them]”.  This mirrors the way Dexter Green felt in the end, that his illusion was finished. He finally gives up on breathlessly chasing after Judy Jones because he knows he can’t have their fantasy life together forever; Benjamin realizes that instead of trying to ignore time’s presence and live his perfect life with his family any longer, he must back away from the dream.  This illustrates to the audience that the hope for something impossible, like Gatsby, Dexter, John and Benjamin’s dreams, means that being inevitably let down to reality makes you wish it was another way, it is a disappointment even when it could have been wonderful.

Fitzgerald uses the male protagonists in the short stories of The Great Gatsby, Winter Dream, Diamond as Big as the Ritz and David Fincher’s film ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ to build the idea of hopes and reality and what they really mean to us. Throughout these short stories, he takes the reader through a series of events which connects them to the characters. He attaches the reader to the stories, making them have empathy for the characters, to attain a hope for the impossible to be possible. In the end, he neglects the audience, by shattering their hope for these characters to make a life with their everlasting love. By Fitzgerlad neglecting to finish these stories with a happy ending, it reinforces to the reader, that it all really is a fantasy they have created in their mind because in the end happy endings only happen in fairy tales. The “colossal vitality of his illusion” was the downfall of these four characters, Gatsby, Dexter, John and Benjamin. The illusion to which they all had thought was that if they could just “stretch [their] arms farther”, they could attain these perfect, glorious lives. Fitzgerlad reminds us throughout these novels the danger of chasing a hope that is actually all made up because you can’t really control your life. The constant unknown of life, the unexpected ups and downs and how we navigate them are what makes us what we are. It shows us that we need to live every day in the moment and the rest of our future will fold out in front of us.