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Examples Of Quest In The Great Gatsby

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What is the Quest? The Quest consist of five things; “a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials en route, and a real reason to go there” (Foster 3). The Quest does not have to be violent or action packed to show up in literature. It is when a person overcomes a battle or challenge in his or her life. This will show up in places one would not expect. In this paper the reader will see examples of the quest in The Great Gatsby, The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, and Speech in the Virginia Convention to show how it shows up in unexpected places.
First, The Great Gatsby shows several versions of the Quest. Nick Carraway was on a quest to be in the bonds business. Carraway leaves home and heads for New York. Some could say the real reason for this quest is to find a way into the wealthy lifestyle. This is not the main quest of the story by …show more content…

“The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege” (Douglass 25). He believed fully in equal rights, he knew he deserved the same privileges as the white people. Douglass spent his life searching for equal opportunities for himself. “The real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge” (Foster 3). Douglass wanted knowledge about himself. He spent his life fighting, he did not take things from his masters, and some of the most feared abusers feared him. After many trials and problems he gained his freedom, but it did not come easy. He was beaten by many, and even spent time in jail for planning an escape. He finally conquered his quest through good behavior and a little deceit. Douglass realizes he is stronger than he was lead to believe his entire life. He made it out of slavery by his own self empowerment. There are stories where the Quest is the central idea, in these cases the reader is locked in hoping to find if the quester

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His beatings and lack of food were only part of his miserable daily life. Eventually Douglass was able to successfully escape this life and vowed to forever actively support the equality of all

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484 Words | 2 Pages

Douglass writing skills are further conveyed as magnificent through his logic-based argument. His logic-based argument comes through proving himself valid and credible, and developing uniform lines of reasoning. First and foremost, his validity is established early on, when he describes his background in vast amount of detail and even truthfully exclaims how he was separated from his parents, but that had an effect of which he did “not know” of and thus very miniscule. The reader carries many details about Douglass’ childhood, and Douglass illustrates the truth on how the separation did not affect him that much gains more credibility for him. The reason being is any slave who just starts off the narrative by complaining about his separation

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1080 Words | 5 Pages

In “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass narrates in detail the oppressions he went through as a slave before winning his freedom. In the narrative, Douglass gives a picture about the humiliation, brutality, and pain that slaves go through. We can evidently see that Douglass does not want to describe only his life, but he uses his personal experiences and life story as a tool to rise against slavery. He uses his personal life story to argue against common myths that were used to justify the act of slavery. Douglass invalidated common justification for slavery like religion, economic argument and color with his life story through his experiences torture, separation, and illiteracy, and he urged for the end of slavery.

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1657 Words | 7 Pages

“The Hypocrisy of American Slavery: Slavery at its best” Frederick Douglass an activist for anti racism and also an abolitionist’s speech “The Hypocrisy of Slavery” was given on the occasion of celebrating the independence day. Here, in this speech he actually brought out some questions like why we should celebrate Independence Day while almost four million people were kept chained as a slave. He actually mocked the fact of the people of America’s double standards which is that they are singing out the song of liberty, on the other hand holding the chain of slavery. Frederick Douglass, a former American-African slave who managed to escape from his slavery and later on became an abolitionist gave this speech on Fourth of July,

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633 Words | 3 Pages

In Frederick Douglass’s book, he writes accounts of his time in slavery and beyond. Throughout the book, Douglass writes about not only the physical hardships slaves endured, but the mental and emotional hardships as well. In Chapter X, Douglass describes a battle he had with a temporary slave owner named Mr. Covey. After the fight concludes, Douglass writes, “This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood.

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582 Words | 3 Pages

Frederick Douglass in his narrative “Why I learned to Read and Write” demonstrates how he surpassed many obstacles along the way towards getting an education. These obstacles not only shaped Frederick’s outlook on life but also influenced him in his learning to read and write. Frederick’s main challenge was that of not being an owner of his person but rather a slave and a property to someone else. Frederick Douglass lived in the time when slavery was still taking place and slaveholders viewed slavery and education as incompatible. The slave system didn’t allow mental or physical freedom for slaves; slaveholders were to keep the apt appearance and slaves were to remain ignorant.

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498 Words | 2 Pages

At last, Douglass brings the point of freedom and justice the one person has every right to him than any other, and no man has the authority to rule over

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940 Words | 4 Pages

When one achieves a goal that they have been working towards, it brings a feeling of satisfaction. This satisfaction is due to knowing that the work that was involved paid off. However, what if one doesn’t have to put that much work into getting to where they got? Does that person really feel a sense of accomplishment if they don’t have to work for it? The American Dream is the constant pursuit of goals, but people who stop setting goals for themselves will never achieve the American Dream.

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Douglass managed to overcome the maltreatment of his wretched slave owners through the eventual attainment of freedom. The injustice imposed upon the African-American slaves by their owners was the crux of Douglass’s motivation to escape this inhumane life. Adolescents in today’s society could use Frederick’s determination as an example of moving forward to better oneself or one’s situation regardless of

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1523 Words | 7 Pages

The American person has no true ideals, or beliefs that make him or her up. Americans are free to believe in what they want, think what they want, preach what they want, and most importantly say what they want . Authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, and Walt Whitman show in their texts such as “Self-Reliance” , The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass , and “I Celebrate Myself” that there is no true definition of the American identity. The American identity can be seen in the many aspects of peoples lives, and a a quality that many Americans portray is the ability to have individual thoughts and emotions as well as the capability to not conform to society because they stand up for their own individual rights. A

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973 Words | 4 Pages

Because of this, he successfully creates a contrast between what the slave owners think of and treat the slaves and how they are. Douglass says that slave’s minds were “starved by their cruel masters”(Douglass, 48) and that “they had been shut up in mental darkness” (Douglass, 48) and through education, something that they were deprived of, Frederick Douglass is able to open their minds and allow them to flourish into the complex people that they are. By showing a willingness to learn to read and write, the slaves prove that they were much more than what was forced upon them by their masters.

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1574 Words | 7 Pages

Douglass is a African American that was a slave and did a Narrative about his time being a slave and in his Narrative he “threw light” at the American slave system. African American slave Frederick Douglass lived through a time of racism and how slavery was a natural thing to do but was a very awful thing. And slavery is when families who had colored skin were separated and sold of to a person that can do anything to them, the slave is pretty much like the slaveholder’s property. And in this essay I will talk about how Douglass’s position differs from those who supported slavery and also I will be talking about How Douglass used his Narrative to share his position. How Douglass “throws light” on the American Slave system is by showing

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1673 Words | 7 Pages

Douglass is always curious and he never gives up even when he finds several obstacles in his way, because he perfectly knows what his goal is: he needs an education to get his freedom. He is determined to get it even though it requires a lot of hard work. Douglass is sure of the potential of education. As a matter of fact he knows well that knowlegde can change his life while leading him to freedom. Douglass has both the motivation and the determination because he is aware that owing to education he can get to great places in his life, and that education makes the world a better place

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257 Words | 2 Pages

Frederick Douglass was a great writer, but he wasn’t always. He was an escaped slave who used that in his speeches as a topic to gain the attention of his audience. His audience was a seemingly sympathetic one and got to them through rhetorical questions. Douglass wanted to convey the message that there are many changes that need to be made.

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902 Words | 4 Pages

Douglass’s goal in writing his narrative is to persuade the reader to stand against slavery and realize

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