... declined as they were far too pure. Readers began to drop the heroic archetype in favor of the anti-hero due to their similarity with ordinary people. The postmodern era gave birth to a number of fictional characters. The Gilded Age produced the infamous Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby grew up in poverty, and through organized crime, he was able to emerge as ... and builds his life based on a series of lies. Nonetheless, Jay Gatsby is passionate and optimistic, which is something the reader can relate to. Another example is Holden Caulfield of The Catcher i...

• Word Count: 1474
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... . In the novels of the above mentioned writers, their protagonist have been destroyed by either the cruelty of the world around them or their own inability to realize the falseness of the dream which they hoped to attain. In the poems of T.S. Eliot he describes a world in which all hopes and ambitions are lost. He paints a picture that shows this life as a wasteland for the soul. J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, incorporates several nihilistic aspects. In the novel the principle ... character, Holden Caulfeild embarks on what is to become a four-day odessy through New York City. B...

• Word Count: 1461
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School