Blinded by Memories
How protagonists of Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby are similar by rejecting reality and how it leads to their downfall?
The Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby share the podium when best portraying the American dream and experience. Despite differing greatly, J.D. Salinger’s Holden Caulfield’s experiences and inner aspirations are akin to those of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby. The Great Gatsby and the American dream and success it illustrates including: wealth, fame, and roaring parties held by Jay Gatsby may initially seem wholly different from The Catcher in the Rye. However the more one looks in depth at the main characters, the easier it becomes to understand their similarities. Holden Caulfield and Jay Gatsby share the need to hold on to what was once. Both characters grasp so tightly to memories in the past, it blinds them to reality in present-day. This is mainly a result of both characters being idealists and rejecting change. Whilst both characters thrive in the past they struggle in reality with their individual distinct flaws. It is the faults in their characters that, not only makes them distinct, though is what leads to their ultimate fall at the end of each novel. Holden Caulfield and Jay Gatsby struggle with the present because they tend to reject reality by being overly self-interested. Holden Caulfield appears to not “fit in” anywhere and leads him to view most people as “phony” as an
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is used in many classrooms as a prime example of the American experience or dream. Though drastically different in many ways, these same English classrooms use The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger as a variation on that same experience. The main characters of each novel, Gatsby and Holden, are very different at first glance, however when taking a deeper look at character analysis, it is found these two characters are more alike than previously concluded. Both Holden Caulfield and Jay Gatsby are characters so flawed that they are set up for their falls, however Gatsby is the character that, in the end, had a greater fall. Gatsby and Holden, though extremely different characters, both suffer from similar problems.
It can be very challenging to achieve the American Dream without attracting the jealousy of others. This is apparent in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, where the main character, Gatsby, comes from humble beginnings to make a substantial amount of money during Prohibition. While he is doing this, he is meeting new friends and enemies and reuniting with an old girlfriend, who becomes very important in the life of the Great Gatsby. As the book progresses, Fitzgerald seems to blend his own life into the story by showing his interpretation of the American Dream and how other people think of a person who has achieved it. Fitzgerald indicates Gatsby’s relationships with the other characters in the story through the use of symbolism, with
Now both Gatsby and Holden, mostly having nothing in common, but both suffer from similar issues. Having idealized minds, they both desire what they cannot reach which includes being accepted and wanting the feeling like they belong. However Holden tries to look for this and while being a dislikeable character that has a negative mind set on everyone and doesn’t like, “… anything that’s happening” (169), Gatsby is a outgoing, likeable and more idealistic character that refuses to give up hope, even when Daisy strongly shows liking Tom over Gatsby himself (144-145). According to Nick’s narration Gatsby is , “...worth the whole damn bunch put together’”(154).
Scott Fitzgerald creates The Great Gatsby, a novel that revolves around one of the main characters, Jay Gatsby, and the conflicts that he goes through. Jay Gatsby is known as a slave over romanticism as he tries to revitalize the one love he had for Daisy five years ago (Fitzgerald 73). Gatsby is thought of as a “mythic” character. He emblematizes conflict between illusion and reality at the heart of American lives. It is said that he is represented as a American romantic hero (Bewley 14).
In the novel, The Great Gatsby, there are many differences between two of the main characters. These two main characters are known as Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan. Throughout the novel, there were multiple situations where they both put themselves in tremendous situation. Both of these main characters were very wealthy and educated. Tom was more of a man who lived a corrupted life revolving around the good ol’ money and power while Gatsby was more of a man who represented hope believe that humanity still has the chance of being stable despite the money and power as long as there is goodness in the heart.
In the books The Catcher in the Rye, and The Great Gatsby both J.D. Salinger and F.Scott Fitzgerald wrote about two phony characters name Holden and Gatsby. They are phonies because they lie about everything, even simple stuff like their names. The person who is phonier between Holden and Gatsby is Gatsby. He lied about his whole life basically Gatsby lied about his name, covered up a murder, and lied about what school he went too. Gatsby biggest problem is he lied about his name.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the authors explicitly reveal their disappointment in the modern world. These novels take on two different perspectives of American life; nevertheless both have their main characters hold the same outlook towards the modern world. Holden Caulfield and Jay Gatsby both believe that money will bring happiness, but are equally disappointed when their dreams do not come true. Demonstrated through their works; J.D. Salinger and F. Scott Fitzgerald embody American writers disappointed in the modern world through the unfortunate lives of their main characters and the countless disappointments
Boden Hager 4X Characters of Rebecca and The Great Gatsby share some similarities and differences when it comes to actions and attitudes of the characters. The status of one 's social class can shape them as they grow. Growing up being used to being pampered everyday of your life would have created a different person than if you had been born into a poor family like Jay Gatsby had. Jay Gatsby came from a poor family and was quite unhappy which ultimately lead him to leave his home behind and run away to pursue a brighter future.
Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby are two main characters in the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby and Tom are similar in many ways but Gatsby is a better character because he cares for people and their feelings. Throughout the novel you can see how alike these two are and What is the difference between Gatsby and Tom Bouchernon. Tom and Gatsby have many things in common, one being their love for Daisy. Tom and Gatsby both showed their love for Daisy in different ways.
While many argue that Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye does not deviate from the traditional anti-hero attributes and, therefore, does not display any prominent change, an argument can be made to the contrary. Holden Caulfield goes through some noticeable character development and is in a better place emotionally at the end of the book because he speaks with Phoebe. His meeting with Phoebe and Phoebe’s message to him shows him a youth’s perspective on his world, rather than the superficial sincerity of his elderly professor and his favorite teacher that makes advances on him. Additionally, him being able to successfully communicate with a member of his own family puts him in a better place. His time with her lets him see his own self-image of a “catcher in the rye.”
Similarities between author and character are nothing short of common, but nothing like the almost parallel lives of J.D. Salinger and Holden Caulfield. Both J.D. and Holden hate phonies and go through life avoiding them and materialism. Catcher In the Rye by J.D. Salinger shows direct similarities in very evident ways of how they, both J.D. himself and Holden Caulfield, want to deal with the fakeness or “phoniness” in the world. Each lives their own lives and seem different until compared in ways more than one, and it shows how an author puts themselves into the book, intentionally or not. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J.D. Salinger's Catcher In the Rye, very obviously hates the phonies of the world and the materialism in the life he lives.
Hamlet and The Great Gatsby are very similar because of their themes. Hamlet, written by Shakespeare in 1603, and The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 share the themes of madness, vengeance, mortality, murder, and disloyalty. Although the plots are not very alike, the two main characters in each have similar qualities. These characters are not exactly the same, their flaws and actions both lead them to being disloyal to others, including themselves, and in the end, their death. Both Hamlet and Gatsby were obsessed with their past and trying to solve it.
After watching the Great Gatsby, I gathered the differences between the characters. However, in addition I also got similarities that stood out in the
F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway are among the most prominent exponents of literature of the twentieth century. Forming part of the Lost Generation, these authors not only develop similar themes throughout their works, but heavily influenced each other. The Great Gatsby being Fitzgerald’s magnum opus, serves as a prime illustration of the staples of contemporary literature. In the novel The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, the author depicts himself through a character, Nick Carraway, conforming to other self depiction common in the Lost Generation, such as Hemingway in the Nick Adams stories. Nick Carraway and Nick Adams represent Fitzgerald and Hemingway, both serving as apertures into Fitzgerald’s and Hemingway’s view of the world.
The characters throughout Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald fit the archetype of star-crossed lovers in many ways. In order for these characters to endure the obstacles that star-crossed lovers must pursue, the characters must be truly in love. Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby are truly infatuated with certain women, in which their societies do not allow them to be associated with. Both characters throughout these literary works do not allow society and family to corrupt their choices of whom they love and whom they want to be with. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the love that Gatsby has for Daisy when Jay Gatsby says, “Well, there I was, way off my ambitions, getting