Comparing Jay Gatsby And Arthur Miller's Death Of A Sales

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman both follow the lives of men who are stuck living in a dream, grasping at straws in an attempt to become ‘successful’. To these two men - Jay Gatsby and Willy Loman - success is the ability to find a balance between wealth and love. Jay Gatsby is unbalanced, he has a great deal of wealth but lacks the company of any loved ones. Willy, on the other hand, is lacking greatly when it comes to money but is surrounded by family throughout the play. These men are on opposite sides of the same coin, both driven by the desperation to find that perfect balance between wealth and love – romantic or familial. This relentless search for success, fueled by deep-seated desperation, leads them to create elaborate fantasies

Both Jay Gatsby and Willy Loman share a common goal - to have great wealth and be able to enjoy being surrounded by those they hold most dear. Gatsby’s desire is rooted in his need to win back the love of Daisy Buchanan. Faye and rediscover a past life that he sees through a pair of rose-colored glasses. Gatsby believes that wealth and social status are the keys to winning Daisy’s affection, which he achieved in his youth through unlawful means. “‘He’s a bootlegger,’ said the young lady, moving somewhere between his cocktails and his flowers. ‘One time he killed a man who had found out that he was nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil. (61)”. The rumors that Nick hears about Jay are far from flattering, the women talk about him acquiring his wealth in an unsavory way through bootlegging. The accusation that Gatsby is the second cousin to the devil - an exaggeration, of course - shows that he is known for not being the most trustworthy