Comparing Vidal's The City And The Pillar

Final Paper

Throughout history, man has often used written word to openly share and communicate thoughts and ideas universally. Gore Vidal’s novel The City and the Pillar is no exception as Vidal explores the struggles of homosexuality in a pre-World War II era. Jim Willard, the main character whose lens we peer through to catch a glimpse of life as a homosexual male in the late 1930s to 1940s, is not described in the novel as a effeminate or flamboyant as was stereotypical for gay characterization at the time. Instead, he is portrayed as a very, for lack of a better term, normal athletic young adult male, which is a key factor in Jim’s confusion throughout his ventures in self-discovery. Above all else though, Jim Willard’s character can

Similarly Ted and Robin from How I Met Your Mother are great friends throughout the series. However, Ted blurs the lines between caring for Robin as a friend and caring for her on a deep, romantic level as he decorates his apartment with a Christmas light show just to cheer Robin up. Shortly following this grand gesture, Ted finds himself admitting to Robin that he loves

Jim shows is commitment to Bob by immediately leaving high school to go to sea in a desperate attempt to find Bob after he stopped receiving his letters. Even as Jim finds himself partnered with several other characters in the book, his mind consistently goes back to Bob as he tries to make plans to have a life with him. “They would work out some sort of life together, though precisely what that life would be he left deliberately vague.”(56) Likewise, Ted shows his love and commitment to Robin through grand gestures, one of which being most notably the blue french horn he stole from the same restaurant for her twice throughout the story. Even despite Robin getting married to another man, Ted goes out of his way to ensure that she is happy by going on a wild goose chase to find her grandmother’s old locket. This journey leads Ted to talk to a few of his ex-girlfriends and eventually traveling across the country to get it to her, but instead of giving it to her directly, he plans to have the man she marries give it to her to ensure her happiness while avoiding complication. Unfortunately it doesn’t work out this way, but it’s the thought that counts,