Similarities Between Jazz And The Great Gatsby

Jazz and The Great Gatsby are two books set in the 1920s but drastically different. Jazz tells the story of an older couple living in Harlem. Violet and Joe Trace could not create their children, creating tension in their marriage. Joe starts going out with this younger woman Dorcas, which he later kills because she starts to go out with a boy her age named Acton. Violet compares herself with Dorcas, hoping she will figure out why Joe cheated on her. The Great Gatsby is a popular classic book about a self-made millionaire (Gatsby) and his love for a wealthy and beautiful woman named Daisy. Daisy is married to Tom Bunchan, but Tom is having an affair with another person named Myrtle Wilson. Both books make the reader question the morality

Joe wants control of Dorcas. Also, Joe had a messed up childhood, and he always sought out a mother figure, and Violet was shown to be infertile and cared more about her birds than Joe; this made Joe seek another relationship. "All the while, he was running through the streets in bad weather. I thought he was looking for (Dorcas), not Wild's chamber of gold." The author portrays that while he is in love with Dorcas, he is still trying to find a mother figure.
On the other hand, Violet is seeking a stable marriage even though her actions show she is more obsessed with comparing herself to Dorcas. This raises the question of if someone does not love themselves, can they truly love someone else? This theme gets brought up multiple times in the two books. Unfortunately, as the reader, we get less information about how Dorcas feels, so it is difficult to tell her interior motives for dating Joe and then breaking up with him to date a younger man. However, from context clues, it shows she intended to have fun and have the ideal 1920s Jazz type

Everyone has different views on how that looks. None of the characters want to work towards a better love situation for themselves, Which makes a good story. Dorcas, Daisy, Tom, and Joe have all chosen to cheat to create a more fun life for themselves. The reason why is different for each character. Daisy wants to live a luxurious life and prioritizes money for her happiness. Dorcas wants to be with a younger man to experience more youthful fun, and Tom is just bored. Gatsby and Violet are chasing their own stable lives, wanting to have someone in love with someone else but once was with them. Though both are in love with people who love someone else, It makes the reader question whether they love them. Violet's actions in seeking information about Dorcas show that maybe she is insecure and cannot love someone else before she loves herself. Violet does not seek a better life; that is how she and Gatsby differ. Gatsby did everything so he could have everything he ever wanted, he fixates on being this great guy to win over Daisy, but this shows that he is not chasing her because he loves her. He is chasing her because he wants to be rich as her and be good enough. Joe, similar to Gatsby, does not chase Dorcas, but he chases the mother figure he never got in his childhood and does not get with Violet after she becomes