Similarities Between The Great Gatsby And Their Eyes Were Watching God

William A. Ward once said, “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it”. If only this were always true; living would be so simple and easy. The idea behind a dream is that if an individual is ambitious and determined, he/she has a fair chance of fulfilling their goal, and the happiness that comes with it. Essentially, it offers the opportunity of achieving internal pleasure and material fulfillment. The theme of fulfillment of dreams can be seen throughout both F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. The narrator in Their Eyes Were Watching God sheds light on the issue of dream fulfillment and explains how gender plays a key role in the achievement of dreams. In the opening paragraphs of Hurston’s novel, the narrator writes, “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.” The narrator then claims that when men dream,

The Great Gatsby demonstrates that some dreams are just virtually unattainable even if you are the most ambitious person in the world. Jay Gatsby’s constant tug-o-war with Tom Buchannan over Daisy’s love leaves him blinded from the world around him and left with the idea that he has the power to do anything with no consequences. He devotes the entirety of his life to the blinded pursuit of Daisy; to creating a new identity that she would desire. Showing persistent determination and hope, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms further...” (Fitzgerald 171). The green light symbolizes Gatsby’s desire for a future with Daisy and his confidence that his dream will come true. By stating that they will stretch their arms out further Gatsby implying that he will stop at nothing to achieve his