Similarities Between The Red Badge Of Courage And The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is parallel to The Red Badge of Courage and the quote provided by John Lennon as they relate to fear. Daisy’s fear of the consequences of being caught in her act of murder prevents her from stopping the car after she hit Myrtle and admitting her own fault, but rather, the fear causes her to flee the scene with Gatsby. When recounting the events of that tragic night, Gatsby claims “Anyhow—Daisy stepped on it. I tried to make her stop, but she couldn’t, so I pulled on the emergency brake. Then she fell over into my lap and I drove on,” (Fitzgerald, Project Gutenberg). Daisy, after realizing the damage she had caused to the Wilson family, steps on the gas, unyieldingly fleeing the scene, and thus runs from the consequences of

Daisy’s fear of the consequences of being caught in her act of murder prevents her from stopping the car after she hit Myrtle and admitting her own fault, but rather, the fear causes her to flee the scene with Gatsby. When recounting the events of that tragic night, Gatsby claims “Anyhow—Daisy stepped on it. I tried to make her stop, but she couldn’t, so I pulled on the emergency brake. Then she fell over into my lap and I drove on,” (Fitzgerald, Project Gutenberg). Daisy, after realizing the damage she had caused to the Wilson family, steps on the gas, unyieldingly fleeing the scene, and thus runs from the consequences of her life-shattering actions. Not only does she run from the scene of the accident, but also points the blame of Gatsby by never confessing to Tom. Among the pages of The Great Gatsby, Daisy can also be seen fleeing from her relationship with Gatsby fear of the consequences of the figurative death of their connection, just as the spark of their relationship died in her heart. In these ways, she perfectly exemplifies a quote by John Lennon: “When we are afraid, we pull back from life,” (John Lennon). Daisy was afraid of the consequences of death around her and thus pulled back from living her life, from falling deeper into love with Gatsby and from acting morally and in allowing her conscience to be relieved by confessing her act of murder. Similar to Daisy’s hindering fear, Henry from The Red Badge of Courage displays a deep fear of the death of his earthly body, and thus flees from the frontlines of the war. “In the darkness he saw visions of a thousand-tongued fear that would babble at his back. cause him to flee, while others were going cool about their country’s business,” (Crane). This excerpt delves into the importance of being wary of the power of fear, in that it can cause one to flee from a good cause. Henry, later in the