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Their Eyes Were Watching God And Great Gatsby Comparison

844 Words4 Pages

Gavin Ostrenga
Advanced English 11
Ms. Hammen
May 19th, 2023

Loss, Love, and Longing: A Comparative Essay of “'The Great Gatsby” and “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston are two American classic novels of literature that offer unique perspectives and views on themes of power, race, love, and identity. Although The Great Gatsby and Their Eyes Were Watching God were published in different time periods and explore different characters and settings, both stories share many commonalities and many differences that make them unique and intuitive to compare and contrast. Both novels share many similarities along in addition to many differences allowing for an …show more content…

A quote from Their Eyes Were Watching God goes as this, "Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see." The protagonist Janie Crawford searches to find her own voice and identity as an African American woman in a dense, patriarchal society portrayed as the world in the quote. Janie desires to achieve love and self-realization, which she believes will make her fulfilled and free. Similarly, Gatsby says, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald, 180). In The Great Gatsby, the main character Jay Gatsby is driven by his desire to achieve love, status, and wealth, all of which he believes will grant him happiness and a sense of acceptance in his society seen in the quote. Both of these novels critique the idea of the American Dream as an unattainable and empty promise that can only lead to tragedy and …show more content…

The most obvious is the difference in the narrative style and language. In Their Eyes Were Watching God is a more traditional novel that uses rich and rhythmic vernacular language to capture the dialect and culture of the Southern black community. Hurston's prose is lively and vivid, with a strong sense of humor and irony that convey the resilience and wit of her characters. In contrast, The Great Gatsby is a modernist novel that uses a symbolic and fragmented style to depict the chaotic, retrospective, decadent world of the Jazz Age. Fitzgerald's prose is often lyrical and poetic, with intricate, vivid imagery along with common metaphors that create a sense of longing and

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