Comparing Love In The Great Gatsby And A Million Little Pieces

A story about a man living the American dream that ended in death, and another about a twenty three old alcoholic and drug abuser and how he copes with rehabilitation in a twelve steps-oriented treatment Centre. A story about a man who spends six weeks in rehab and has no hope to live, against a man who is living to fulfill his dreams and desires. Even though both of these stories may seem like they have nothing in common, they do have quite a lot of similarities. "The Great Gatsby" and "A Million Little Pieces" are both novels that have characters who live in a world where friends are loyal to each other, how love plays a big role and effects a person in a good or bad way, and where hardships are faced on an everyday life.

The Loyalty
In "The Great Gatsby", Daisy cannot help herself from loving Gatsby even though it is wrong since she is married to Tom. "I did love him once, but I loved you too".(p.g 126) Daisy cannot chose who to love and she is doing whatever her heart feels is right. In "A Million Little Pieces", James and Lilly are not allowed to be together and in a relationship because of rules made by the treatment facility but James does not care. James and Lilly meet each other at their secreting meeting place and let their hearts out. These are similarities because in both novels, the characters are blindly in love, and are only following their hearts. Another horrible thing that love causes is putting yourself into trouble for the one you love. In "The Great Gatsby", Gatsby loves Daisy more than his own life and he was willing to do whatever it took to make Daisy his forever. For example when he takes the blame on himself for when Daisy was driving his car and Myrtle ran into it. "Was Daisy Driving?" Yes but of course i'll say I was."(p.g 151) Gatsby did not think about what would happen after he puts everything on himself because he was too busy trying to save Daisy so she would not get into trouble. Similarly, in "A Million
Characters in "The Great Gatsby and "A Million Little Pieces" go through many controversies when facing the truth. From the novel "The Great Gatsby", although everyone seems happy, none of them are truly happy with their marriage, love, or life. I was alone again in the unquiet darkness.” (p.g 28) This quote is explaining how sad and depressing everyone's lives are. In the other novel, James Frey knows what the truth is and he knows he can be killed if he does not follow their treatment plan at the facility. He is almost guaranteed to relapse which is basically killing him. Even though he is aware of this truth, he cannot bare what he has to go through because he is not happy. Another type of hardship that is faced in "The Great Gatsby is how Daisy gets married to Tom while Gatsby was gone for war. This was very hard to deal with for Gatsby because he loves Daisy and wants her to be his. He does everything he can to try to get her back which meant he went through a lot of trouble. "The letter reached Gatsby while he was still at Oxford." (p.g 144) This quote explains the letter Daisy sent Gatsby telling him about Tom and her relationship. In "A Million Little Pieces," James Frey's parents had to go through a lot of trouble as well. "My dad keeps driving, my mom keeps crying, I fall asleep."(pg.3) When the decision was made for James to go into rehab, his parents were hurt the most because