Great Gatsby in Comparison to Catcher in the Rye
Great Gatsby vs. Holden Caulfield
The Great Gatsby written By F.Scott Fitzgerald is a novel about people, mainly Gatsby’s idea of the ‘American dream’ which can be compared easily to The Catcher in the Rye By J.D Salinger. Nick and Jay Gatsby are similar to Holden Caulfield. Nick is like Holden in the fact that they both share ideas of having expectations of people and hope, even though society constantly lets them down with multiple examples showing how people act in their natural state. Gatsby and Holden are much alike because they both have these fond ideas of women and their illusion of their American dreams, with Holden its Jane and with Gatsby its Daisy but they are both disappointed when they realize their ideas are just ideas and nothing more.
Nick Carraway and Holden Caulfield is both opposite in the sense of personalities, Nick is very honest, “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am of the few honest people that I have ever known.”(Fitzgerald 69). Holden Caulfield is the exact opposite, “I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible.” (J.D. Salinger Chapter 3). Although their personalities are polar opposites they some how believe that there is a good in every one and in everything. “For Nick, Gatsby's lies, his pretensions, and his corruption are "no matter"; nor is his failure to win back Daisy; what matters is the sustaining belief in the value of striving for a "wondrous" object, not its inevitable disappearance and meaninglessness.” (Will). Holden Caulfield and Nick Carraway Believe not in what people strive for, but their passion while doing it. If it’s strong enough , that it what gives others hope and what makes someone good , to have the will power and strength to go after what they desire whether it be women or
The Great Gatsby written By F.Scott Fitzgerald is a novel about people, mainly Gatsby’s idea of the ‘American dream’ which can be compared easily to The Catcher in the Rye By J.D Salinger. Nick and Jay Gatsby are similar to Holden Caulfield. Nick is like Holden in the fact that they both share ideas of having expectations of people and hope, even though society constantly lets them down with multiple examples showing how people act in their natural state. Gatsby and Holden are much alike because they both have these fond ideas of women and their illusion of their American dreams, with Holden its Jane and with Gatsby its Daisy but they are both disappointed when they realize their ideas are just ideas and nothing more.
Nick Carraway and Holden Caulfield is both opposite in the sense of personalities, Nick is very honest, “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am of the few honest people that I have ever known.”(Fitzgerald 69). Holden Caulfield is the exact opposite, “I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible.” (J.D. Salinger Chapter 3). Although their personalities are polar opposites they some how believe that there is a good in every one and in everything. “For Nick, Gatsby's lies, his pretensions, and his corruption are "no matter"; nor is his failure to win back Daisy; what matters is the sustaining belief in the value of striving for a "wondrous" object, not its inevitable disappearance and meaninglessness.” (Will). Holden Caulfield and Nick Carraway Believe not in what people strive for, but their passion while doing it. If it’s strong enough , that it what gives others hope and what makes someone good , to have the will power and strength to go after what they desire whether it be women or
Cited: 1) Fitzgerald, F S. The Great Gatsby. 2004th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Scribner, 1925. 1-180. 2) French, Warren. "Discovering Authors; J.D Salinger Online Ed." Student Resource Center. 2003. Gale. 12 Apr.-May 08 . 3) Salinger, J D. The Catcher in the Rye. Vol. 1. New York: Brown Little & Company, 1951. 4) Will, Barbara The Great Gatsby and the obscene word. (Critical essay) College Literature 32.4 (fall 2005) p; 125 (20) Copyright 2005 West Chester University