The Great Gatsby/The Catcher In The Rye
Compare/contrast Essay
Jay Gatsby from the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Holden Caulfield from the book Catcher In The Rye by D.J. Salinger are characters who share many similarities. Both characters have unrealistic dreams, but throughout their novels, they learn the reality of their false fantasies. They both escape their past life, detach themselves from society, and realize the reality of their false fantasies. Both characters drift away from reality and drift toward their fantasy. First off, both characters escape their past life to chase their dreams. Jay Gatsby escapes from his past life of poverty to chase his American dream. He escapes his family, gets on a boat and finds …show more content…
Gatsby is well known for his parties that he hosts at his mansion, and is actually how he isolates himself. After being invited to one of Gatsby 's parties, Nick says, “As soon as I arrived I made an attempt to find my host, but the two or three people of whom I asked his whereabouts stared at me in such an amazed way, and denied so vehemently any knowledge of his movements[…]” (Fitzgerald 46). This shows that most of the people that attend his parties know very little about him. Gatsby keeps himself secret and away from society. Holden, on the other hand, distances himself away from society because he does not like the way society forms people to the way other people think is right. Throughout the novel, there are many different examples of Holden distancing himself from the people around him. At the Saturday football game at Holden’s current school, Pencey Prep, Holden was “standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill” (Salinger 2) away from everyone else. This shows that Holden is distancing himself away from the rest of the school. After explaining Pencey Prep 's ad slogan, Holden says, “They don 't do any damn more molding at Pencey than they do at any other school.” (Salinger 2). The way he explains this shows that he dislikes the way Pencey Prep school, and other schools, because they “mold boys into splendid, clear thinking young men”. (Salinger 2). He doesn’t like the way his school and society forms people to think that society is right so he distances himself away from it so he can be himself. This shows that Holden and Gatsby distance themselves away from the society around them, and is the second step they take on their way to realizing
Compare/contrast Essay
Jay Gatsby from the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Holden Caulfield from the book Catcher In The Rye by D.J. Salinger are characters who share many similarities. Both characters have unrealistic dreams, but throughout their novels, they learn the reality of their false fantasies. They both escape their past life, detach themselves from society, and realize the reality of their false fantasies. Both characters drift away from reality and drift toward their fantasy. First off, both characters escape their past life to chase their dreams. Jay Gatsby escapes from his past life of poverty to chase his American dream. He escapes his family, gets on a boat and finds …show more content…
Gatsby is well known for his parties that he hosts at his mansion, and is actually how he isolates himself. After being invited to one of Gatsby 's parties, Nick says, “As soon as I arrived I made an attempt to find my host, but the two or three people of whom I asked his whereabouts stared at me in such an amazed way, and denied so vehemently any knowledge of his movements[…]” (Fitzgerald 46). This shows that most of the people that attend his parties know very little about him. Gatsby keeps himself secret and away from society. Holden, on the other hand, distances himself away from society because he does not like the way society forms people to the way other people think is right. Throughout the novel, there are many different examples of Holden distancing himself from the people around him. At the Saturday football game at Holden’s current school, Pencey Prep, Holden was “standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill” (Salinger 2) away from everyone else. This shows that Holden is distancing himself away from the rest of the school. After explaining Pencey Prep 's ad slogan, Holden says, “They don 't do any damn more molding at Pencey than they do at any other school.” (Salinger 2). The way he explains this shows that he dislikes the way Pencey Prep school, and other schools, because they “mold boys into splendid, clear thinking young men”. (Salinger 2). He doesn’t like the way his school and society forms people to think that society is right so he distances himself away from it so he can be himself. This shows that Holden and Gatsby distance themselves away from the society around them, and is the second step they take on their way to realizing