The Theme Of Emotions In The Great Gatsby And Of Mice And Men

Duff Brenna once wrote, “All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason that motivates characters in literature.” Characters in literature create goals for themselves based on emotions. Reason can prevent characters from seeing the “bigger picture”, the improbability or impossibility of their goals. Emotions drive a characters whole force, and can create an alternate reality for the character that can come crashing down once reason is used. This is proven in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there is a reoccurring theme of finding paradise. George and Lennie have a purpose; they want to find a permanent …show more content…
Crooks has a broken back and a broken harness, Curley has a broken hand, and Lennie keeps breaking the necks of his pet mice and of the puppy. This leads ultimately to the broken dreams of George and Lennie, and the others who were let in on the dream. However, none of the brokenness fazes any of the characters. Their emotions cause them to see a world without pain, the perfect dream house. The characters are so caught up in their emotions that they forget to think reasonably. Curley hardly has a relationship with his wife. In fact, the relationship could be considered broken. They are constantly looking for each other, saying, “I’m looking for Curley.” (Steinbeck 31). But during this exchange, Curley’s wife is told, “Well, you ain’t tryin’ very hard. I seen him goin’ in your house.” (Steinbeck 32). Curley and his wife don’t know where the other one is because they don’t really care for each other. They don’t spend time together. Curley’s wife is just that, Curley’s wife in name only. She doesn’t try to spend time with her husband, and her husband doesn’t try to spend time with her. They look for each other, but really Curley’s wife just wants to flirt with all of the other ranch hands. Curley’s wife says, “ I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.” However, Curley holds onto the fake reality he created with his emotions, even though his logic is telling him that his wife and him don’t have a good …show more content…
Tom believes he has the world at his fingertips, and that everything will work out in his favor. Myrtle Wilson, his mistress, lies to her husband, George Wilson, to go and see Tom. Daisy is Tom’s wife, however, once she reunites with Gatsby, her old friend, they begin to have an affair that Tom is unaware of. However, Tom realizes Daisy’s affair when “ ‘Ah,’ she (Daisy) cried, ‘you (Gatsby) look so cool.’ Their (Gatsby and Daisy’s) eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space. With an effort she glanced down at the table. ‘You always look so cool,’ she repeated. She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw.” (Fitzgerald 119). Mr. Wilson, who Tom describes as “so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive,” (Fitzgerald 26) does finally realize his wife is having an affair. Since Mr. Wilson doesn’t know who the lover is, he wants to get away from his home and go west. Wilson tells this to Tom, not realizing Tom is the lover. Tom loses his wife and his mistress. His world is crashing down. Tom’s emotions towards having fun and doing whatever he wants prevented him from seeing the fallout. When Tom’s world crashed, he didn’t see it coming. Tom realizes that Nick and Jordan knew of Daisy’s affair, and didn’t tell him. If Tom had only paid attention to others, instead of being caught