Comparing the Unlikely

In the poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” the narrator, Prufrock, has similarities to and can be most closely compared to the character Gatsby, from “The Great Gatsby.” The main reason is that, though their fates are different, they have similar personalities centering around the phrase, “Do I dare?” They also have built up lives around the masks they wear.

They are both characters that are in love with a person that they cannot openly admit this to. They both ponder and wonder whether or not they dare to tell her. And indeed there will be a time to wonder, “Do I dare?” and “Do I dare?” (Eliot 666). Neither of them could bear the thought of her not returning their love so they hide it and keep it quiet. Though Gatsby does end up admitting his feelings for her, he spends each year after he met her thinking about her, and then months across the bay from her, creating images of telling her. They both have set their minds to view themselves as not good enough for her, therefore leading to masking themselves.

Neither Gatsby or Prufrock think that who they truly are will be enough, so they wear a mask of lies so that she might not see who they truthfully are. There will be a time, a time to prepare