Great Gatsby

No two snowflakes are exactly alike, as with books. Though many books may have a plethora of similar qualities, no two are exactly alike. A reader can see some but not many similarities between the two novels. The Great Gatsby and Their Eyes Are Watching God. The Great Gatsby written by Scott F. Fitzgerald is a tale of high society and its twists and turns, while Their Eyes Are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is of poverty and the struggle of being judged.

In both Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Are Watching God and Scott F. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby there is a prevalent theme in common with the male characters. Both Jay Gatsby and Joe Starks long for success, but end up failing and inevitably losing the women they sought after for so long. In The Great Gatsby the goal of Jay Gatsby is to obtain the love of Daisy once again. He planned out his whole life on this one woman. Every move or decision he made revolved around the life of Daisy. His love for Daisy drove him to change and reform, his whole lifestyle in order to regain this love. Gatsby had no way of getting this love back because Daisy had married a very prominent male figure in the high society named Tom Buchanan. The only way for Gatsby to gain Daisy’s love back was to find his way into this high society that Daisy so loved to be a part of. Gatsby eventually rose quite high on the high society ladder and moved across the bay from Daisy and Tom Buchanan. Moving closer to his goal he began to have many parties in hopes that Daisy would wonder over but she never did. He finally turns to his

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neighbor and narrator of the novel Nick for his help. Nick was Daisy’s cousin. With his help Jay Gatsby hoped to once again see Daisy. Though he had many lavish parties and dining events Jay Gatsby was never fully happy on this journey to gain Daisy’s love. He finally admits to Nick at one point that he has “failed and failed again miserably” in trying to attempt to gain her love back. In Their Eyes Are Watching God Joe Starks starts out as a young poor man just walking down a road when meets Janie. Though poor and dirty at the time he is soon elected mayor of his town. When Janie and Joe met she was still married to Logan, but she leaves Logan because she sees “something better” in Joe Starks. The couple moves to Florida where Joe Stark can restart his journey of rising to the stop once again and fulfill his dreams with help from Janie being on his side. He soon became mayor of the town there too. He finally gained the success and control he sought after all his life but it soon went to his head as all good things eventually do. Janie gets tired of this life and leaves Joe Starks with Tea Cake. Though not completely alike in the male characters journey for success, one can still see the similarities between the two. Both male characters end up not being with the women they longed for. Jay Gatsby does not fully regain Daisy’s love even though she admits to her husband that she still does love Jay and Joe Starks loses Janie because he gains to much success and forgets about the people who helped him to where he was.

The story perception in both novels is very different. The narrator in The Great Gatsby is a first person narrative with insights from character Nick Carraway. The novel is a “ personal memoir of his experiences with Gatsby in the summer of 1922” (Spark Notes) There is a great suspense factor in the novel because the reader only knows that of

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what is being told by the character because he himself only knows so much about Jay Gatsby within this story. Nick reveals secrets about Jay Gatsby to the reader but not enough to fully see the results and actions of his “incorruptible dream”. The point of view of the narrator in Their Eyes Are Watching God is also first person as in The Great Gatsby but unlike in the way that the narrator is totally omniscient in this novel. Janie is the narrator which shows only certain parts of how Joe Stark is and the reader never fully finds out all one needs to know about Joe Starks. But as in both novels the narrator is revealed as knowing the most about both characters that are on their way to dwindling and losing their success in lives and they have so newly gained.

In Their Eyes Are Watching God Hurston incorporates very clever themes of showing social prejudice within her novel without fully revealing it. She shows the hardship of Janie living in the South and the struggles she had. A reader doesn’t see it as Hurston forcing any ideas of the book being about social prejudice but instead realizes that Janie is inevitably black in a tender and well-written way. Janie is raised with all white children,. She grew up laughing, playing and just being amongst all white children, until she looks at a family portrait and asks “Where am I?” without